Strength of Many
by Cerric
Summary: A fateful bump to a certain Saiyan's head never occurs, denying a story its hero. Without Goku, the humans must face the never-ending array of evil threatening the Earth with nothing more than their wits and will. Their actions to protect their planet will ultimately fulfill old legends, create new ones, and change the universe forever... (Starts in DB, now in DBZ!) Major AU.
1. A Different Beginning

( _Edit from the chapter 30 future; writing has improved a ton since the beginning of this fic. Future me talks more about this at the bottom. Enjoy the chapter!)_

* * *

Krillin had gotten used to thinking of himself as weak. It had been easy to believe what his older, taller peers at the temple had told him. They had seniority. They were older. They _seemed_ to know more about the world. To a kid like him, they were the best source of information he could hope for. Rumors dressed up as facts, covering the lowliest initiate to the most prestigious monk. Swirling storms of fiction, surfacing occasionally as truth. _Krillin was small_ , they said. _Weak._

He had been pretty convinced of what they had said- including their pronouncements of him being a waste of space at the temple- for a fairly long time. And, most likely, it would have remained that way for a good deal longer if Krillin had not known one particularly overzealous peer. A careless shove from Zushin, a kid maybe two years older than him, had flung Krillin off the metaphorical cliff. With a push of his own, Krillin accidentally crashed Zushin through a wall. Thus, after this not-so-polite response, and then an even more unpolite response by his teacher, Krillin found himself walking down a dirt path to nowhere. He was frustrated, a little sad, but confident in the knowledge that, at the very least, he was stronger than Zushin. At the very worst, he had been the second weakest student at Orin temple. _  
_

As it turns out, the solitary setting Krillin now occupied was a good space to mentally torture himself.

 _I can't believe I did that…_

A pebble flew off to the side.

 _Zushin was a jerk but he didn't deserve to be launched through a wall…_

Another pebble rocketed away.

 _And now here I am, masterless and teacherless_. _Doomed to fight with all the skill and grace of a jellyfish._

Right before kicking another pebble out of his way, Krillin stopped in the road, smiling.

 _I'm still stronger than Zushin, though._

Krillin continued along the winding dirt path, zigzagging back and forth to avoid some errant branches from the surrounding forest. The road in front of him twisted endlessly to the left and right, obscuring any destination Krillin _could_ have had in mind. He sighed. _I think there's a city nearby... At least, that's what I think my teacher said._

He had packed enough food for four, five days max. He had stretched that to a week.

 _Why didn't I pack more food?! I don't know where I'm going! I'm so hungry... and tired..._

The monk slouched closer to the ground, playing up his exhaustion for a non-existent crowd. _What I'd give for a taxi or a bus… servicing forested nowhere stop #1._

As if on cue, an engine sounded nearby, obscured by the forest further down the path. His face a mixture of comedic satisfaction and astonishment, Krillin turned his attention to the farthest part of the path visible. _I haven't seen any sort of car on this road… who would be out here?_

In seconds, a motorized scooter screeched down the sharp turn, throwing dirt up as it flew, before settling into a straight path down the road. A path that ran straight through where Krillin was currently standing. _Oh_. A second later the scooter screeched just past Krillin's jumping body, barely avoiding a crash. Throwing up a cloud of dust, curses drifted across the air as the bike slowly regained control and stopped about twenty feet down the road. Krillin, prone on the path, heart racing, watched as the driver angrily stepped off and fumbled with their helmet. They wrenched it off, revealing a long braid falling down their back.

Thinking that the driver couldn't see out of the dirt cloud, Krillin grinned and cleared his throat, "a-HEM-", before a helmet whacked him square on the head. The thrown headgear bounced back and landed motionless in front of him.

"Are you CRAZY!" Limbs flailed in the dust for emphasis. "HOW many seconds did you stand motionless like an idiot? Five? Ten? Usually, people are smart enough to move _out_ of a path of a speeding vehicle!"

"Okay, I had that coming…", Krillin muttered to himself, rubbing the growing bruise on his head.

The driver slowly emerged from dirt cloud. She was a girl in her early to mid-teens, dressed in gear a city dweller would deem appropriate for adventuring. Anger twisted her face into an unpleasant frown. CAPSULE CORP. was blazoned across her body, while the brand's logo was interspersed here and there elsewhere on her clothes. "You", she pointed at him, "have a lot of explaining to do, being out here in the middle of nowhere all by yourself."

"Uh… well… it's kind of embarrassing…" Krillin scratched his head.

She continued to glare, waiting.

"Uh... to tell you the truth... I sorta got kicked out of my temple. I've been walking in this forest ever since…"

The girl stared for a few more seconds, then visibly relaxed and let out a long sigh. "That's a relief. And to think, I considered you a _competitor_ for a second there."

She blinked. "I probably shouldn't have said that. But the cat's out of the bag, I guess. Hmm, actually…" Her face seemed to scrunch as she seemed to be… thinking? Krillin wasn't entirely sure. At this point, Krillin felt more like an observer than a participant in the conversation between them. It was if she had completely forgotten he was here. "Ah!" She snapped her fingers. "I have a proposition. I'm assuming you don't like wandering around aimlessly, right?"

Krillin nodded. At the same time, he noted how hollow his stomach felt.

"Okay, so here it is; I'm searching for a special object that's hidden nearby, and I need another pair of eyes to help me look for it. If you help me find the thing, I'll drive you to the nearest town so at the very least you don't starve to death." A smile edged across her face. "Sound fair?"

For whatever reason, Krillin had a feeling in his gut that this girl was trouble. But his gut was also screaming for breadcrumbs at this point. _What other option do I have?_ "Alright, sure, I guess. What are we looki- hey!"

The girl had closed the gap between them and had pulled out a rod; she aggressively began waving it over every part of Krillin. Satisfied, she folded the object in half and tucked it into her back pocket. "Sorry, just had to make sure you were legit. You know, that you're not some person in the woods preying on passersbys and whatnot. So, ready to head off?" She jogged over to her bike and began rummaging around in a backpack strapped to its side.

"Sure, but where? And what are we looking for?"

She pulled out a round object from the sack, holding it up and inspecting it in the day's light. Krillin could make out some sort of grid on the front side of it.

"This, my associate, shall lead us."

0o0o0

The unlikely pair crunched through the forest undergrowth, trying their best to conceal the sound of their movement. The forest itself was pretty normal, Krillin figured. A smattering of dead leaves, bushes, trees, furry animals, and creeks populated the landscape, giving off a feeling of tranquility. It wasn't long, however, before both of them stumbled into a clearing with trees aggressively plastered to the ground.

"Excuse me, but I don't think I asked for your name.", Krillin managed to squeak out of his throat.

Bulma was too distracted by the device in her hands to look at Krillin directly. "Bulma. My name's Bulma. Why do you ask?"

"I need a name to blame when I die."

"Oh? And what's your name?"

"Krillin."

"Good," Bulma growled, "now we'll both die cursing each other on a first name basis." After scanning the surrounding section of flattened woods, Bulma walked out into the flat area, her eyes and hands still consumed by the round device.

Krillin hesitantly followed, studying the trees underneath as he went. The wood seemed strangely warped, almost curved, as if they weren't flattened indiscriminately but rather purposefully. In fact, now that he took a wider look at the environment, Krillin noticed the shape of the clearing wasn't round, but instead was a curved line, stretching through the woods for miles. To his right, the flattened section of the woods gently bent to the left, continuing for as far as he could see. To his left, in the distance, stood a solitary shack. _Eee!... I don't like the look of this!_ He did his best to follow Bulma- who was now walking directly towards the building- and struggled to stem the rising tide of fear within him.

As they approached, Bulma slowed, eyes narrowing on her device. Suddenly, she frantically scurried off to the remaining tree line to her right, launching herself into a bush right on the edge near the shack. She swung her arms madly until Krillin realized she was angrily telling him to get out of the open. Without a moment to spare, he scrambled into the bush next to Bulma as a figure emerged from the shack.

This figure was, for some reason, completely naked.

"Wonder if that's what we're looking for?... probably not," Krillin said under his breath, his cheeks reddening from the sight before him.

The longer Krillin looked, the more confused he became. This kid - _has to be, he's a few inches shorter than me_ \- had the body of a survivor. Lean muscles latticed his body like diamonds, without as much as a single inch of fat or unnecessary flesh. Dark red marks ran down their body in a pattern- blood, if Bulma was to be believed. Most startling of all, the figure had a tail, calming swinging behind him. It gave him an almost unholy appearance.

A soft _pop_ at his side made Krillin turn. Bulma was fumbling in a cloud of smoke for something, "Ah, there." She lifted a pair of binoculars to her face and peered towards the shack. Krillin was about to ask where the binoculars had come from when Bulma gave a stifled yelp.

"What?" She jumped, "No dragonball?" She fell uncharacteristically silent, eyes glued to the binoculars. "What!" She jumped again. "Is that blood!"

 _Dragonball? Blood?_ Krillin couldn't take his gaze off the kid. Fear rapidly closed around him, suffocating him and denying him any action that could have gotten him out of there. The kid just stood there, standing next to the shack fifty feet away, half-turned and gazing into the forest.

Bulma's eyes narrowed. "Wait," she muttered, "if he's not the one moving, then who..."

"What? What are you talki-"

A crack rang out in the forest. The kid jumped away as a tree fell down on where he was standing. He landed a few feet away, rising from a crouch, as his gaze fell on the opposite end of the treeline from Krillin and Bulma.

The person who emerged was even stranger than the first. The man's head looked positively ancient, bald and adorned with a long, full grey beard. Wrinkles covered every part of his face, surrounding a pair of sunglasses with a broken right frame. The man's body, on the other hand, was absolutely ripped; muscles bulged beyond what seemed possible for a human body, let alone someone as old as him. The man seemed to be in a state similar to the first figure; bloodied and alert, on the verge of action.

It also happened that, at their distance, neither Krillin nor Bulma could hear a single thing the two were saying to each other.

"You don't think they could be having a friendly conversation," Krillin said to no-one in particular, "do you?

Bulma opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut-off by a deafening _booom_. The two figures- now clearly combatants- had surged forward and gripped against each other, arm for arm. They briefly struggled in each others' grip before disengaging and chasing each other in and out of the edge of the forest near the shack. As limited as Krillin's battle sense was, he saw in the strangely built old man an experience in combat beyond equal and in the kid a ferocity and will unlike any other person he'd seen. Krillin could barely keep track of the fists, kicks, and collisions that filled the space between them.

Bulma, still at his side, watched with an even duller awareness.

Krillin saw a splash of red splatter across the sky. Blood was in the air. Someone was going to die from this fight.

A particularly vicious blow knocked the kid from the treeline. Now closer and clearly visible, Krillin could make out the immeasurable amount of scars this kid, for someone as young as him, had. More and more, Krillin saw a phantom of death.

The old man quickly followed up his punch, running and launching a vicious chop aimed at the kid's head. Still struggling to stand after crashing into the ground, the kid didn't see it coming until it was too late, his head making an audible _cracckk_ as the hand flew down and hit the top of his head. He sagged to the ground, unconscious.

Krillin was awestruck. This man, whoever he was, was clearly a martial arts master, far greater than anything he had seen at the temple, and experienced beyond his years. _Someone who isn't weak…_ Quickly, and without thinking, Krillin rushed out of the brush and approached the old man. Bulma feebly tried to grab the former monk's fluttering clothes to stop him, but her hand gripped air and for her effort, she nearly toppled face first out of the bush.

Still panting, the old man cast a wayward eye up out of his broken shade and raised a hand. "I wouldn't come any closer if I were you. By the way you're walking, I assume you're here to back up your murderous little friend."

Krillin met the man's eyes, then immediately fell to the ground prostrating, his head pressed into the dirt. "Please," he begged, "teach me your ways!"

Krillin thought he heard a snort, then a laugh, and then finally a sigh. "Heh… who would have thought that I would have found another pupil here, of all places," the old man said, ending with a tone of sadness not lost on Krillin.

The former monk lifted his head. "What's your name?"

The old man, for the first time, smiled. "Master Roshi." He glanced down at the unconscious kid, then began to move over to Krillin. "I-"

Horror. What transpired next would forever be coded as one thing in Krillin's mind. _Horror_. The kid, who up until this point looked to be perhaps dead, sprung up from the ground, blood still flowing down his head from the Master Roshi's earlier blow. In one snarling motion, the kid raised a two-handed fist high above his head and swung it towards Master Roshi. It connected with the back of the old man's neck, reciprocating the _crunchh_ that had been given to him. Its effect was immediately devastating. In an instant, Master Roshi's eyes- which up until this point were waxing in warmth and kindness- emptied, and expressed an incomprehensible pain. He pathetically fell to the ground, only mustering a twitching of his appendages as he attempted to move his body. Out of his throat came sharp, guttural sounds, the sounds of a tortured person. In one second, Krillin saw perhaps the greatest martial artist in maybe _the whole world_ be blindsided by a cheap shot. Now, all that remained was a writhing, yet still living, mess.

The kid drew back his hands, evidently from pain more than anything else, and then slammed his foot down on Master Roshi's now prone body. Hard. The body underneath creaked and crushed, yet refused to give up, trying to find some way to escape, to flee the pain inflicting it.

The kid, for the first time, looked up from Master Roshi and looked into Krillin's eyes. "Wanna know something funny?", he said softly, his foot driving deeper and deeper into the broken man below him, "He was far stronger than me. He could have killed me at any time." A sick grin bubbled to the kid's mouth. "My name is Kakarot. And mercy is for the weak."

With one swift, brutal motion, Kakarot drove his foot straight through Master Roshi's back, crunching inwards in a gory, pulpy mess. Blood sprayed onto both Kakarot and Krillin, binding them both to destiny.

0o0o0

Admiring his handiwork, and then casting his eyes one more time at the now shaking Krillin, Kakarot turned around and withdrew into the forest, only stopping to grab a small pack at the foot of the shack door. He receded out of sight, leaving Krillin trembling on his knees next to a corpse.

After what felt like an eternity, a sound approached him from behind. Bulma had cautiously, carefully, walked towards him, her face paler than Krillin thought possible. Her eyes frantically flashed between him and the body before him.

Neither of them spoke for a long time. Within the clearing wind and the chirps of birds could be heard in the far-off distance. Tears welled in Krillin's eyes, but he would not let them leave- not let the silence be destroyed.

Krillin opened his mouth, closed it, and then finally said, "Why?"

She lifted her eyes from the ground, water welling in her eyes. "What?"

"Why were we here?"

"Well," she began, using her fingers to massage her temples in an effort to get a hold on herself, "dragonballs. This started a quest for them. As a child, I had always heard stories about dragonballs, these… orbs, I guess- that could grant any wish you desired if you found all seven of them. I set off from my home with a simple goal in mind…" her voice falling off, detached.

"Earlier," Krillin asked again, his voice warbling slightly, "you realized that someone was in that house, and hid before they could see you. How'd you do that? I've heard that it's possible to find another human person simply from sensing their life energy, or _ki_. Were you doing that?"

Bulma shook her head. "No, but in this scenario, I had the second-best thing." She pulled out from her knapsack the round object she had been walking through the forest with earlier. "This is a dragon radar. I built it to track and find dragonballs, though don't ask me how I pulled that off- more luck than anything else."

"So... you're saying that one of those two had a dragonball and was moving, and as a result, you knew someone was here."

"Yea, although at first I was confused because as we got closer, I noticed there were actually _two_ dragonballs here. They were so close on top of each other- and _moving_ \- that I thought the radar was broken."

"I don't understand," Krillin replied, scratching his head. He seemed to remember where he was and he backed up from Master Roshi's corpse a few feet.

"When we first started to move through that area with the flattened trees, I was originally going for a blip on the radar that was around the edge of the treeline, but when I checked it again it was gone. It was then that I realized that there was a second dot, up ahead, by the shack. When that dot moved, and the dot behind us began jumping around wildly, I scrambled into a bush so I wouldn't be seen.

Krillin paused, considering. "Okay; where are the dragonballs now?"

"Well, unless this thing is truly busted, that kid took one, probably in that pack of his."

"And the second one?"

Bulma hesitantly pointed towards the corpse.

 _Oh. That._ Fighting back waves of nausea, Krillin crouched down to the corpse. The dragonball, strangely enough, was locked in his right hand, fingers still clenched around it in apparent defense. Slowly, Krillin pried finger after finger away until the ball was free. Examining it closely for the first time, he noticed that the balls were a particular shade of orange, with darker inlaid stars within the balls themselves. This particular dragonball had three such stars. Overall, it was about the size of his fist.

In response to a gesture from Bulma, Krillin handed the ball to her, who eagerly examined the ball. "I can't believe they actually exist", she mumbled, turning the ball endlessly in her hands. "This isn't some sort of fantasy mumbo-jumbo… they might actually work!"

Deep in thought, Krillin remained quiet through Bulma's measured optimism.

"Bulma, can I ask another question?" He asked after a moment.

"Shoot."

"Do you have any interest in using the... wish, I guess, granted by the dragonballs, if you find them all?"

"Hmm..." She closed her eyes in thought. "Now that I think about it, there's nothing I really want or need… I guess I set off on this adventure to test whether or not I could locate them, and then find out whether they worked or not." She suddenly blushed. "Well, there is _one_ thing, but it's not a huge deal… Yea, I guess I'm 95% sure I don't need a wish. Why?"

"Okay", he began, "here's what I suggest; we find the dragonballs. We get the dragonball back from that kid, Kakarot. We use them to revive…" He pointed to the corpse, "his name was Master Roshi. We revive Master Roshi. From what I saw, he was a kind, strong person, someone whose life was cut short by fighting this monster of a kid in the middle of nowhere. He didn't deserve this. I want to bring him back."

Bulma arched an eyebrow. "You do know that if we're going by experience, it seems that these dragonballs are held by crazy strong martial artists and fighters. What makes you think we can even get one more of these, let alone six? Furthermore, no offense, but why should I bring you along for the ride? I have the radar, transportation, and money. What do you bring to the table?"

Admittedly, Krillin couldn't argue against this. Krillin held no delusions about his own strength. He may be able to beat up an overgrown bully, but he doubted he could do anything beyond that. He certainly couldn't protect Bulma, let alone _himself_ , from someone like Kakarot. By all accounts, this seemed to be a suicide mission. _But… I need to... I have to!..._ He met Bulma's eyes.

"Bulma, I've had a dream, for as long as I've remembered, to be strong, Not for the sake of power, or any other advantage strength gives. No, I wanted to be strong so I could stand up for myself. In Master Roshi, I saw that he was the type of person who could help me, who could help a lot of people learn to find that inner strength, to bring to the surface power I or anyone else never knew we had. I have no doubt in my mind that, if he had survived, he would have stopped any further destruction or death that kid Kakarot would have caused. I… " He clenched both his fists, clamped his eyes shut. "I can't let that happen! Master Roshi would have saved lives!"

Krillin stopped, then took a long, deep breath.

"I", he struggled to say, "I-I worry that this kid won't stop. He'll continue to destroy. And when he fights helpless people, it won't be a fight, it'll be a _slaughter._ " He paused again, gathered what little composure he had left, and looked up at Bulma. "Please Bulma, let me try. Let me try to find the strength to help those who have none."

Silence. Krillin frowned.

Bulma stared, then finally broke eye contact. "Fine. We find the dragonballs, we revive Roshi. I guess it's the least we could do."

Relieved, Krillin nodded.

"We do need to do something first, though", Krillin added.

"What," Bulma questioned, "is that?"

The monk dragged his gaze towards the still motionless corpse near them.

0o0o0

After a heart-wrenching amount of time, Krillin and Bulma- mostly Krillin- had succeeded in digging a modest man-sized hole. It was as good as a grave as they were going to create with the time on their hands. A significant chunk of that time, unfortunately, had been taken up by Krillin's incredulous shock at Bulma seemingly creating shovels out of thin air. Only after a long and exhausting conversation did Krillin finally learn that the shovels came out of Bulma's capsules. An unexplainable modern marvel, as far as Krillin was concerned. Regardless, they eventually managed after a handful of starts and stops to roll Master Roshi's body into the impromptu grave, and together, they moved the dirt back over the body and packed it down. When the last of the packing had been done, they stood there silent in their vows, graced by the sounds of a forest quickly turning dark. Night subsumed, thankfully, a long and mournful day.

On their way back to the motorbike Krillin had to scratch an intellectual itch. It was the best thing he could focus his mind on.

"So, correct me if I'm wrong,' he asked, "but the capsules kinda suck whatever object near them into a pill-sized container, right?"

"Yea-huh".

"So, how do you actually put the object in the capsule." He squinted at a line of capsules strung to Bulma's waist. "I don't see an opening."

"What, are you some kind of spy, huh? Going to go off with all my secrets and mass produce some capsules of your own? Forget it!". She crossed her arms and turned her head away from Krillin, which, he suspected, she did to hide her own lack of knowledge on how exactly capsules worked.

He was about to open up his mouth to press further when they found themselves back at the motorbike, exactly where it'd been earlier, still propped up against a tree to the side of the dirt path.

A quick examination of the bike by Krillin confused him. "Uh, Bulma, I don't see a second seat on the bike. Am I going to run alongside it?"

"Stop asking dumb questions for a second, _please_ ", she snapped back, pulling out two capsules with her right hand. In one movement she clicked both capsules and tossed them, producing a _popping_ sound and throwing up a cloud of smoke where the bike had been. When it cleared the bike was gone, replaced by a full-sized off-road jeep.

Krillin's jaw dropped. "What!? You can fit something as big as that in one tiny capsule!?"

As he stood there shocked, Bulma inadvertently emphasized the car's size by walking around to the driver's seat and completely disappearing from Krillin's view for a few seconds.

Soon enough, the engine started. "Come on," she beckoned, "Get in".

Krillin climbed into the passenger seat, clicked in his seat belt after some pestering by Bulma, and came to grips with what he was _trying_ to do. _Six other dragonballs?_ _With my prize at the end having to face that kid?..._ _What have I gotten myself into?..._

In a cloud of dust, the jeep lurched, then sped away under the cover of darkness, leaving behind a now silent forest.

* * *

 _Fair warning- as time goes on, this story is going to diverge very heavily from canon. **(edit from chapter 51 future)**_ _\- Main characters fluctuate with the progression of the story, though it is safe to say that most human characters will be around for a long time to come._

 _Edit from the chapter 27 future- I should clarify that I usually respond to reviews as they come in at the bottom of the most recent chapter. Sorry if that wasn't clear before. If you've left a review at any point of this story, look for them_ _in those places._

 _Edit from the chapter 30 future- To any new readers, if the writing is putting you off in any way, I would say that in the middle of the Escalation Arc (around chapters 17 or 18) is where my writing started to get pretty consistent. Of course, I love all of my writing for this story, but if you feel the need to jump ahead, around that point might be a decent spot to land on._

 _Edit from the chapter 47 future- Table of contents has been condensed! Individual chapter names are on individual pages so I figured it would be better to post only arcs and volumes down here._

 **VOLUME I: THE SAIYAN OF EARTH (Chapters 1-42)**

 _ **Pursual Arc (Chapters 1-8)**_

 _ **The Coming Storm Arc (Chapters 9-14)**_

 _ **Escalation Arc (Chapters 15-22)**_

 ** _King Arc (Chapters 23-27)_**

 ** _Sins of the Father Arc (Chapters 28-36)_**

 ** _Endgame Arc (Chapters 37-42)_**

 **VOLUME II: A WIDER UNIVERSE (Chapters 43-**

 _ **Outlanders Arc (Chapters 43-51)**_

 _ **Namek Arc (Chapters 52-60)**_

 _ **Ginyu Arc (Chapters 61-**_


	2. Trouble on the Road

Pursual

Chapter 2: Trouble on the Road

 _Edit from the chapter 30 future- I'm cleaning up the pursual arc. My writing has improved a lot from these days and I'm making edits to reflect that. This chapter should now read like it was written by a human._

AN: Hey everyone/no-one/an indeterminate amount of people! In my rush to put out the first chapter I never put in an author's notes section nor formatted properly. This is my first ever time writing a story for other people, and I really appreciate any reviews or comments you have. I've a got a lot of stuff in mind for this story, so I hope you'll stick with it while I learn the ropes. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Kakarot was in no rush to leave the pool of water he was laconically floating on. It was in this pool of water, after all, where it first began; where the earliest reaches of his memory took root.

It was here where he fell down off the edge of the waterfall above, shattering his arm against the submerged boulders below the surface of the pool, leaving him howling in agony. Kakarot spent hours immobilized by pain before a man stumbled onto the scene, a wooden pole with two hanging wooden buckets lying flat over his shoulders.

This old man, bald but graced by a big bushy mustache, dropped what he was doing and ran over to Kakarot. He swept him up into his arms and brought him to his home, nursing him back to health. Of his own accord, the old man took Kakarot in, making him one of his own. He provided food, a roof, and a bed for Kakarot- more all novel experiences.

And Kakarot hated the old man for that. Rage, even indignation, consumed Kakarot's thoughts on the existence of this weak, merciful fool. To care for someone without no consideration of the threat they posed was insane. The old man may as well have adopted a fully grown bear. _I am a Saiyan, and-_

Kakarot let slip from his face his mask of rage. Curiosity rushed into where anger had been. _What exactly is a Saiyan? Why do I even know that word?_ _The old man never said it. Not when he was fading away-_

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts _These a_ _re useless thoughts._ It didn't really matter where the word came from. What mattered was that he was a Saiyan and that that old man was, decidedly, not. _No Saiyan would act like he would_. No, the old man, no matter how similar he looked to Kakarot, was different.

 _I spent years with him, studying him, studying his language and his customs. In essence, studying a people completely foreign to me._ He prepared for, well, something he knew had to be done. He had prepared to kill him.

It proved to be inconsequential in the end. One day, while Kakarot slept, the man simply… disappeared. But that wasn't the strangest part. For some reason, Kakarot had a _feeling_ , a memory of the man dying- but it felt so distant and unknown, like so much else in his life.

Some days, he doubted his sanity. So much of his behavior seemed to be driven by unconscious desires, underwater currents coursing through his brain, their origins or causes unknown to him. The other day, he had walked up to a deer and impaled it with his hand. He couldn't provide a reason for why he did this. _In that moment, it felt_ _like something I would do… but now, I'm repulsed by it._

Slowly, he raised and examined his right hand, focusing his mind to a point in the middle of his palm. A small glowing ball steadily emerged, blue and cool. _And what about this?_ _I have power, but why? Of all the life I've seen, why alone do I have this? I feel as if I could kill something by tripping on it._ _This… strength, or whatever it is, is incredible, but for some reason I feel disinterested by it, almost repelled._ Kakarot closed his fist, dissipating the ball of _ki_ , and relaxed his hand back into the water. _There are so many things I don't understand…_

Sighing, he made his way back to the edge of the pool, climbing out of the water to stand on the forest floor. He shook himself dry, tail wagging alongside his body. When he was mostly dry, he made his way over to his pack and rummaged through it until finding his clothes- a simple cotton shirt and pants, both colored a faded brown. While dressing, a final question floated into his head.

 _Who was that other man I killed?_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

On a dusty desert bluff, where wind blew across in steady waves and threw up sand into every crevice and crack, a lone figure stood watch, their eyes watching the horizon. He was dressed in true desert attire; cloth rippling in the wind covering his chest and legs, broken by a sash tied around his waist. He wore the colors of the land, his clothes taking on the color of the sand underneath him. Windswept hair fluttered on his head as his eyes finally turned towards the road stretching out and past the bluff he stood upon. A jeep sped down the road, on course to run directly into his trap.

Smiling, the bandit descended to meet them.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Krillin tapped the dragonball radar, confirming what he was seeing. Behind him, a blip was steadily moving away from him (admittedly more him moving away from the blip than the other way around). Every day, he had asked Bulma for the radar, to methodically check that they were, slowly but surely, putting Kakarot and his dragonball behind them. That death, that _horror_ , behind him.

Admittedly, there wasn't much to do other than that when they were driving. In the several days they'd been on the road, a routine for both of them had developed. Roll out of bed in the morning - which for Bulma entailed a modern capsule house, while Krillin slept in a modest tent from the temple - and check the dragon radar to confirm the blip they were tracking was still in the same place. Wolf down a capsule-breakfast (which had become the slightly unpalatable stuff of every meal they ate), pack up camp, and set off on the road for the day. After a while, the ground passing underneath the jeep's tires began to blur together in one long, unending reel.

Krillin decided that in his free time he would train, or at least, _try to train_. It was unclear to Krillin how to actually do that. He never got far enough in his stay at the Orin temple to receive any real training; instead, all he learned to do was meditate, which frustrated him more than anything else. As long as he could remember, he had an incredibly hard time clearing his mind. His mind simply refused to relax; no matter how hard he tried, a seemingly endless flow of fear and anxiety would drip through his consciousness. Now was no different. While stuck in the jeep he would often try for hours to achieve a meditative state- but no matter what he did, five minutes would pass and he would have given up, resigning himself to watching the world pass by as Bulma drove.

On the plus side, the small amount of physical training he was able to do at the beginning and end of the day seemed to be giving disproportionate gains; the other day, after Bulma had ducked into her house and locked the door to avoid pre-agreed cleaning duty, he had accidentally dented the metal door with his frustrated knocking. After that, he had been almost scared of his own strength, mostly because without an ounce of training, he didn't feel confident at all in controlling it. Really, he felt more like a wild animal than anything else, something acting on instinct and gut-feeling. An image of Kakarot flashed through his head. _Well, not entirely..._

As the days went on the land around them slowly grew more open; trees and plants became more and more sparse, as the dirt lost its rich, brown hue and took on more tones of grey and faded yellow. Krillin realized, belatedly, that they had driven into a desert.

Krillin looked over at Bulma, who had put on a thin-brimmed hat with goggles that had a long veil of fabric extending down the backs and sides of her head. His own attire, he realized, was woefully ill-equipped for the desert- his eyes began to sting from the flying airborne sand.

"Bulma", he said while tapping her shoulder with half-closed eyes, "is there any chance you have a second hat like the one you're wearing?"

Bulma's head rotated towards Krillin slightly. "Yea, one second," she replied, reaching down to a compartment between their legs.

In retrospect, this was a horrible time to not be watching the road.

The car violently shook, then began to spin, as Bulma's gaze shot back towards the road and she desperately tried to keep the car from plunging into the sand dunes flanking the road. For a few seconds Krillin was convinced the jeep was going to flip, taking both him and Bulma to an early grave. Thankfully, after a few moments of wild chaos, the car settled in a slowing spin that screeched to a stop not ten feet from a dune.

As soon as the vehicle stopped, Bulma stood up and twisted around in the car, looking up the road to where they had come from. After a moment of looking, she wrenched her goggles off her head and threw them down to the ground. "I'm going to kill someone!" she screamed, slamming her arms on the back of her seat.

Calming his beating heart, Krillin tentatively stood up and glanced to where Bulma had been looking. Squinting, he could see a field of metal spikes carpeting the road the jeep had driven over. He leaned out over the car door and saw the front tire on his side was flat. _That's one mystery solved_. As he was turning to Bulma, Krillin noticed her attention was focused on something farther down the road in front of them. He followed her gaze.

A lone person stood in the middle of the road, seemingly having appeared from nowhere. The lower half of his face was wrapped with a thick sash. He held up two drawn scimitars, pointing them at Bulma and Krillin.

"Now," he stated, "unless you want to end up like your car, I suggest you hand over everything you own, _now_."

This bandit was about fifty feet away. It was hard to hear him and even harder to be intimidated.

"What?" Bulma called out, "What did you say?"

Krillin blinked. Suddenly, the man was right alongside the car.

"What I asked," he continued in a lower tone, "is for you to hand over everything you have, _now_." Unfortunately, as close as he was to them now, Krillin could clearly see the sweat beads rolling down his forehead.

 _I wonder what's the optimal distance for banditing... hmm,_ Krillin internally mused. _Something to consider another time._

Bulma clearly saw the same thing. "A make-believe bandit, eh? Well good." She taunted. "I was looking for some functional entertainment How about you fight my associate here, and if you defeat him, I'll hand over everything I own."

Krillin's jaw dropped. "What!?" His eyes practically bulged out of his head. "Are you talking about me? _Me,_ fight _him_? Why?"

"If you can't fight a half-assed thug then how are you going to get a dragonball guarded by someone strong?" The more she spoke, the deeper her scowl became. "How are you going to get a dragonball from _him_? Consider this my test of whether or not it's worth it to bring you along. I'm tired of your moping butt- and if you can't dispatch a common criminal then there's no point in keeping you around."

Krillin couldn't really argue with that. He sighed, unlocking his door and climbing out of the now useless car. Shoulders slumped, he walked around to the front to face the bandit. Other than the height difference and the weapons at the man's side, appearance-wise he couldn't see much of a difference in strength between them. _In fact…_ "Hey! Drop those scimitars! It's not fair if you have a weapon and I don't!"

The bandit visibly blanched. "I… what?"

"You heard me! Drop those weapons! If we're going to fight we're going to fight fair!"

The man looked visibly saddened by this turn of events. "Oh… I really liked these scimitars... been practicing with them for months… Wait! I have an idea! How about I give you one? That way we both have a weapon."

"Yea, that sounds fair to me!" Krillin was about to accept the scimitar from the bandit when he realized something. Frowning, he batted the offered weapon away. "Wait a second! You've been training with those scimitars for months! I've never even heard of a scimitar before! How is that fair?"

Withdrawing the weapon, the bandit seemed to have recovered his composure. _Confident? He's devised a plan, then,_ Krillin thought. "That's fine," the bandit replied. "Guess we'll fight the old fashioned way; hand to hand."

Krillin nodded. "Fine by me." _Time to employ another good ol' fashioned tactic; bluffing_. Krillin settled into a stance he had seen one of the more illustrious monks at the temple use. Of course, he himself had never used it, but he has seen it enough times to recall at least the starting position.

To Krillin's relief, the bandit assumed a pose that clearly showed he had no idea what he was doing. Which made it all the more shocking when the bandit blurred from sight and kicked Krillin to the side, embedding him into a sand dune head-first. Shaking off his confusion and disorientation, Krillin propped his arms against the dune and unsuccessfully tried to push himself out. _Welp, this isn't encouraging_.

When he saw Krillin wiggle his feet to break free and roll down the sand dune, the bandit mentally panicked. _What!?_ _That was was nearly my strongest kick! How is he still moving? I've launched rocks the size of my head fifty feet with that kick! What is this kid made of?..._

The bandit furrowed his brows, studying Krillin as he moved back into the stance he had taken earlier. _Maybe_ _it's that pose; it looks legit. If he knows martial arts, then there's a good chance he's trained himself to be really strong. He might kill me! Of all the people I choose to start my bandit career with..._ Gulping, the bandit steadied himself, positioning himself ten feet away from Krillin.

Krillin felt a tide of panic rising, but pushed it down. _No, I've still got a chance. Just hit the guy a few times and maybe it'll turn out he's all bite but no bark… tree bark, that is. That's something durable, right?_ Shaking off his confusion, Krillin closed with the bandit. A fist flew out from Krillin which hit the bandit square in his block, slightly pushing him back. The bandit responded by getting low to the ground and sweeping his right leg out in a semi-circle. Bending both legs, Krillin hopped into the air to avoid the sweep. This, however, was exactly what the bandit wanted. He used his position on the ground to pivot on his left foot and bring his right leg back around, colliding with Krillin's unguarded, jumping body and sending the former monk flying for the second time in the fight. This time, however, Krillin managed to recover in midair and land on both feet with a _tac_.

Both fighters stared each other down. _This is actually going surprisingly well_ , Krillin thought. _I'm not that injured and that simple sequence of moves seems to have left that guy winded. My initial thought was right- he's untrained._

Ten feet away, the bandit was furiously thinking. _It's just as I feared. This guy's way durable! I'm going to have to pull out_ _all my_ _tricks if I'm going to beat him_. He glanced at something behind Krillin. _I was hoping I wouldn't have to bring her into this, but I have no choice!_

Smiling, the bandit shifted his position and turned his body slightly away from Krillin. He methodically moved his hands through his hair, shockingly and incongruently vain for what they were currently doing.

Krillin watched, utterly lost. _What the hell is he doing?_

Bulma, who at this point was still standing in the jeep, was grudgingly captivated for an entirely different reason.

As quick as he started, the bandit stopped, once again settling into his impromptu guard. "Hope you're ready for trouble!" he said, flexing his arms.

A hand clamped down on Krillin's shoulder. "It's about to double!" a voice behind him yelled.

Krillin slowly turned around, to find himself staring at an exact copy of the bandit. _Wha-_

Once he'd turned around, the original bandit had charged him, hitting him with a two-handed fist to the ground, then missing his stomp when Krillin rolled away. Face down in the sand, the gears began to spin in Krillin's mind.

The original bandit moved back next to his double. "Remember my name! This is what happens when you mess with the legendary desert bandit Yamcha!" From where she was, Bulma thought she had seen the second figure's twitch an eyebrow, but she wasn't quite sure.

Krillin slowly clambered off the ground, then rose into a standing position facing away from them, brushing dirt off his clothes as he did. "Now," he spoke, "I'll be honest, that was a pretty good ruse". He turned to them, so he could savor the shock he knew he was about to see. "But you two made a very crucial mistake. If you're going to sell the doubling of something, make sure you have the details down pat. Specifically looking at you,' he pointed towards the left bandit, "second 'Yamcha', or whatever your name is. I don't think my opponent had _whiskers_."

The second bandit glared, then snarled, as the illusion quickly broke apart. In a final poof of dust, the double disappeared and was replaced by a floating cat, still visibly fuming at Krillin.

 _Honestly, that's more weird than the double…_ Krillin scratched his head. "I assume you were going to try and scare with that second you. What, were you going to move in unison or something? Maybe do some synchronized dancing?" He paused. _What's_ _happening_? _Are we actually fighting? Were we even fighting to begin with? Hmm..._ "Hey, are we still fighting?" Krillin checked.

The remaining bandit growled. "Yes!"

The two rushed forward, the bandit seizing the initiative by launching a flurry of swipes and strikes. Anger, however, while speeding up his attacks, drastically lowered his accuracy.

"Why! Can't! I! Hit! You!" He bellowed, trying to hit Krillin with an overhead double-fist that Krillin side-stepped.

 _So this is what it feels like to be on the winning side of a fight… I should have gotten him angry a long time ago…_ Krillin continued to evade the bandit's attacks, until spotting an opening in Yamcha's frantic pace and stepping in closer. He slid his foot in front of the bandit, stopping the bandit's moving right foot. Yamcha was thrown forwards and slammed in the jaw by an uppercut, knocking him back a couple feet. Yamcha toppled and slammed his back into the ground with a _thud_.

 _Was I really worried about this fight? This guy is a pushover._ Krillin casually walked over to the splayed out bandit.

On the ground, bruised but not beaten, Yamcha raged. _This can't be happening! The first person I try to rob and they're almost superhuman!_ Blinding fury had nearly overwhelmed Yamcha when he remembered he still had one more trick up his sleeve. _Oh. How could I forget that?_ The bandit steadily rose, wiping was blood from a cut on his jaw. Expressionless, he settled into an entirely different pose, facing the approaching Krillin head-on.

 _If this trick is as bad as the last one,_ Krillin thought, _then I'm fine._ He continued his calm walk forward.

The bandit started growling, drawing his features into a dark visage. His eyes began glittering like jewels on his face. Suddenly, a blue aura exploded out of Yamcha. Krillin was stopped dead in his tracks. _This… this move is- it has ki_! _Something only the masters ever used!_ Trembling, Krillin drew up his arms into a block, expecting the worse.

His face a mask of wild ferocity, the bandit continued growling, making the aura around him more and more jagged. He pulled his arms into his body and clenched his hands, looking back and forth between his fists and Krillin. "This, this is my final technique! The technique that will finish this!" He intricately twisted his hands, forcing them to look like a mouth about to bite. "WOLF! FANG! FIST!"

In the blink of an eye, the bandit launched forward, fists enveloped in the blue aura that had surrounded his body. Spreading his fingers out to form two claws, Yamcha closed on Krillin's head, landing two simultaneous blows on the top and bottom. Stunned, Krillin was thrown back into the air by another series of punches that pummelled into his body. In the air the bandit pursued, raining down an onslaught of blows that decimated any guard Krillin attempted to throw up. By the mid-way point of the technique, it was obvious that the former monk had passed out from the pain.

The bandit didn't stop. He was angry, and he wanted to avenge his humiliation at the hand of this upstart. Fists drove Krillin higher and higher into the air, his body becoming almost ethereal as the technique reached its climax. After a final sequence of fists, the bandit drew his arms back, his hands side to side in an open position. With visible effort he pulled the last of his aura from his body and channeled it into his outstretched palms, and then with a mighty push, he slammed into Krillin's body, sending the former monk flying for a good ten feet before falling to the ground, unconscious. In the space of about four seconds, the bandit has utterly destroyed his opponent.

Satisfied, the bandit let his arms drop, admiring his handiwork. Then, he realized his arms were still dropping, eventually landing on the ground with his body in pursuit. _Guess I pushed myself a little too hard...sorry Puar_. Exhaustion took him and he blacked out.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

It was a strange scene for Bulma to take in. Both Krillin and the bandit were out cold. A decidedly weird ending to a very weird fight. _I guess it fits_. She looked over to the bandit again, noticing the cat now hovering over him, concern evident on its face. _N_ _o you don't!_ Bulma jumped out of the jeep and ran after the cat. She succeeded in capturing it when Bulma tripped and fell, her hands snaking around it as they both collided with the ground. With her body bruised but her pride intact, Bulma moved her hands out from under her and clasped her grip around her prisoner. _They have their way, I have mine_.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

In a dark, old basement of an annex long forgotten to the world, a computer screen lit up. A young woman, who had been sleeping in a cot to the side of the room, woke up and rose out of bed. She saw the computer blinking and walked over, and picked up the phone from its mantle nearby.

Her voice belayed a singular confidence. "Yes? Commander Red? What is it? You do know what time it is over at this part of the world, right?" Chatter. "Oh. I see. Well, are you sure?" Angry chatter. "Yes, yes, I see. Hold on, I'm pulling up the document now." With one hand she pulled up a file on the computer and began skimming its contents. She gasped. "What? These many units? It was my impression that we were going to wait a few more years, get a bit more funding. What changed?" Silence. Then, slow speech. "An entire village? I can't believe it... Yes, I know, the base in the village was more important the village itself, but still. Uh-huh. Yea. Alright. We're green to go, then." A single word, drawing forth a smile from the woman. "I'll start the calls. I'll contact you once they're done. Mhmm. Good luck to you too, sir." She hung up the phone. She sat down to face the computer, eyes burrowing into the information before her.

"And so to war we go."


	3. Trailing the Ashes

Pursual

Chapter 3: Trailing the Ashes

 _Edit from the chapter 30 future- I'm cleaning up the pursual arc. My writing has improved a lot from these days and I'm making edits to reflect that. This chapter should now read like it was written by a human._

* * *

Consciousness reluctantly returned in waves to Yamcha; cautiously, he began to probe outwards. Judging from the comfy feeling running up and down his back, Yamcha could tell he was lying down in a bed. He inhaled- air fllowed through his nose, filling it with a harsh, pungent odor. _That's familiar. This is my bed_. _How did I get here?..._ Sounds that were at first unrecognizable slowly started coalescing into Yamcha's mind.

"...and there I was, standing there, dumbfounded by these two. They're so bad at fighting they can't even give us a clear winner and loser…"

The voice sounded familiar to Yamcha.

"I was so _mad_ at him. He made me come out and help him when I hadn't even perfected my clone of him… panics every time."

 _Hmm. Rude_. _Wait. That's Puar! And she's talking to… oh! The woman from the jeep. Hold on a second. Why is she in our house? What's going on!?_

Yamcha was about to give them both a piece of his mind when a third voice spoke, halting him from breaking out of his unconscious act.

"C'mon, don't be so hard on him. In one move he was able to totally outclass me! Give the guy some credit!"

 _What! HIM!? My opponent? Why is he here!_ Yamcha was fuming. _I'm going to throw them out of here, right now! I'll just wait until they're distracted, and then BOOM! They won't even see it coming!_

"Uh, Yamcha," Puar interrupted Yamcha's thoughts, "you do know we can see you shaking, right?"

Startled, Yamcha quickly sat up in bed and faced the others."Well? I want to hear it now! Out with it!"

Krillin tilted his head. "Hear what?"

"The explanation! The explanation for why you're here!"

"Yamcha," Puar spoke up, "let me explain. When you and Krillin got knocked out, Bulma ran over and grabbed me. We soon realized, however, that we weren't really enemies. These two aren't some rich party riding through the desert; they're two adventurers on an important quest. From what Bulma and Krillin told me about it, they definitely don't need trouble from us."

"Adventure? Quest? What are you talking about?"

"They're trying to revive a man who died with something called the dragonballs. He apparently died a horrible death in battle that he didn't deserve.

"Oh? What's so great about this man? Can he fly? Bend metal? Can he _steal_ better than me?"

"Yamcha," Puar said, grimacing, "This man is Master Roshi!"

A silence settled over the air. Yamcha's angry demeanor quickly subsided. He furrowed his brow, turning away from the group to face the room's wall.

"You know," he finally began, "For the longest time, I didn't think the guy existed. In the village where I'm from, he was talked about like any other legend, like the tale of the evil King Piccolo's rise and defeat, or the great heroes of ages long past."

"I was a young kid, you know," Yamcha resumed after a pause, "and I loved those type of stories. I'd be the one to defeat the evil King Piccolo when he returned, or I'd be the one to save the world. And I dreamed that I would be the one to be trained under the legendary Turtle Hermit, Master Roshi. A few years back, I left my village, pursuing those dreams. My quest led me here, where I found something that convinced me that I was a misguided, delusional kid. So I'll be honest; I don't believe you when you say you're trying to bring back Master Roshi." Yamcha fell silent.

"Ahem," Krillin cleared his throat, "excuse me for asking, but what exactly did you find?"

0o0o0

The wind had died down, giving the desert a picturesque quality hard to appreciate when choked by sand. They exited the small house Yamcha and Puar called home, which was haphazardly built into the side of a mesa, and walked away from the road into the desert. Thankfully, only after a handful of minutes walking, they reached a small cave that poked out of the ground at a 45-degree angle, parting the sand too well to be natural. Cautiously, the group descended into it, Yamcha taking care to light and keep lit a wooden torch he had brought with him.

The tunnel descended and made a sharp turn left, opening up into a small chamber. Walls of rough-hewn limestone nearly formed a perfect rectangular chamber. _Huh. Definitely not natural then…_ thought Krillin, as Yamcha finished lighting the torches in the small chamber. Eyes adjusting to the light, Krillin could finally make out the central feature of the room. A simple adorned table. _Wait no, that's..._

"A grave," Bulma remarked.

Yamcha nodded. "I found this here maybe half a year ago. I was scouring the desert around here on the thinnest lead that the Turtle Hermit had been seen around these parts, when I practically stumbled into this cave looking for shelter during a bad sandstorm. Feeling my way through the cave in the darkness, I eventually fumbled my way to this grave, and," he gestured, "to these."

His eyes following where Yamcha's was pointing to, Krillin could now make out some shapes lying against the back wall of the chamber. What looked like to be a walking stick and a- _turtle shell? That thing is huge!_ \- were propped against the wall. It was obvious from the dust on them that they hadn't been used in a long time.

"Krillin, you recognize the significance of these artifacts, right?"

"I mean, yea, everyone at the temple knows about the Turtle Hermit and his calling cards..." Krillin trailed off, eyes still processing what was in front of him. "'With a shell on his back and a stick in his hand, the turtle hermit destroyed many an enemy', or something along those lines. Hmm..." He approached the grave, moving up to the side of it, rubbing his hands over the stone slabs of the grave and looking more closely at the two items.

After a few seconds, Krillin straightened and faced the others. "I'm not convinced this is Master Roshi. And that's not because of what I saw, but based on the evidence here."

Yamcha raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Why's that?"

"Well, here's how I see it. We need to think about why this grave was constructed in the first place. Someone clearly spent a lot of time and effort building this grave, so they were motivated by admiration, or love, or respect- anything positive, I guess- for the person they were building the grave for. That means there are," he paused, holding up his fingers, "two possibilities. Either one, a student of Master Roshi buried him here, or two, Master Roshi buried a student here. Did you ever consider the second option before Yamcha?"

Yamcha pouted. "Not really. I always thought the shell and the stick spoke for itself. That the person building the grave brought Master Roshi's favored items in life here to lay down with him."

"That's definitely a possibility, but at the same time those artifacts weren't just tools of Master Roshi; they were symbolic of the whole Turtle School of martial arts. From the stories I heard any mention of Master Roshi always included tales of his school and the students he trained. For a student to leave these items here means they had no interest in continuing the legacy of the Turtle School after Master Roshi's death. If a student cared enough for Master Roshi to build a grave for him, they wouldn't have let his legacy die out."

"Okay," Yamcha said, "but that raises the question; why would Master Roshi leave his stick and shell here with his student's grave?"

"I can really only think of one reason." Krillin's tone lapsed into sad disinterest as he finished his thought. "Master Roshi thought the Turtle School died with this student."

No one spoke for a while after that. Yamcha and Puar stared at Krillin, who still lingered near the grave.

Bulma, who was at the back of the cave, suddenly spoke up. "Uh guys, hate to break up this thinkfest, but there's something you guys should know." Three heads turned. "There's a dragonball in the grave."

Silence. Without making a sound, Krillin slowly walked over to the grave and beckoned the three others over. He made a motion to the others to help him lift the top stone lid.

"Krillin," Puar chimed in, unease in his voice, "You can't possibly be thinking of -"

"Please!" Krillin looked frantic. "Just trust me!"

Hesitantly, the three relented and moved over the to grave to help Krillin lift it. After a good minute of testing and grip adjustment, the four made a final push and cleared the lid from the grave, moving it to lay against the tomb on its right side. Dust was thrown up into the air, making breathing difficult. While everyone was coughing, Krillin poked his head forward and looked down into the grave.

"It's what I thought," he said, his hands now bringing out something from the grave. He pulled out an orange orb, one inlaid star shining in the dull light of the cave. "No body. Just this dragonball."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

A group of boots splashed through mud as they walked down the main road of a village. Or, the main road of what was left of a village. Rubble and rock were strewn across the road, splayed out in haphazard patterns that threatened to make the passage through town totally impassable. Houses on the left and right looked squashed, as if a giant hand had come down and flattened them. Among the ruin, there were no signs of life being present.

Slowly, the five of them advanced, taking care to step around the detritus in the road and while carefully scanning the devastated landscape around them. Dressed in dark green camo military fatigues and armed with assault rifles, they walked through in silence.

The lead figure lifted her arm, bringing everyone to a stop. The four others halted behind her, guns raised towards the outline of a building in front of them. After pausing to take one last look around, she walked up to building's rubble, put down her pack and gun, and started sifting through the debris.

"Lieutenant," one of the men spoke up, "I know I'm not supposed to talk during missions-"

A pause from the woman temporarily startled him, before she resumed her searching. He ventured on. "But uh… shouldn't we have more… back-up? Only something real nasty could have done this…"

When the lieutenant replied, her tone was decidedly disinterested. "Soldier, use your reason, not your fear. We received information that this village was attacked and destroyed four days ago. Furthermore, there was a similar village to the east that was destroyed eight days before that. There's a clear…" she grunted as she lifted a large chunk of rock, "pattern to these events. An attack. Destruction. Move on. By now, whatever or whoever has done this is long gone. Besides, we've found what we're looking for." She withdrew her hands from the pile in front of her, pulling out a black box, scuffed and scraped by the rubble but still intact.

She flung back the lid and checked the container's contents. Pulling out a piece of paper from her back pocket, she scanned it and checked off some items with a pen. Reaching the end, she folded the paper back up and placed it back into her pocket, closing the lid on the box as she did.

"We have what we came for," she announced, stuffing the box into her camo-green backpack. "Let's move."

She was greeted by telling silence.

The lack of response to her command angered her, and she spun around, ready to reprimand her soldiers for what felt like the hundredth time today. However, she was surprised to see no one was in sight.

"Commander!" a voice rang out from nearby, "Over here! We've found something- err, someone!"

Interested, the lieutenant padded over to a wall still standing from which behind the voice came from. Rounding its corner, she saw her four soldiers standing over something in the rubble. She moved forward and parted between the two nearest and peered down. A boy, probably somewhere between 10 and 13, was on his back, unconscious. Scars and dried blood covered his naked form from head to toe, inviting the imagination to speculate what he had seen during the attack on the village. Curiously enough, a small brown tail was pinned under his body, the very edge resting to the right of him.

Her second-in-command, a man named Pako, moved up to her side. "Commander, as far as you know, does our army have a policy towards orphaned, nearly dead children?", he delivered as monotone as possible given the circumstances.

The lieutenant's face was unreadable. _This kid, horror, war, seen it all, dead, everyone dead, father dead, mother dead, brother dead, sister dead, dead dead dead -_ the lieutenant shook her head, dispelling her thoughts. _Not here. Not now._

"There's one path in front of us, Sergeant Pako. We take the boy." Ignoring his surprised facial expression, she stepped forward and collected the boy in her arms, carrying him back to the parked jeep on the outskirts of the town. Her squad silently fell in tow behind her.

A single thought raced through the lieutenant's head, drowning any reason or emotion that surfaced. _Not again!..._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

After carefully repositioning the lid over the grave and paying their last respects to the unknown warrior the cave was dedicated to, the four exited into the surrounding desert. The wind had picked up during their time beneath the surface, and as a result, their return back to Yamcha and Puar's house was far longer than their trip out. While struggling through the newly intensified sandstorm, Yamcha had time to think.

 _So I guess Master Roshi… didn't die here. He was probably still alive. And I… I gave up on him. No, I gave up on what he represented. I gave up on my dream. I thought Master Roshi was the only path to glory. My only chance to rise above. But that wasn't true; if I wanted to succeed, to do better than all who came before me, I had to work for it, Master Roshi or not. I had to keep dreaming._ Soon enough the group finally came to Yamcha and Puar's house, and hurried inside, out of the sand. _And I think I know how to do that._

"Puar," Yamcha called to the flying cat once they were inside, "can I talk to you for a minute in private?"

The flying cat glanced at Yamcha, then nodded. The two entered their bedroom and closed the door behind them. Sheets and clothes were sprinkled across the room in a disorganized mess.

"Puar," Yamcha began as he moved to sit down on his bed, "I've been thinking. Do you think we're cut out for banditing?"

Puar hesitated, then shook her head no.

Grimacing, Yamcha closed his eyes. "That's what I thought too. Preparing for this, learning the ropes, then actually _trying_ to rob from someone… it was never satisfying. I always felt like I was settling for something worse than what we could be doing."

He paused. "Puar, another question. What do you want to do in life?"

"To be honest, I couldn't answer that off the top of my head. Maybe have a fulfilling life? Whatever that means."

"Right. So this is what I'm thinking. I think we can both agree our present arrangement isn't the best. So, if there's a way out from what we're currently doing, I saw we take it. Do you understand?

"Not sure I see what you mean."

"All I'm saying is that on the off chance that those two… give us an out, I guess, we should take it. We should leave this life behind and do something we both want to do."

"So you're saying that you want to help revive an old martial arts master? You believe everything they said about the dragonballs is true, magic and all?"

"No! All I'm saying…" Yamcha rubbed his fingers into his temple. "...is that we should join them on the road. The world is a big place, and we're bound to run into a few opportunities along the way while we're tagging along with them. Let's try to help them out, and if that doesn't work out, we leave."

Puar stared at the opposite end of the room, apparently thinking. "Okay. That sounds like a plan. We're a team, right? In it 'til the end?"

Yamcha nodded. "Right. Let's return before they think we're planning to rob them again." The two walked over to the door and opened it, to see Krillin and Bulma facing them smiling.

"So," Krillin spoke, smiling, "We have a question for the two of you."

On that day, in that small, windswept abode in the desert, the beginning of something special started.

0o0o0o0

Far away, in a blooming, colorful forest, a girl sat in a glade, grass and leaves still wet from a rainstorm that had moved over the area an hour past. She knelt before a level stump, items laid out on a cloth wrap on top of it. Her eyes were closed, left hand resting on her left leg and right hand on the grip of a gigantic ax flat on the ground next to her. Two candles flanked her, flames flickering in the wind that brushed across the forest. A particularly strong wind blew across the glade, threatening to extinguish the candle flames. Slowly, the girl opened her eyes and extinguished the two candles to the left and right of her. Grabbing both of them, one in each hand, she suddenly clenched her hands, squishing the candles into clumps, letting them patter down onto the ground below her. She crouched down, collected most of the crushed wax, and packed up the items on the stump. Slinger her ax over her back, she paused to take one more look around. After that, she left the grove as silently as she came, winding in between the trees as she entered the forest. A few minutes after she left, a piece of candle wax left behind inexplicably lit up, almost pushing the grass away from it, forming a small dirt circle around a stoic burning candle. It started to rain once more; the candle burned on indifferent.


	4. Fire and Ice

Chapter 4: Fire and Ice

A/N: Hey guys! Just wanted to say hi and say I'm hoping to update this story weekly going forward, give or take… I dunno, a week max. Over the coming weeks, I also might be making some edits to the first couple chapters. Something tells me that there's a lot of work that can be done there. Other than that, keep up the reviews and thoughts! Nothing has motivated me more to write than a few short lines of encouragement in the reviews. With that, on to the chapter!

* * *

Taking on two more members to the party didn't prove to be as burdensome as Bulma had thought. She had made sure well before setting off to supply herself with copious amounts of food and supplies, prepared for the possibility of a very long quest. Two more mouths meant she had to sacrifice, according to her calculations, five years of provisions in food, and money to buy food. Still, that left them with about five years.

 _Then again_ , she mused, _that's not totally accurate. Worst comes to worse I could always return to West City, stock up again_... She scowled. _No. I made a pledge to myself and my parents I would do this on my own, difficulties be damned_. Bulma remembered fondly the day she left. For all the distance she felt between herself and her parents, no doubt influenced by all the time she spent alone or with a caretaker in her childhood, on that parting day her parents left no doubt as to what they felt about her. Her wet shirt was a testament to that.

 _I wonder what they'd think about my current predicament_... sitting in a fold-out chair, facing a burning fire, Bulma scanned the faces of her three companions surrounding the fire. She noted Krillin's distant look, speaking of the far-off place his mind currently resided. A strange person, him. _He showed some serious potential for... I guess hitting other people? In that last fight. I get the feeling, though, his own lack of self-confidence holds him back from seeing that._

Bulma moved her eyes to the figure to the right of Krillin and across from Bulma in the circle, Puar. _I know I shouldn't be thinking this, but a part of me wants to dig around in that cat's brain and figure out how exactly she shapeshifts. Is it a mental change on the body? Does the actual physical composition of the body change? Hmm... I wonder if my dad would feel the same invasive curiosity..._

Finally, she glanced over at the figure to her left, Yamcha. To find his eyes staring right back at her. Casually, he quickly flitted his eyes across to the left, now looking at some dark object in the background. _Don't wanna know what my parents would say about that... Can't deny he's kind of cute, though._

This would probably be the last night she'd be able to observe her companions so easily. The dragonball radar blip they were heading towards was taking them higher and higher in elevation, temperature dropping as a result. At this rate they were probably a few days away, max; in the distance, she could see distant snow-capped mountains. _Lucky for me - and not for them - I prepped for winter conditions._ It was probably too cold for them to be huddling around the fire out in the open even tonight - Krillin made a move to draw himself closer to the flames, rubbing his hands as he did.

All-in-all, they were a strange crew, characterized by long bouts of silence and even longer ones of brooding. Bulma noted that in particular, Krillin and Yamcha had let some former animosity creep into their relationship after Yamcha made an emphatic pledge towards the team. They would both move to opposite ends of camp once they had settled down for the day, and stubbornly pursue individual training. Bulma had a sneaking suspicion that neither was happy with the ending of their last fight and wanted to settle the score somehow. Bulma couldn't help but scoff. _Typical. Men and their fragile egos._

All Bulma could hope for was that they settled their problems soon, preferably before they got to the next dragonball. _For my sake, and for theirs_.

0o0o0

It had been two days since her squad had left the ruined village behind and headed west, expecting either to find more destruction or either the monster itself. What they got instead were days of uneventful walking, having to leave the car behind to look for tracks on foot. They found no signs that anyone had come through this area recently. Through those two days, she had carried the child in her arms, now clothed in the scraps of clothing she could scrounge from her soldiers, who remained unconscious throughout the trek. He still ate food and drank water when given to him, but so far she hadn't seen a single sign of awareness from the kid. She hoped she wasn't carrying him far from his village so he could die far from any place he had known in life.

A finger tapped her shoulder. "Lieutenant Rayne?"

Facing forward and thus her face invisible to the soldier behind her, she twisted her mouth in quiet indignation. _The worst thing to come of this has been the eroding professionalism of these idiots._ Not moving to turn her head, she asked, "What is it?"

"If you don't mind me asking, is there any reason we're still out here, walking east towards more villages? As far as we can tell, no one had passed through this area in the past few days. This forest looks as undisturbed as any you'd find in the world. At a certain point do we just, you know, give up?

Fearing she lacked the ability to disguise the emotion in her voice, Rayne simply said nothing and quickened her pace.

 _It always, ALWAYS came back to how I appear to these people. Why is a fourteen-year-old girl leading a squad of twenty-somethings soldiers? Why doesn't she use a gun? Why why why? There's a good damn reason. I'm a survivor. My superiors know that if all hell breaks loose, I would still find a way to manage it and get back to them in one piece. I know that I can do a lot more damage with my hands and feet than with a cumbersome gun. They should know that day in, day out, I act like I belong here, more than them, and make them work for_ my _respect. I don't give a damn about what they think and what they believe. All I need from them is their ability to follow orders, and to trust that I'm not looking to get everyone killed, including myself. They should know better, they should -_

Another finger tapped on her shoulder, interrupting her needed mental catharsis. On the edge of an outright explosion, she snapped her head back, looking to see who dared to challenge her this time. To her surprise, all four were stopped, staring at her. It was only then did she notice the slight stirring in her arms.

The kid proved to be a voracious eater when awake but still as silent as ever. Rayne tried to get an answer to any one of her questions every time she held up an item of food, but the kid's sad eyes quickly killed her resolve and she relented to let the kid eat as much as he wanted. _I shouldn't be too tough with the kid. He might not even know what happened to his village…_

After what felt like hours, the kid finally seemed to reach his limit, weakly pushing away an empty package of rations and burping loudly. Rayne crouched there, staring at him, waiting for any sort of word or gesture, but there was nothing. The kid blankly stared back. _Is this kid mute? Would be my luck…_ She paused to consider whether they should take him back to the village, perhaps getting him to communicate in the process, but she shook her head. _No, if anything that'd only traumatize the kid more. Besides, we can't spare the time to backtrack and drop him off._

"Well," she began, not expecting a response from the kid but informing him nonetheless, "you're with a group of soldiers going west. We're tracking down a monster that's been ravaging the countryside. We found you unconscious, alone, so we took you and took care of you the past two days."

Surprisingly, the kid didn't respond except for a slight grin.

 _This is one creepy kid_.

"What does that grin mean?"

Startled, the kid immediately withdrew the smile, resuming his earlier look of absent-mindedness.

 _Did the kid not know he was smiling? Okay, this is freaking me out. The next village we find we drop him off and forget he exists._

Throughout this one-sided exchange Rayne's second Pako was standing nearby, watching the two with wary eyes. Rayne stood and walked over to him, while doing so conveying the smallest of gestures to him. The meaning was clear enough. Rayne started off again into the forest, her troops falling in behind her. For a few seconds the kid hesitated, watching them move away, then got up and followed the trail set by the group.

0o0o0

Driving had taken the better part of the day. In the space of a few hours they had arrived at mountain roads, significantly slowing down their earlier pace through the surrounding lowlands. A low mist hung over the mountain, making visibility a nightmare for Bulma, impeding her driving skills even more. Her companions were annoyingly silent, making the experience excruciating _and_ lonely. It was under these conditions when she suddenly noticed something on the radar.

"Woah!" Bulma abruptly hit the brake, lurching everyone forward slightly out of their seats. "Look at the radar, see where the blip is?"

Everyone in the jeep huddled around the radar; according to it, the dragonball was directly on top of them.

"So we ran it over then? I don't remember any bumps in the road", Krillin asked half-serious, half-sarcastic.

"No, if anything it'd be above us. See how the blip is very slightly 3-d? The radar can give a very slight graphical indication if the dragonball is above and below us. Right now it's indicating it's above us. And above us is…" she turned her head skywards. "...Oh."

Above and to the side of the jeep was a gigantic rock wall, strewn with pocks and cracks, towering easily over any bit of the mountains near them they'd seen in the past day. It was practically vertical; combined with the ice trapped at spots, there was no way anyone was going to climb up this way anytime soon.

Which was the exact thought that went through her head as she saw both Krillin and Yamcha run up to the wall and jump up on it, free-climbing.

Bulma's jaw almost separated from her skull while dropping. As she was sucking up wind to go ballistic on the two of them for doing something so dumb and dangerous, a paw patted her on the shoulder.

"Bulma, tell me", Puar asked, "what has been the greatest annoyance for you and me over these past few days?

She narrowed her eyes at the two climbing figures. "Those two and their animosity, for sure."

"Right. So what do you think they're doing right now as they haphazardly climb up a mountain."

"Settling their differences, if I had to guess. Competing earnestly to settle who won the fight the other day."

Puar paused for a second. "They're very stupid. Look further up the rock side."

Bulma squinted to the rock near the top, which was hard to see through the heavy mist blanketing the area. What she could make out was a perilous-looking ledge that to Bulma appeared to be... _moving_. "The stone!... the stone is gonna!..."

Puar didn't respond to Bulma's quiet, worried mumbling. _Yamcha_ , she thought, _you should know better…_

Flashes of anger and respect were pulsing through Yamcha's mind. Every couple feet the bandit looked down the rock face to confirm Krillin was still right behind him. Every time without fail, he was, which pushed Yamcha even more to speed up his pace. Bits of rock and ice sprung from the rock face in the wake of moving hands and feet, yet Yamcha would rather die than give up. This was, above all else, a perfect chance for him to express his anger at Krillin. Anger that the monk had shut himself out to the rest of the team emotionally and intellectually, content to sit and ruminate in anger. From the small bits and pieces he'd learned about Kakarot, the person who'd killed Master Roshi - and guessing that the lack of information betrayed an ever-present fear - Yamcha knew that without everyone pooling together their skills, they stood no chance on taking this kid head on.

 _That was the whole idea, wasn't it? That I would join and undertake this great quest and we'd actually help each other. We would share our martial arts skill and techniques, to right a great wrong in the world? If I wanted to be useless to the greater good…. Krillin, you could have just spared me the trouble and left me in the desert to throw my life away in a slightly more satisfying way. And then there's her -_

Yamcha abruptly stopped climbing.

 _No time to think about that right now_. Right hand reached for a jutting rock and his right leg followed suit. _One thing in front of me. Expressing my anger. Beating Krillin. Humbling him and his selfishness, changing his ways._

 _Then again, why do I get so angry when I see him gaining?_

Krillin's mind was a frenzied storm as he wisely followed the proven path set by Yamcha above him. There was a simple reason he chose not to pursue another route up the rock side to get out in front of the former bandit; Krillin had no confidence in his ability to carve out a safe path up. To be honest, he was terrified. He had never done something as stupid as this, not to mention in the process egging on someone else to do the dangerous thing with him. Krillin had to ignore his mind's incessant prodding to look down and see how high he was.

He truly, desperately, wanted to stop, but the indignation Krillin saw on Yamcha's face every time he looked down at Krillin was proving to be more satisfying than anything else he'd experienced on this trip. And so, inch by inch, from one grip to the next, Krillin dutifully chased Yamcha up the mountain.

It took a few minutes for the two to approach the top of the rock face; by this point burning competitiveness had burned down to its last coals, exertion taking its toll, significantly slowing them. Near the top, the rock also became more treacherous, ice now forming whole parts of the wall and making even a simple mistake potentially deadly. The mist still clung to the air, making visibility beyond a couple of feet dubious at best. Yet, one outline slowly appeared before Yamcha's eyes.

 _A ledge_. _Even if the dragonball isn't there I can rest and try to recover my strength for any more climbing._ Yamcha dipped into his last reserves of strength, speeding up ever so slightly, maneuvering his body to grip onto a small, jutting slab of rock. Hand firmly clasped, Yamcha began applying his weight to the rock while pushing up with his legs.

When the ledge shuttered, then totally came free from the wall along with Yamcha's skittering hand. He instinctively and instantly viciously clenched his left hand, grasping air. His hand had been pulled away from the hold it was on and was mere inches from it. _Oh_. Control and balance melting away, Yamcha fell backward, feet meekly slipping from their step-stones and separating the bandit fully from the rock face. His vision, before he closed his eyes, rapidly filled with gray, condensed mist.

A split second later, Yamcha felt a violent tug, almost as if he was a puppet and his string had just been yanked on. He opened his eyes and stared upwards, to find a hand clasped iron-tight to his wrist. Beyond it was a monk's shaved head, eyes closed and teeth clenched, almost unintelligible sounds grinding out the words 'GRAB NOW'. Yamcha very quickly used his dangling left arm and reached for the rock face, his hand and feet finding purchase in the rock. As soon as he did so, Krillin released his grip, Yamcha thrusting his right hand to a small crevice to his right. He was safe.

Yamcha thought to say something, _anything_ , to the person who had just saved his life, but looking up he noticed Krillin had resumed climbing once more. It was then when he understood. Message received, Yamcha poured his concentration into climbing, following Krillin as best and safely as he could.

In this state, he noted passing by the spot where he had fallen. He noticed avoiding the section of the wall where the ledge had fallen out. And it was in this state he finally gripped a tangible ledge, pulling himself up with a friendly hand grasped to his own, until finally standing in an endearingly small cave.

In a bird's nest five feet into it, there lied the dragonball, enveloped by bird eggs Yamcha couldn't quite recognize. Krillin strode over to it and delicately removed the dragonball from the nest, revealing its five colored stars to the light for the first time. It was in this moment the bandit finally found the courage to speak.

"Krillin, I-"

"No need."

"But I-"

"Like I said, no need." He turned, revealing to Yamcha a happy smile, one born not of self-satisfaction but altruism. "In that moment where I saw you reach for that ledge, the one that from the ground I was dreading to pass by, I realized something. Both of us, by not being forthcoming and committed to what we're doing, we're endangering not only ourselves but everyone around us. If I had had the right priorities at the base of this cliff, I would have immediately told you about the ledge to make sure you didn't try to climb it. Instead, I got satisfaction from your frustration as I followed you up.."

Krillin paused. "I want to press the reset button. I think that both of us can agree we can do better. This cliff face is a monument to not only our own individual strengths but also to our potential if we work together." Unceremoniously, Krillin held out the dragonball to Yamcha. The bandit's eyes glinted - Krillin had a sneaking suspicion he saw tears - and he gratefully accepted the orb from Krillin.

"Let's start again. If not for us then for the team and our quest." He smiled. "Krillin, I do have one question though."

"Yes?"

"Will sentimentality get us down from here?"

0o0o0

Yamcha's question had brought genuine laughter and terror to the two, until they noticed that, remarkably there was a rope and some stakes in the far corner of the cave. Old, frayed at points, and discolored, nonetheless the rope was in usable condition and after securing to a jutting section of rock in the corner of the cave, it was a matter of minutes before the two returned to the ground where Bulma, Puar, and the car remained. They owed their lives to some forgetful climber - or at least the best guess as to who could have left rope - who had decided to climb this rock side of the twenty other ones nearby. To say they felt blessed was an understatement.

After some revelry and furious beratement from Bulma, the four finally settled down to a meal to celebrate their achievement of finding their third dragonball. It was during this impromptu event when Krillin decided to broach some thoughts he'd had since the fight. "Yamcha, can I ask you something?"

Face full of celebratory food, he could only manage a muffled "Huh?" in response to the former monk's question

"Back in our fight in the desert, you did something I've only seen a few times before. You… glowed. You flared your aura and thus your ki, which is what your aura is made out of. As far as I know, I've only seen ki used by the masters of my temple and it is incredibly hard to master. If you don't mind me asking, how did you learn it?"

The former bandit swallowed his food, pausing to think for a second. "I'll be honest, I never really learned it. I assume that you noticed that it was only with that one move I was able to use ki in our fight. I didn't even really have a name for that… stuff... before you told me just now. I can't give you any other answers except I seemed to know the Wolf Fang Fist, and the way to use ki with it, for as long as I could remember. If you don't mind _me_ asking, what exactly is ki? You said it was aura? What's that?"

Krillin furrowed his brows. "It's… kind of hard to explain. Hmm… He raised his head and stretched both his palms out in front of Yamcha. "Think of it as a fusion between two things. On one hand" he said flexing his left hand, "we have life energy. This is the stuff that lets us live, that we produce and use, and die from a lack of. There is life energy in every living being, allowing them to live the lives that they do. On the other hand, " now focusing on his right hand, "we have will. If you had all the life energy of the world contained in a single body, it couldn't be utilized in any way unless the will is there to express it. Think of it as a nozzle for a hose, where depending on how strong it is, it can bend life energy as strong as weak as it likes, in as many shapes and forms.

"I'm sorry", Puar cut in, "I don't quite get it. Though it may be because I'm not a fighter."

Yamcha laughed. "I'm as lost as you are, Puar, don't worry. Explain it another way, Krillin."

Krillin scratched his bald, shaved head. "Uh… let me think..."

He snapped his fingers. "Let's say you own a house."

"We own a house…" Yamcha muttered under his breath.

Ignoring Yamcha's quiet comment, Krillin pressed on. "Let's also say that you two don't like the look of the house, so you decide to paint it a different color. You find that the previous owner left a lot of paint in the color you wanted to use, so you drag out those gallons from the garage and open them up. However, you realize that to paint, you're going to need some tools to do it; you can't just dip your hand into the bucket and smear it on the wall. You get lucky again and you find that the previous owner also left some painting gear, like brushes and tarps. Now, fully armed with supplies, you both can finally start painting your house to the color you wanted. Understand, however, that only having one of those two things needed to paint would have been useless; without a brush, you couldn't put paint on the walls, and without paint, the brushes would have nothing be used with. It is only through the presence of both, and both being expressed at the same time, do we see any sort of change come about."

"I think I understand what you're saying," Yamcha responded, "although I'm still unclear what exactly 'life energy' and 'will' is.

"To be honest, I'm not one hundred percent certain myself. I don't think I got far enough in my education at the temple to learn that…" Krillin hung his head, failing in his knowledge for the first time in the conversation.

"Hey, cheer up bud!" Yamcha patted a hand on Krillin's shoulder. "We know at the very least that my Wolf Fang Fist uses ki! We just need to study it and unravel its secrets so we can both start using what powers it at will."

Bulma snorted. "Yea, if you two actually train and work together, who knows? Maybe you'll grow strong enough to fly and blow up the planet."

Yamcha's face left no doubt as to how playfully hurt he felt by the remark. Then, in a handful of seconds, the campfire was surrounded by relaxed, cheerful laughter, all four entertaining the possibility of Bulma's comment. Flying around and destroying worlds? They'd make horrible superheroes.

0o0o0

Lieutenant Rayne was unsurprised when the boy vanished one night, taking some supplies and the clothes on his back as she and her squad slept. She couldn't blame him. Wherever they were headed, it was obvious that she and her soldiers either chased death or confirmed it. Either way, there wasn't much happiness or normality to be found in their duty.

Which made it even more surprising when, on the outskirts of a small village they had assumed the next attack would be, they found the boy standing in their path. In the time since she had seen him last, he'd found a backpack and another set of clothes. In his eyes, she saw nothing of the detachment and distance she saw before. Instead, it was much more… disconcerting.

She signaled to her men to stop, ten paces away from the kid, still standing in the middle of the path to the village.

Abruptly, the kid started talking. "I'll be honest. I used you. I used all of you."

Rayne wasn't expecting those words from the kid. Perturbed, she replied, "Oh? Used us? How so?"

"I'm surprised that, for soldiers so focused on the task of finding out what was destroying villages, you didn't think twice of the presence of a _child_ , of all people, surviving so much death..."

Rayne paled. She heard her soldiers reflexively draw their weapons. _Oh no, no no no no no…_ "I… but… you were unconscious for days… I carried you from that ruined place-", she stopped short, feeling terror creeping into her voice.

"I wasn't really unconscious. More like just resting with my eyes closed, still aware of the comings and goings around me. I observed all of you." A sick grin crawled onto the boy's face. "And you're all weaker than I could imagine."

Rayne took an involuntary step back. _I need to run, I need to-_

It was at the moment, and sadly not for the first time in Rayne's life, that all hell broke loose.


	5. City Sojourn

Pursual

Chapter 5: City Sojourn

A/N: Hey everyone! Just so you know I made some edits to chapter one. Now it should read much better and all that jazz. I'm also still reviewing the earlier chapters and editing as I write the new ones. Hope you enjoy this chapter! It's a bit on the longer side compared to the previous ones.

* * *

Fire and blood filled her sight- the destruction wrought about in the forest was almost unimaginable. In that moment, when the boy stepped forward and guns erupted into madness, her training and her nerve evaporated. Despair and hopelessness overwhelmed her and provided the sole fuel for her desperate run. Bullets flew through the air and accentuated, dying screams contributed to the cacophony of death. Flames appeared from nowhere, sweeping across the forest with as if they possessed. Still, she charged forward and jumped into a ditch.

It was a scene right out of a nightmare.

An explosion rocked the ground and the air, causing her to shake as the dirt shifted under her body. Hands pressed over her ears, she shut her eyes, willing herself to another place, another time, to a memory far away from what was now happening.

The firing had, she dulled noted, finally stopped. The forest had grown silent, save for the sound of crackling wood and leaves. The explosion was reverberating into the distance. Horrible dread swept over her, threatening to completely rob her of any physical movement. Slowly, she lifted herself slightly from the ditch and looked around. Other than a few spots here and there where fire was overtaking the brush, the forest was clear of anything or anyone.

Cautiously, she stood up, walking over as silently as she could to the path she had run from. As she moved closer she realized that she was walking through an area where a whole belt of grenades had gone off, pocketing the dirt here and there with small holes.

When she exited the forest, the devastation was immediately present. Four bodies laid on the ground, their eyes and mouths open from shock. Weapons were strewn on the ground next to them, smeared in blood. From the looks of it, they were slaughtered.

Rayne stepped over to the nearest soldier. Her second-in-command, Pako, had a gaping hole through his gut. His guts were flung out over him like ghastly ribbon paper, folded and crumpled onto itself. It was in that moment of recognition that a blinding strike collided with the side of her head. She heard a grotesque _craaack_ as she fell towards the ground, no surer signal that the blow had fractured her skull. By the time she fully collapsed, almost all consciousness had been driven away by the overwhelming pain. She did hold on, however, to hear one last thing.

"Remember who did this. Remember Kakarot."

Then, oblivion.

0o0o0

Yamcha had appreciated the newfound atmosphere of the team. Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone else, nearly falling to his death had shaken him to the point where he felt it hard to find his old confidence - _or was that just blind rashness?_ Regardless, he had come to find comfort in his companions.

 _I guess it's been a long time since me and Puar have looked out for anyone other than ourselves._ From his bedroll Yamcha momentarily opened his eyes and glanced at Puar, who slept peacefully about ten feet away. She was curled up around the extinguished fire.

Ever since Yamcha and Krillin had mended the bridge between them, the entire party was much more at ease. Bulma and Puar certainly seemed happier and more cheerful by the day. Yamcha was happy to see it. Krillin had taken the initiative with training, continuing his effort to explain _ki_ to him to help him better access the Wolf Fang Fist. So far they haven't been very successful, but Yamcha wasn't discouraged. Krillin was smarter than he gave himself credit for. _If anyone could figure out ki through trial and error, it'd be him._

Overall, the entire experiences wasn't what Yamcha had been expecting. _We're definitely still teenagers, and we have a long way to go before we can unanimously agree on dish-washing duties, but this trip is turning out to be more civil than I would have imagined._

 _Hopefully, that gives me a chance... Then again, how am I supposed to make a move with two other people always around? Bulma… you should smile more._ His mind a mix of anxiety and adoration, the former bandit drifted off to sleep.

0o0o0

They set out early the next day. Bulma insisted that she needed to go to a city and restock on supplies. When Krillin questioned why she had said they had enough supplies a few days ago, she grumbled red-faced and said that she had miscounted.

 _I'm not going to bring that up again_ , Yamcha thought as he rested his head on his arm and looked out to the countryside around them. One of the first things he learned while traveling with Bulma is that she wasn't to be challenged. Once she made up her mind, that was that. Thus, the four of them traveled in Bulma's jeep. Silence rested over the vehicle as they drove to the nearest settlement, Rose City.

He saw endless fields of planted crops; every once in a while an errant stream or slow-moving tractor would break up this monotony. Yamcha registered the fact that if he had never left his village, he might have been one of the people milling the fields right now. _They sure don't look happy_. _Then again, my village was in the desert; more likely I'd be spearing snakes._

Soon enough, the countryside gave way to denser and denser buildings, finally enveloping the road fully. Bulma mentioned something along the lines of 'might as well get some gas while we're here' and pulled off the road into a gas station. As she got out to examine the gas pump, Yamcha took the chance to stretch his limbs and walk around.

The gas station sat in a semi-busy intersection. Cars and trucks intermittently passed by as the light switched from green to red and back again. A diverse mix of people walked by, from normal old humans to dogs, cats and rabbits. It was beautiful in a 'take a picture' kind of way.

Though it was odd that the gas station- Yamcha noticed- had a giant pig sticker plastered over it. He began to notice that the symbol was all over; the supermarket had pig stickers in its windows. The car-wash was a pig head with a mouth for the cars to go through. The butcher's was closed. _What, does the city have a big pig population and they like these businesses? I haven't seen a single pig walking the street._

Yamcha scratched his head. When he turned back to his companions to judge whether they were seeing what he was seeing, he saw that the three of them had gotten into a conversation with a dog police officer flanked by two cats who together looked particularly mad. _Uh-oh_. Yamcha walked over to the intensifying conversation.

"...and I told YOU that I won't be paying that!" Bulma said while pointing a finger at the dog policeman. "What kind of city has a visitor tax anyway?"

The officer looked shaken for a second, but doubled down and showed his teeth. "The kind that you're in. If you don't pay the tax then me and my officers will have to repossess some of your items." He eyed the jeep hungrily. "That car would probably cover the costs…"

Bulma was about to explode in anger when Yamcha rushed forward and placed his arms on her shoulders to calm her and hold her back. "Let's not get crazy here. Mr. Policeman, is there any court and person we can complain about this tax to? You have a courtroom in… where are we? Rose City?"

"Actually, it's Oolongopolis. And no, there's no one you can 'complain' to. If you have a problem with the tax we can take you in _shackles_ to our mayor." The dog police officer looked ready to pounce.

Yamcha was opening his mouth to respond when someone cut him off. "We'll do that!" Puar said hastily.

Three heads turned to Puar simultaneously, all talking at once.

"What?"

"Why?"

"No way in hell I'm doing that!"

Puar smiled sheepishly towards the officer. "Sir, if I could talk to my friends for a second…" The officer frowned, then gave a curt nod to Puar. The cat floated over a couple feet and gestured for the three others to come over. "Guys," she whispered when they were finally close enough, "I know what I'm doing."

Bulma shook her head. "Not good enough! Explain to us what you plan to gain by getting us all imprisoned!"

"Well, I'm working off a hunch at best, but I think I know who the mayor is. Remember what the officer said? The city's name? It's Oolongopolis. It just so happens I knew a particularly selfish and egotistical person named Oolong in shapeshifter school.

"Wait, you went to shapeshifter school?" Krillin asked, eyes widening.

"Not important! What matters is that this Oolong person is probably the mayor the officer is talking about."

Yamcha snapped his fingers. "Hold on. Is Oolong a pig?"

Puar furrowed her eyes. "I think so. I can't be sure, but that was definitely his most common form he took at school…"

"Look around us!" Yamcha gestured towards the buildings on the intersection. "Notice the pig stickers? This reeks of overblown self-importance. Fits the bill of a pig named Oolong."

"Okay, so we know who the mayor is. How does that help us if we're delivered to him in chains?" Bulma interjected.

"It's simple." Puar answered. "I'm a much better shapeshifter than him. I can beat him or trick him in a one-on-one fight and free you all in the process. And I'd rather do that in a throne room with a few guards around than out here in public with a bunch of innocent civilians…"

Bulma seemed ready to yell, but then she sighed. "You have a point, damn you. Fine. We go in chains. I swear to god, though, if we come back and my jeep is gone there'll be hell to pay."

Puar smiled. "I can accept those terms." She turned back to the policemen. "Okay! We're not paying the tax so we're ready to be arrested! Take us to the mayor!"

The confused look on the dog policeman's face as he gestured for his two officers to get the cuffs was priceless.

0o0o0

Rayne wasn't sure what came first. Tediously, she became more and more aware of sensation. Sensation undefined, unbounded, unrecognizable, washing and receding over her mind. Some time passed before she finally understood that she was being touched. Something rested on her head, though it felt weird, ethereal, as if either it or her body didn't exist.

She opened her eyes. Through blurry vision - _my sight, what happened, my sight -_ she could see a face hovering over her. The eyes were taut, looking down at her but not into her eyes. Black hair fell down out of a strange plumed helmet. Overall, the girl looked… rural? Whatever was her style, it certainly wasn't familiar.

Rayne must have been staring at her for a long time unknowingly, because the girl's eyes moved to hers. "Please, be still." Her hands were working on something near her, next to her head. _I don't-_

And then she remembered. The fear. The pain. The words. She gasped, reliving her last moments before unconsciousness, falling, drowning-

"BE STILL!"

She was back in the present. She was laying on the forest floor, the face looking down at her still in deep concentration. _I remember. He hit me. He shattered my skull._ "My skull," she gasped, "You're fixing my skull."

"Yes, I am."

She laid there, processing her situation. "Why don't I feel anything? Pain, that is."

"I rubbed a paste made from a plant that basically turns off your nerve receptors for a time. Didn't want you waking up in agony while I'm setting shards of skull."

A moment of panic swept over Rayne. With a few deep breaths, she calmed herself. "This doesn't make any sense," she stated. "My skull was fractured. I should be dead."

"Honestly, you should. But the way the skull was broken… well, it's almost as if whoever did this intentionally broke it just enough so that you'd feel excruciating pain but not actually _die_ from it. Or, at least not immediately. If not treated quickly, it would have been fatal. You're lucky I was around." At that, the girl flashed a smile for the first time in the conversation.

Even in her impaired state, Rayne still had a semblance of sense about her. "What you just described is impossible. If my skull was totally shattered then my brain should have been destroyed, or at the very seriously damaged. Brain fluid should be running down my neck right now"

"That's just it… your skin," the girl said, "it's intact. Mighty bruised, yes, but intact. I think the same is true for your brain. It was just the skull… and that's it.

 _That kid… what kind of monster is he? To be able to pinpoint obliterate parts of my body at will, he must not only have power but incredible malice…_ She shuddered. With her eyes, Rayne desperately tried to look around, yet they were still blinded by blurriness. Conversation would have to do for now. "Who are you?"

"I just happen to be a hunter, that's all. And my game has proven to be very elusive."

"What do you hunt?"

"Well, that should be obvious. I hunt the person who did this to you."

It took a while for Chi-Chi - the girl's name, Rayne would learn but a few moments before passing out from pain as the plant's effects wore off - to finish re-positioning the fragments of her skull. Admittedly, Rayne was unconscious for a vast majority of that time. Medically, what Chi-Chi did was impossible; yet here Rayne now sat, half of her head wrapped in gauze and bandages. She found comfort by staring into the fire being tended by her savior. In her hand she sipped a tea brewed for her discomfort, which Chi-Chi insisted would help ease the ever-present dull, throbbing pain Rayne would feel for weeks, maybe months to come.

For the first time in her life she could remember, Rayne felt a lack of urgency to think of triumph and failure as her old self would have done. To analyze a situation obsessively until all she saw were paths and not people. The prospect of death had, strangely, relaxed her immensely. As far as she was concerned, the only thing that mattered to her at the moment was the cup of tea in her hand, and the shorter, most likely younger girl opposite of her. She didn't care she was more or less dead, either professionally or officially, to the Red Ribbon Army. She didn't care that a young boy had killed her entire squad. These were things to consider later.

Chi-Chi finished adding fuel to the fire, judging the wood burning to be sufficient for the rest of the night. She sat back and used her arms to prop herself up from the ground, closing her eyes and sighing. Rayne sipped her tea.

After a few moments, Chi-Chi seemed to have finished her mental rest and straightened. She gazed at Rayne with a purpose. "I understand that you've been through a lot," she asked, "but finding and stopping the person who did this to you is important to me. What happened?"

 _Ah, so sooner rather than later_. With the faintest of nods, Rayne took one last sip of the tea and put it down next to her. After gathering her thoughts, she began. "I was a soldier with the Red Ribbon Army. The details and reasons for why this was the case are irrelevant."

Outwardly, Chi-Chi didn't react, but she mentally registered what had just happened. _That's as an abrupt throwing up of a mental wall I've ever seen. Best not to broach that topic anytime soon._ "So you were on a mission, then?"

Rayne nodded. "Yes, we were sent out to investigate one of our bases going dark… or at least, the three people we had in the first village we went to. They were posted there to keep an eye open for anything suspicious."

"Keep their eyes open? For what?"

Rayne tilted her head in thought. "To be honest, I never really thought about that. The Red Ribbon Army is so secretive that I doubt anyone below the top guys actually knew what they were looking for. It's likely that they were given just enough info to recognize what they were looking for, not understand it."

Rayne paused for a second. "Regardless, we were sent to the village to make contact with our people there. Instead, we found a war zone. The village had been completely destroyed."

"Wait, can we backtrack for a second? What exactly is the Red Ribbon Army? It sounds like it's a military organization."

Rayne blinked. "We are." She scratched her arm and then reached for her tea and sipped it. "We take what we want. Or, they take what they want. Not so sure I'm a part of them anymore."

"Did you have a rank?" Suddenly Chi-Chi was very curious.

"I think they gave one to me, although I'm not sure exactly what it was. Maybe Lieutenant Azure? Cyan? I'm guessing they named me after my hair," she said pointing to her greenish-blue hair that fell down in curled clumps to her shoulders. _Come to think of it, what am I even wearing…_ she noticed that she was no longer dressed in Red Ribbon Army fatigues, but instead was in a white shirt and brown pants. She still had her boots, though.

Chi-Chi must have noticed her self-examination. "I changed you out of your old clothes. They were, uh…"

Rayne held up a hand. _I won't be forgetting what happened anytime soon._ "I understand."

They both fell silent, staring into the fire.

"Oh!" Chi-Chi perked up from sitting with her arms around her legs. "I got distracted and forgot to ask you to finish your story. Please continue!"

Eyeing the girl in front of her, Rayne sighed. "The village where our guys were was destroyed. I gathered some information and found out that villages to the east had been destroyed in the earlier weeks. I concluded that whoever or whatever was doing this was heading west. So we set off in that direction for the next village."

"So you stumbled across that kid, then."

"Yes." Rayne stared at Chi-Chi. _I don't trust her. And I don't...I don't want to acknowledge what happened. How I was fooled. Not to her, not to anyone._

Chi-chi shrugged. "Well, I guess if you told me your side of the story, I should tell mine. Like I said earlier, I'm hunting this kid."

"Why on Earth would you do that?"

She smiled. "I was told to. You see, my dad is sort of a king. He rules over an area to the east of here called Fire Mountain." She fluttered her fingers for added effect. "One day we found out that some villages on the very exterior of his kingdom had been attacked. My dad said something about an old friend being in that area, and that he would stop the attacks, but then he grew worried when they continued. He didn't want to leave his people defenseless, so he sent out me out to find out whoever was committing the attacks and stop them."

"Why you?"

"I'm his daughter. Who else would he trust to do this? Who else could come close to the legendary strength of the Ox-King, if not his daughter?"

 _So she's the daughter of the Ox-King? Would explain the weird mountain gear…_ Rayne noted that Chi-Chi had plates of ceramic armor strapped to her, multicolored in faded pink and blue, which contrasted against the darker fabric underneath it. _Still, she doesn't look that tough…_ "How do you track him?"

"Take a look at the edge of this clearing," she pointed to her left, "there, near the treeline."

Rayne looked over and couldn't see anything of note except a lone, burning candle. "So the candle makes it easier to see, or?..."

"No!" Chi-Chi snapped. "Look closer."

Squinting, Rayne could only see that the candle was burning. Except it wasn't quite _burning_. The flames seemed to be dancing impossibly high off the string, maybe a solid six, ten inches above the candle, almost as if the flame forgot to attach itself to the thread in the candle. It was bizarre to watch.

Chi-Chi's voice glided over. "To be honest, I don't know much about fighting. One thing I do know, however, is how to track people. In candles like that, I put a little ki into it and place them wherever I go. They act as a sort of alarm, which tell me if anyone has been through the area with enough ki to disrupt the flame.

"Okay...but if that's the case, why is it moving around right now?"

"That should be obvious. You're moving it."

Rayne had to turn her head back to Chi-Chi to see if she was grinning at her own joke. She wasn't.

"What do you mean, me?"

"I mean what I said. Your ki affects the candle."

"I- what- what is ki?"

"Energy you have inside you."

"And I'm…"

"Affecting the candle with your ki."

"But… how do I even have ki? I don't recall ever learning about it, let alone using it."

"Don't need to. Some people just have more ki than others. You are definitely above average in that regard."

Rayne looked back at the candle, considering the truth of what Chi-Chi was claiming. "How do you know the candle isn't being affected by someone else?" she asked. "If ki messes with it then any person nearby could be doing that, right? Maybe the kid from before is messing with them right now."

Chi-Chi didn't even pause to think. "It's you, not the kid. If he was close the flame would have died. Violently."

Involuntarily, Rayne shuddered. _Would be appropriate for him_.

Chi-Chi seemed to have lost the verbosity she had before. She avoided eye contact with Rayne and poked the fire as if trying to find something to do.

"You know," Chi-Chi said after a time, "He's strong. Very strong. Well beyond me. There's a part of me that… wants to give up. There's a part of me that's scared." She set down the stick she was stoking the fire with. "But I can't give up. My dad is counting on me. My _people_ are counting on me…"

 _Massive expectations at a young age._ Rayne sympathized.

Chi-Chi lifted her head towards Rayne. "But that's enough about me. What are you going to do once you're healed?"

Rayne took her cup of tea and downed it, stretching in preparation for sleep. "Well, there's only one path forward." She met Chi-Chi's eyes, wondering if her eyes had any of the glint she saw. "We stop the kid."

She had never seen a person so relieved.

"And," Rayne continued, "I think I have an idea how."

0o0o0

It was obvious that the so-called mayor's residence was anything but that. The exterior of the building was flanked by massive marble columns, grey-white, framing wide-slabbed stone steps that ascended up to the building itself. The structure had the air of wisdom and age, and Puar felt a stab of sadness for what it had been turned into. _What was probably one of the most cherished and beautiful buildings for miles around has been turned into the playground of a selfish pig. Disgraceful._ Banners moved in the wind, hung from the marble pillars. The pig sticker that had dominated the intersection now gazed down on the group, stitched and embroidered in expensive looking dyes and lace. Wooden braziers lit the top of the steps, insulting them with their uselessness in broad daylight. _Stupid, really_. The policeman knocked on the giant wooden doors, and after a pause they opened, revealing a grand antechamber that dominated the building.

The inside was in no better taste than the outside. Smaller versions of the banners outside covered the internal gray-black pillars. Torches sat on every pillar that a banner wasn't draped over. The columns formed two parallel lines leading forward, culminating in a throne area. There, a tiny chair sat, laughably small for the chamber it occupied. A tapestry hung behind it from a metal bar, framing the scene with a green-gold banner that backset the yellow and red chair.

In that chair sat a pig. A demonstrably irritated one. From the looks of it, he had been enjoying a meal laid out on a fold-out table next to the chair.

"What do you bother with me now? Come to complain more about your pay?" For a pig his size, he had a surprisingly loud and bellowing voice.

The corner of the dog policeman's mouth twitched. "Mayor Oolong, I was bringing these violators to your attention. They entered the city and refused to pay the visitor's tax."

Oolong's eyes shifted towards the four shackled people behind the dog policeman and his two officers. "Very well. Move aside so I may look at them."

The police moved off to one side, prodding their four detainees towards the end of the room. For a room this size and a person this important, Puar noticed there were surprisingly few people around. As far she could tell, the only other person in the hall was a janitor, casually mopping near the entrance.

"You all!" The shouting brought Puar's attention right back to Oolong. "Explain yourselves! Why do you break the laws of this city?"

Puar was about to angrily retort when Krillin beat her to it. "It seems like the laws of this city aren't very fair," Krillin answered. "You're financially punishing people for coming into this city, whether to visit their friends and families or to buy or sell at the markets. What's there to gain from that?"

"There's everything to gain!" Oolong's voice sounded like a strained croak. "Visitors come and bring dangerous ideas to our city! We can't have people questioning the order of things! There'd be chaos in the streets!"

"What's so great about this city! Where does the money from that tax even go to?" Puar asked exasperatedly.

"The answer to that is simple! It goes to back to the city! As mayor of Oolongopolis, I make sure not a single dime is wasted- that all public tax money is put to good use keeping our parks clean, our citizens healthy, and our pockets rich!"

From some part of the room obscured by darkness, the janitor coughed.

"I will not allow the rule of law to be broken!" he pressed on. "So I will ask one more time; will you pay the tax or not?"

The four of them stared back at Oolong.

It didn't seem like he was expecting compliance. "So be it! Violators of the law must be punished! Officer! Officer…" he turned towards the dog policeman, "what's your name again?"

The dog policeman's face had the outline of a scowl. "Officer Beagle, mayor."

"Yes, yes! Officer Beagle. If you will, escort these to the chambers underneath this building. They'll enjoy the _finest_ hospitality we can offer." He scanned the four people in shackles in front of them. "Start with her! The girl who hasn't said anything. She's making me nervous."

Nodding, Officer Beagle stepped over to Bulma and motioned her to follow her. After a brief second considering whether to comply or not, Bulma nodded and fell into step behind him.

They had walked through some twisting hallways for a few minutes when, abruptly, they stopped. Without saying a word, Officer Beagle turned around with the key in his hand. He brought it to Bulma's handcuffs and promptly unlocked them, letting them fall to the ground.

"I don't understand," she said as she rubbed her itchy wrists, "why are you helping me?"

Officer Beagle stared at Bulma, seemingly putting together an explanation. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Though I think hearing Oolong lie straight through his teeth sealed the deal for me."

"What do you-"

"The money from the tax. The money from _all_ our taxes. I've seen where he's put all the city's valuables. Not a single cent goes back to the community." He paused. "I have a brother who has a chronic medical condition, and hasn't been able to work for a while now. For a long time this city had a great unemployment program, making sure my brother and people like him could eat and sleep sound at night. Ever since Oolong took over my brother's been getting less and less each month. Soon enough he'll have nothing to live off of and he'll have to start begging from me and the rest of our family just to live. No person should have to live like that."

Bulma wasn't prepared for such a thoughtful response to what she thought was a simple question. Thankfully, the officer wasn't done.

"Besides," he added, smiling, "I can't stand despots who lie. If you're gonna dominate the lives of the people you govern, at least be honest your self-serving goals." He turned away from her. "Well, good luck! I was never here."

And just like that, the Officer Beagle walked away. She noticed that he had incidentally left a key in a lock for the door she was next to.

Twisting and unlocking the door, she slowly pushed it open.

The room was beyond opulent, filled to the brim with gold, jewelry, cash, and all types of riches. _Guess I found the tax room. Officer Beagle, you clever dog you…_

Scanning over the varied treasures, she realized that on the ground was a dragonball, casually propped up against a gold nightstand. _Oh. I guess I forgot to check the radar with all the craziness of today. Well, while I'm here_ … She walked over and pocketed it, making note of its two stars. _Now… how to undermine Oolong with a room filled with his stolen riches… hmm..._

0o0o0

Someone had come up to Oolong and began whispering in his ear. From the look on his face, it was bad news. Seeing him momentarily distracted, Puar moved over to Yamcha and motioned Krillin over.

"Puar," Yamcha whispered angrily, "what are you doing? They just took Bulma to this city's equivalent of a dungeon! Does your plan call for that?"

Puar avoided Yamcha's eyes for a moment. "To be honest, I was hoping Oolong would recognize me and sort of 'wake-up', I guess." She examined the room. "Though it helps that there are no guards around us, anymore."

"What do you mean, 'wake-up'?" Krillin asked.

"Sort of wake him out of this dream, fantasy, whatever he's doing right now. It seems like he's caught up in a full-on power trip. The Oolong I knew was selfish, but keeping an entire city under his thumb with fear and choking the life out of it is insane!"

"Hold on. You don't believe what he's saying about putting the money back into the city?"

"Definitely not! Think about it. If what he was saying was true then this city wouldn't have all these pig banners all over the place. At the very least, a substantial amount of money is going towards reinforcing Oolong's image as ruler in this city."

Krillin frowned. "It doesn't make much sense how a simple mayor could exert such total control over the people in this city."

"Krillin!" Yamcha snapped. "Questions for later! Bulma could be getting tortured right now! We need to do something!"

As he was opening his mouth, Puar heard a frustrated yell from the 'throne'. "Fine! I guess they're due for a reminder of who I am. Out of my way!" He pronounced as he pushed away the person who was previously whispering to him. Oolong brusquely walked past the three of them towards the entrance of the chamber.

"Does anyone know what he's talking about?" Yamcha asked, leaning in towards his companions.

"Actually," Krillin replied, "yea. I don't know if you heard it earlier but I definitely noticed some chanting coming from outside. If I had to guess, there's a protest going on out on the steps of this building."

"Interesting. Though that begs the question, why does Oolong think he can do against an angry crowd?"

"Uhh guys, you might wanna take another look at the mayor…"

Krillin and Yamcha turned to where Puar was looking, down to the entrance of the chamber. Oolong the pig had disappeared. In his place was maybe a thirty-foot tall nightmare, black and red and as mean looking as anything Puar had ever seen. The thing walked on three ghastly legs, moving in a two-by-one rhythm, the front one bending backward as it walked forward. Gigantic blades ran up and down the lengths of the massive arms, glinting in the light from their sharpness. The creature was terrifying. _In fact…_

"Krillin, Yamcha, this is an illusion." The two swung their heads towards Puar, both pale from seeing what might as well have been the specter of death itself. "Notice how almost _every part_ of that thing is designed to cause fear? Oolong may be a shapeshifter, but it's all appearance; he doesn't get stronger in any way. He's still the same cowardly pig underneath."

The demon exited the building, shrouded by the sunlight outside. "Actually," Puar continued, " I think I have a plan to get out of our bind… just be prepared to attack Oolong on my signal."

"Wait, Pua-", but before Yamcha could say anything else Puar disappeared in a pop of smoke. It took a few seconds for the smoke to clear before he recognized the person in front of him. O _h ho hooo… Puar, well played._

0o0o0

Man, protests were _fun._ For two stinking years that literal pig Oolong had ruled without their consent, taxing them into poverty and effectively closing off the city to visitors. Dayo could suffer a few inconveniences. As someone who lived in his parents' basement, there wasn't much Oolong could do that would hurt him (though the same couldn't be said for his parents). But Oolong made a crucial mistake by barring the Turtle-Rhinos, his favorite band, from coming to city and playing at the local venues. Dayo was pissed. So he mobilized the rest of his friends, painted a bunch of signs, and together they marched across the city to the mayor's residence, yelling up the building's steps for Oolong to come out and face the people. _Activism, hell yeah!_

It took about a minute of their chanting for the doors to open. "Yea! Come out here you… you villain, you!" Dayo exclaimed, to no one in particular.

Smoke poured out of the building. The chants faded away as people were curious to see what would emerge from behind the doors. Slowly, black as night arms were outlined and revealed, protruding from the smoke in an outstretched manner. The crowd fell silent. The two arms flexed and turned, revealing from the smoke gigantic blades, flashing in the light. Some at the back of the crowd started backing away. _I think I've had my fill of protesting,_ Dayo thought, _time to-_

A booming voice echoed from the smoke. "You all DARE to challenge me? Me, the demon lord Oolong himself? How many times must I remind you fools you deal not with a pig but a _monster?_ "

The smoke cleared. Revealing a hellish, giant demon to a now-frozen crowd. A serrated smile was plastered on its face. "Good. Very good. Now then, let inform you all of your _new_ oblig-

The demon paused, from what Dayo couldn't tell, until he could see someone emerging onto the top of the steps next to him.

 _Oolong. Or, the pig version of the demon before them. Wait a second…_

"Everyone!" The pig version of Oolong yelled, "You've all been deceived! I have been imprisoned for two years by this imposter in front of you! This thing usurped my position as mayor and has been stealing your livelihood ever since!"

From the look of it, the demon was too flabbergasted to speak. Wheels started to turn in Dayo's mind. "Wait!" he yelled above the murmuring crowd, a hundred heads turning to him, "so when Mayor Oolong stopped the Turtle-Rhinos from playing in city, it was that demon calling the shots?"

The pig nodded his head effusively. "He's been abusing the power of his position to profit himself at the expense of all of you!"

Groans rose out of the crowd. The demon, strangely enough, seemed to shift and inexplicably looked much less frightening than before.

"Everyone!" Pig Oolong continued, "worry not! For I was saved by two powerful martial artists, who bravely infiltrated the demon's lair and freed me! And so shall they free this city!" At that the pig spread his arms sideways, gesturing towards the doors. Out into the sunlight emerged two teenagers, both glaring up at the demon who watched all that was happening in shocked silence. "Master Krillin! Master Yamcha! Show this demon the feeling of pain!" Both fighters settled into a fighting stance, facing towards the now backpedaling demon, who was looking for an exit from them and the crowd.

The demon exploded in a cloud of smoke. The two martial artists went into it and a few seconds later they emerged carrying a pig, each one holding one arm. Dayo's mouth hung open. _Man, this demon won't give up! He even tried to turn back into Oolong to turn us against him!_ Dayo scoffed. _Nice try. We're not that stupid_. _He transformed right in front of us!_

Even now the demon-turned-pig was desperately trying to speak, but the bald martial artist on his right put a hand over his mouth, and then with the other led him back into the building and closed the doors behind them.

Which left Oolong by himself, beaming at the people cheering his name. _'You saved us! You're our hero! Best mayor ever!'_

0o0o0

Krillin and Yamcha met Bulma on her way out, pulling behind her a handcart laden with treasures. Oolong started thrashing at the sight of her wheeling away his riches, but one glance from Krillin stilled him. Yamcha took a moment to whisper something in her ear before she nodded and resumed her trek back towards the front door.

"Yamcha," Krillin asked in between Oolong's struggling, "what did you say to Bulma?"

"She was planning on bringing out a bunch of treasure to expose Oolong as a fraud and a thief. Though, now that we have our _own_ Oolong out there, I told her to start giving away the riches instead."

"Smart, very smart. Where are we taking this pig, by the way?"

"Well, the way I figure it, he can't stay here."

"After what I just did, that's doubly so." Krillin and Yamcha turned to the door, seeing that Puar turned pig had come back into the building, arms in his pockets. "I just told everyone out there that 'I'm' retiring from politics to catch up and enjoy life with my newfound freedom." Puar flashed a grin, and then disappeared into a cloud of smoke to reappear as her usual, floating cat self. "They were pretty heartbroken, but I think they'll survive. So _neither_ Oolong can stay in this city."

"Well?" Krillin lifted his hand from Oolong's mouth, letting him speak, "What do you think?"

Oolong snarled at Krillin, then glared at a pillar on the other side of the room. "I have no future here. You might as well just take me wherever you go, virtually imprison me, make me an ally, _bond_ with me." Oolong's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Yamcha snapped his fingers. "You're right! We can't let you off the hook in some random city; there's a chance you'd repeat what you did before. So, it looks you're gonna have to travel with us, at least until we're confident you wouldn't repeat what you did here. What do you guys think?"

Seething, Oolong turned toward Puar and Krillin, hoping to find frowns at the mention of the plan. Instead, he saw enthusiastic smiles.

"Welp," Puar said, "that's three out of four agreeing to the plan. Sorry Bulma, but you're outvoted. Democracy rules- Oolong comes with us. So, do you think the jeep got impounded?

"Knowing our luck…"

"We'll have to get that back soon, Bulma'll be furious…"

"Yea, I'll go, I'll go…"

0o0o0

Kakarot sat on the edge of the woods, facing towards the village. Or, rather, what was left of the village. The fire had extinguished itself a few hours ago, finally spending itself on the remains of the houses and barns. Bricks lay here and there shattered and displaced. The fire had taken the corpses one and all.

Throughout that time, Kakarot sat and watched, seeing the flames spread to one hovel to the next, claiming the bodies within them. Faint smells of burning flesh swung around the area, blown to and fro by the wind. Ashes moved peacefully through the air, as the village became a smoldering, charred wreck.

It brought no satisfaction to Kakarot. He had personally killed every inhabitant of this village, all twenty-two of them, and he remembered each yell that erupted as his hand plunged into them. He had killed those soldiers earlier, demonstrating that their weapons were useless against him and punishing them for their dependence on such weak tools. Every victim's face was burned into his memory. Not from regret or sorrow, but confusion. _Wh_ _y?_

Why did he feel the urge to kill? Why was it that choking out someone else's life was as natural as breathing? Kakarot had to admit that, from what he saw of this planet, his behavior was far from typical. Killing was… well, it's not that he hates it, but he doesn't like it either. It's almost… boring. To slaughter a village filled with people far below his own power… there's no challenge. You keep killing those who can't fight back and their faces start blurring together. It's like doing the same thing over and over again, without changing how you do it; it loses its luster.

Kakarot leaned back to lay flat on the grass. _Ahh, but I've started to fix that. Slowly but surely I'm finding those that one day could challenge me… I couldn't kill them then and there- there'd be no point. They'd offer no challenge. But in the future… maybe…_ he smiled towards the smoke-choked sky. _Maybe they'll offer me a challenge. Then, I can finally kill them._

 _What a wonderful day that'll be. I hope._

0o0o0

As the soon to be renamed Rose City receded into Bulma's rearview mirror- Puar couldn't let the city's people continue with that naming atrocity- with a shapeshifting pig tied up in the back between Yamcha and Krillin, she reflected on the past twenty-four hours. _All-in-all, a good day's work_. While they couldn't claim to have done many particularly _beneficial_ things for the world so far, liberating a city from a despotic, greedy mayor was probably one of the better things they'd done.

Still, with four dragonballs in their possession and three to go, Bulma couldn't help but feel worried. _Something tells me we've gotten all the easy pickings… I'd be surprised if we found any more dragonballs lying around in relatively unguarded treasure rooms_. _I have a hunch that we're going to need Krillin and Yamcha's skills sooner rather than later. And, of course,_ _can't forget about Kakarot..._

Thoughts for later. With the sun setting and the road warm and inviting, Bulma felt ready for whatever came next.


	6. Uncoordinated Coordinated Assault

Chapter 6: Uncoordinated Coordinated Assault

A/N: Hi everyone. Just so everyone knows I updated chapter two, so some weirdness should be sorted out there. Also, I'm going to start posting reviews at the bottoms of chapters as an added incentive for people to write them;). With that, on to the chapter!

* * *

Two figures crouched through the undergrowth, sending squirrels and rabbits skittering away from them. Low to the ground, they moved at a snail's pace, focusing on hearing any noteworthy sound that came from the forest.

A rustle of leaves. Both flattened their bodies to the ground, staring out to a clearing in front of them. A few seconds passed in strained attention. Then, a doe exited from a bush into the clearing, taking a moment to look around before moving on through the forest. A baby deer followed close behind. The two figures waited a few seconds for the animals to pass out of sight, then wordlessly resumed their sneak.

The trees were becoming sparser. Stumps here and there punctuated full-grown oaks and firs. Some of the trees were damaged on their trunks, holes crisscrossing the barks seemingly at random. The layout of the forest became more refined and ordered until finally, they encountered a straight line of trimmed trees with trunks wrapped with some sort of paper. Beyond this line of trees stood a sandy clearing, stretching for maybe one hundred yards before ending in a small open-air bunker, tables and chairs facing towards the line of trees. Sandbags were stacked both near the furniture and at the base of the trees.

 _The firing range. Right on target._ Rayne caught Chi-Chi's eyes and gestured to the bunker. She nodded and took point, moving to the side of the firing range and peering over the barrier to see if anyone was milling around outside. After a moment, she resumed her walk towards the furniture across the sand. _Guess that means this outpost is either not being used or its guards are on patrol. Either way, good for us._ Rayne quietly followed Chi-Chi until they reached the row of tables and chairs, moving up to flank a door with her companion. Chi-Chi withdrew a candle and placed it on the ground. She closed her eyes and held out her hands over the candle. Soon enough, a flame ignited, blueish in tinge and waving ever so slightly. Opening her eyes, Chi-Chi examined the candle before she smiled to Rayne, extinguishing the candle as she did. Both of the two stood up and walked through the door, opening and closing it behind them.

The room they entered was a strange mix of _everything_ that could possibly be needed at a military outpost. Beds and footlockers were crammed into one corner of the room, close enough to make movement out of the area complicated. Next to them was a row of showers, divided by concrete walls and covered by thin plastic curtains. A vast chunk of the rest of the room was taken up by living quarters; tables, chairs, and old couches dominated most of the area, with a few sets of cards out and a small, old CCTV on a nightstand against a wall. In the last fourth of the room was a couple of standing lockers with ammunition and weapons stacked nearby in crates.

"This is pretty disgusting." Chi-Chi looked over to Rayne, who was looking at a dirty shirt on the ground. "They treat this place like it's a college bathroom."

Chi-Chi shrugged. "I wouldn't know much about college bathrooms, to be honest."

"Well, me neither, I'm just going off from what I heard…" Rayne trailed off, forgetting why she had brought up the point in the first place. She walked over to the footlockers by the beds and rummaged through them while Chi-Chi peered over her shoulder. After a few moments of searching, she found what she was looking for.

"Got it!" Rayne pulled out an old map stained with some sort of undefinable brown liquid. She brought it over to one of the tables and unfurled it, bringing her finger to a large square on the map. "Here. This is where the Red Ribbon's experimental weapons lab is. All sorts of high tech weaponry are stored there. I guarantee that if we get inside, we'll find something that for sure can take out Kakarot. Just a matter of getting in…"

"HEY!"

Chi-Chi and Rayne spun around. Three semi-naked Red-Ribbon soldiers stood about ten feet away, dressed in their undershirts and boxers and blinking their eyes to shake off their sleepiness. They had entered through a door to the outside next to the gun lockers.

"We go out for a nice morning walk and some thieves walk right into our home. Now we can finally put something in our report, eh?" One of the soldiers said elbowing another.

Rayne shared a look with Chi-Chi. They needed some catharsis.

When the first soldier reached for a handgun in the nearest locker, he found his way blocked. "Wha-" was all he said before he was cut off by a punch landing in his gut, doubling him over to the ground gasping in pain. Casually, Rayne stepped over the prostrated man and locked eyes with the two startled men a few feet away from them.

Frantically, one gestured to the other to follow, and both of them charged at Rayne. The front one got a foot towards Rayne before the body of the second collided with his back, toppling him and the other man onto the ground. Chi-Chi had come from behind and shoved the second man forward. Thrashing on the ground, both men received two kicks to the guts from Rayne. Groans of pain filled the room.

Chi-Chi wasn't done. She had crouched down to the first man who was hit and was considering what to do with him. She was palming the hilt of her hammer in her hand. Rayne placed a hand on her shoulder. "They know nothing about us. Let's just go. We don't have time to waste."

Nodding, Chi-Chi rose and walked over to the doorway, taking one second to look back on the room before going outside. Rayne promptly followed.

After a minute of debilitating pain, one of the men moved and lifted his head to the two others. "We… ow…. don't mention this to anyone. Agreed?"

Two heads, through terrible pain, nodded.

0o0o0

The group broke camp at dusk. Oolong had bitterly accepted some duties helping out in the camp; Puar made sure to keep an eye on him for any shape-shifting mischief. As soon as dinner was done, Bulma withdrew with superhuman speed into her capsule house. _Some things change, some things don't,_ Krillin thought, amused.

Which was fine. It left Krillin and Yamcha more uninterrupted time to train. One of the first things Krillin decided was necessary for both him and Yamcha was to master was serenity. Both of them suffered from distracted minds, in Yamcha's case anger, and in Krillin's case anxiety. Both needed to overcome these challenges if they were going to progress any further in their training. Or, at least that's what Krillin was always told by the head monks at his temple. A part of him wondered if they were too lazy to bother training the students how to solve their own problems.

Regardless, Krillin thought there was some merit to meditating… for a time. They could only stay silent for so long, mentally bashing their heads against an unbudging wall, before they wanted to express some energy through sparring. Krillin had done his best to try to refine Yamcha's fighting style, but it was proving a challenge. The former bandit was prone to unbalanced and aggressive moves that left him exposed in a fight. Whenever Krillin tried to point this out, Yamcha would shake off the criticism, claiming 'it's just a part of my fighting style, get over it.' Krillin refused to believe that sloppiness and randomness could be the basis for an entire style.

Still, Yamcha was definitely improving; what he lacked in training he made up with creativity, improving his tactical sense and further developing regiments to train his body. The other day he had made baseball into a training exercise - the only difference was that instead of a baseball he used a ten-pound rock. It was definitely exhausting and hurt like hell to catch the ball, but it was fun and kept training fresh. Yamcha seemed to be filled with good, albeit unreasonable, ideas.

 _And what do I have? What do I bring to the table?_ The two of them were in the midst of another session of meditation; as always, Krillin's mind turned to rumination. _I don't have Yamcha's experimentality and free spirit. All I have is the knowledge I learned from the temple, and every day I have less and less of that to use. When the day comes where I've taught all I know to Yamcha, what then? What will I have to offer? One thing's for sure; when this quest is over I'm going to need to find a new teacher. Or at least create some new sagacious lessons._

Krillin opened his eyes. Yamcha seemed to be giving this session extra concentration. _Well, better to not disturb him._ Krillin decided it would be best if he went for a walk to clear his mind and check in with the other members of the party. He got up and left Yamcha sitting in a field.

The former monk walked over to the fire at the center of camp. Oolong sat there, sullen and bound, facing it. As Krillin approached, the pig briefly turned and examined him, before grunting and turning back to the fire. _Could be worse, I guess._ _I could be a prisoner like this poor guy._ Krillin looked over to Puar, who floated nearby, stoic features lit by the flickering fire. Her eyes were firmly on Oolong. _She seems to be taking this seriously._

"Krillin," she spoke, jarring Krillin out of his thoughts. Did I ever tell you how exactly I know Oolong?" Her eyes continued to bore into the pig.

"No, actually. You only said you two were in shapeshifting school together."

Puar nodded. "I want to explain to everyone about my time in that school, and how I knew Oolong. Could you do me a favor and get everyone over here?"

"Yea sure, I can do that." Krillin faced Yamcha's general direction and shouted, "Yo Yamcha! I think we're good on meditating. Come over here, it's storytime." In the distance, Krillin saw Yamcha rise to his feet, brush some dirt off himself, and begin walking over. "Is Bulma still in the house?"

Puar nodded yes.

"Alright, I'll go knock. Doubt that she'd hear me yelling from inside; I swear that house is made out of some noise dampening, space-age technology…" Krillin jogged over to Bulma's house and knocked on the door (delicately, this time). He heard some movement before a head opened and peered at him through a shutter. Krillin internally groaned. _Seriously Bulma? Who else is going to be knocking on your door, out here in the middle of nowhere? Someone who wants to sell you solar panels?_ Bulma looked at him for a few seconds, before moving to the door and opening it, popping her head out. She looked tired and a bit frazzled. "What? I'm kind of busy."

"Puar wants everyone to come to the fire. She's going to explain how she knows Oolong," Krillin said dryly.

Bulma frowned. "Well, she better make it quick. I was planned on being asleep five minutes ago. One second." She closed the door and Krillin heard some rustling. Bulma emerged in a white robe, sash tied around her waist, with feet tucked into sandals. As she exited her house, she closed the door behind her. "Lead the way. Oh, and there's probably something I should tell everyone."

"Hmm?" Krillin started walking back towards the fire. "What's that?"

"Well, I've been watching the radar for a couple days now, keeping tabs on the remaining dragon balls left. If the legend and the radar are to believed, we have four of the seven dragonballs in our possession, so there's still three out there to be found. One seems to be moving around but in no particular direction. Another one isn't moving; it's still the same coordinates where it's been for the past couple weeks. If I had to guess, it's either lying around in a forest or in some sort of storage compound. Either way, we're a few days away from it. Though, if I had to guess between the two possibilities, I'd say it's a storage compound, considering what the last dragonball is doing; moving towards it."

"So what are you suggesting? There's another group out there trying to collect the dragonballs?" The two of them had reached the fire, where Puar floated while watching Oolong, Yamcha standing with his arms crossed.

"Yea." Bulma appraised everyone else in the circle. "Just so you guys know, it looks like we're gonna have to fight someone else for the next dragonball. Which'll probably be in a few days."

Yamcha shrugged. "Sounds about right. Puar, you said you had something to say?"

Puar nodded. "I felt it was time to explain to everyone how I knew Oolong, though you've probably heard most of it, Yamcha."

He waved his hand, dismissing the idea. "I'm sure there are some things you haven't told me. I'll stick around, see if I learn anything new."

"Right then. Well everyone, as you know I'm a shapeshifter. I don't remember much of my early life but I do remember that for as long as I can remember, I've been able to shapeshift, though not as well as I can now. Whereas I can now take entirely different forms, when I was younger I could only change a few characteristics of myself at a time. Just being able to do those few things was useful for stealing something and blending into a crowd, but it was by no means foolproof. It was during one of few times that I got caught and was hauled into a police station that a man strolled into the building, talked to the officer at the desk, and had me out in five minutes. It turns out this man ran a shapeshifting school and recruited students with talent."

"The school gave me the first taste of normality, strangely enough. While we were expected to train for long periods of the day changing into different forms, including learning how to control your mood (which is an important part of successful shapeshifting), the teachers were always kind and patient with us. By every account, they treated us like members of their own family. Considering the fact that most of the students grew up alone on the streets, this was an immensely kind thing to do on their part. Oolong was one of those students at the school, who was taken from the streets into a makeshift community."

"It was only towards the end of my education did I learn the true purpose of the school; every graduate was immediately coerced into joining an underground crime syndicate. Our school was essentially a tool for our benefactors get rich from elaborate crimes and heists. Some of the more brutal students went on to become assassins and hitmen." Puar shuddered. "It wasn't a pleasant realization."

"When I told Oolong about what was to become of all the students- how we were going to be forced into a life of crime without any choice- we decided to do something about it. We rallied the other students and revolted against the teachers, destroying the school and the crime career pipeline in the process. To this day I haven't heard of another school being set up to replace the destroyed one, but I make sure to keep my ears open for any possible rumors."

"Which leads me to my present confusion." Puar turned to Oolong. "Why would you do something so reprehensible, Oolong? The pig who ruled as a tyrant was not the pig I remember."

Oolong intentionally avoided Puar's eyes, instead staring into the fire. He began speaking in a low, quiet tone. "It wasn't something I wanted to do, at least originally. My entire life I had tried to get a sense of normalcy, and while I agree that breaking up the school was necessary, it destroyed any sense of stability I had. If I was going to have a home, I was going to have to fight to make it happen…"

"So you decided to do so at the expense of an entire town of people? How is that justifiable?"

Oolong abruptly met Puar's gaze, eyes burning like coals. "What do you know of right and wrong? Of what to do to feel at peace? I don't know what you experienced after we parted ways, but the time I spent after the school was destroyed was worse than growing up on the streets! I drifted from city to city, looking for something, anything, to keep my head above water, but I was a pig and was pushed to the fringes of society. Crime, it turned out, was all I knew. I just took the natural step in Rose City and made my schemes more complex."

"Really? Oolong..." Puar blinked back a tear, the truth hitting her in full. _Not everyone was as lucky as me_. Her eyes drifted to Yamcha, still standing with his arms crossed. _Not everyone could meet a friend like Yamcha._ She turned back to Oolong, who was downcast, his head in his lap. _For all he did, he doesn't deserve this. I may not be able to free him now, but if I work on everyone for a few days time… maybe they'll let him go_. "I'm sorry that happened to you Oolong. I truly am. At the very least, do you recognize that what you did was wrong?"

Oolong kept his head in his lap for a second, then raised it and looked towards Puar. "Yes. Though, there was nothing I could have done to stop it."

Throughout the whole experience Bulma, Krillin, and Yamcha remained silent. They were a bit hard to read at the moment, but Puar thought she sensed some compassion for the sad pig in front of them. Time would tell.

"Well," Bulma finally said, "I think that's enough storytime for today. We should get to bed. Chances are we're going to stumble onto the next dragonball soon and we don't want to be tired for that. Goodnight," she said, walking away while waving an arm towards everyone. Krillin nudged Yamcha and the two of them said goodnight to Puar and headed over to their bedrolls. Puar was left alone with Oolong, still staring at the pig, who had resumed looking into the fire. _What do you see in that fire Oolong? Your past, present, or future?..._

0o0o0

It took a few days for Rayne and Chi-Chi to reach the Red Ribbon Army lab. It seemed to have been intentionally placed far away from any sort of settlement; it provided secrecy for whatever the Red Ribbon Army was up to. Hopefully this translated into fewer guards and security measures to get through. Rayne preferred that their entry and exit be as sneaky as possible. _I'd rather not send the base into alert if I can help it…_

At the moment they were both crouched in front of a chain-link fence, pushing up against the undergrowth behind them. In this section of the fence, vines had climbed and choked the chains, obscuring them to anyone in the base beyond. Rayne and Chi-Chi were peering around this virtual wall of vines towards the base itself. Because the chain link fence had barbed wire topping it, they were going to need to find another way in.

The area enclosed by the fence was a grouping of a few concrete buildings, maybe about three or four, that had guard towers interplaced between them. Soldiers milled around in these, gazing out into the surrounding area. The building in the center of the base looked like a three-story office building. If Rayne's hunch was correct, any and all storage would be in the basement of that building, the most remote part of the base to any person trying to infiltrate it. Unfortunately, the most remote place was also the most guarded. Guards flanked every entrance of the three-story building, and most of the watchtowers were arranged to have a direct line of sight towards at least two of the building's entrances. The longer Rayne looked, the harder it became for her to imagine sneaking in successfully. _I don't even see a way through this chain-link fence except for the front entrance. Not good._

She turned to Chi-Chi, trying to determine if she was feeling similarly hopeless. Rayne was surprised to see Chi-Chi's eyes closed in concentration, kneeling on the ground with one hand outstretched on the dirt in front of her. She started walking over to tap her on the shoulder.

And then she remembered. _Oh right. We circled the base before. She probably put down more of those… candle things. Ki detection. Did she sense something?_ Rayne waited next to Chi-Chi, every once in awhile looking back past the vines to keep tabs on the guards. Eventually, Chi-Chi opened her eyes and quietly called over Rayne.

"I sense something." She stated flatly.

"Can't give any more information than that?"

Chi-Chi shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. My candle trick senses _someone's_ presence but doesn't help to identify them. For all we know, it could be anyone."

"Could it be him?" Rayne didn't want to ask the question but felt compelled to broach the topic.

Scrunching her face, Chi-Chi paused to consider. "Possible, but unlikely. If he was here he probably would have charged right into the base, caution thrown to the wind and such. Whoever is here is taking their time identifying possible entryways into the base; otherwise, we'd be hearing a lot of commotion right now from the guards.

"This second person or people is/are going to be a problem, aren't they?"

"Dunno. Depends on how they proceed. Though, if we're lucky, they'll distract the guards in some way and give us a chance to get inside that office building. My recommendation would be to wait and see what they do." Chi-Chi shrugged.

"Well, I guess we're in no rush. What's another couple minutes?" Rayne walked over to a stump, sitting down and laying back against the wood.

And quickly fell asleep.

She was jolted awake by Chi-Chi shaking her body. "Rayne! RAYNE!" she yelled in the loudest whisper possible. "You dozed off for half an hour. Things are happening! Look!"

Rayne rubbed her eyes. Things were indeed happening. The guards were rapidly filling out of the outermost positions and watchtowers, rushing back into the three-story office building. Distant thuds and shots could be heard in the distance. The retreating guards had their guns drawn, aimed forward as they ran.

She looked over to the chain-link and tiny concrete checkpoint entryway to the base. The guards had abandoned that as well. "Well, this will be simple. Let's waltz right over to that entrance over there an-"

Rayne was cut off by a crunching, shearing sound. She looked back towards the vine-covered section of the fence and a whole part had been cleaved and pushed through, opening up a person-sized hole to walk through. Rayne glanced towards Chi-Chi, who was holstering an ax onto her back. Rayne must have been glaring as Chi-Chi quickly responded with "What? They're distracted. This is faster than walking around. C'mon, let's go."

The two of them quickly climbed through the fence.

They found themselves inside the lobby of the office building in a few minutes. It was a decently-sized room, with a presently vacant receptionist desk and a few chairs against the opposite wall. The guards Rayne and Chi-Chi had seen enter not thirty seconds ago were nowhere to be seen.

"Now," Rayne playfully said, "if I was a hidden chamber, where would I be?" She walked over to the receptionist desk and checked underneath the top of the desk. Nada. She examined the paintings on the wall, flipping them over and checking the wall for any pitted grooves. Nope. Finally, she turned towards the chairs and began moving them all over the place, twisting and turning every single one, but nothing out of the ordinary caught her eye. Rayne frowned. "It has to be somewhere, come on…"

Voices suddenly came from outside. Chi-Chi ran over and grabbed Rayne. "This will have to wait. Into the next room, now!" She pulled her through a doorway deeper into the building, closing the door behind them.

The next room was smaller than the last. Strangely enough, the room was a small square, clean white tile serving as the floor. There was nothing in the room except for Rayne and Chi-Chi themselves.

"Very odd," Rayne pronounced, walking forward, "Perhaps there's a secret entrance in her-"

The ground shook, then flipped, as the section of tile Rayne was standing over spun and flung her downwards. hurtling her a good five feet before she landed on something soft. Something fleshy. _What the-_

"RAYNE!" Rayne jolted her head up towards the sound, seeing Chi-Chi's head looking down the opening she had fallen through. "There's a door to the left of you. I'm going to take the door to the left up here and try and find another way around to you." Rayne couldn't tell if Chi-Chi was pale or if it was the white lighting and tiles casting a weird sheen on her face. "Just… don't examine the room around you. I'll see you soon." With that, she disappeared from sight.

Rayne stretched her limbs, making sure she didn't injure anything in the fall. She didn't need to look around her to confirm what she already knew. _I've fallen into a damn corpse dump. Not the first time I've fallen onto a pile of bodies, though..._ Shaking away the memory, Rayne did her best to ignore what was around her and moved towards the door on her left. After a few brief seconds, she reached and opened it.

This room was decidedly different from the room she had just been in. It was a veritable warehouse, with stacks of wooden crates reaching all the way up to the ceiling. She could barely see more than a few feet in any direction; the room had been constructed as a virtual maze. _Doesn't seem to be the most efficient means of storing items, but who am I to judge?_ Listening for any sounds, and hearing none, Rayne closed to the nearest crate and lifted the lid, curious to see what was inside. Rack of assault rifles and some ammunition. _Pass_. She lifted the lid to another one. Grenades of all sorts filled the box to the brim. _Ooh, these could be more useful._ Rayne took off her pack and started eagerly filling it with grenades. She had the pack about halfway full when she heard a metal groaning sound, coming from somewhere nearby but still out of her sight. Looking for a spot to hide, the best she could find was a crate maze dead end, so she quickly moved over and crouched at the end, hoping the lack of light would disguise her. She slowed her breathing, taking great pains to make no sound as the metal groaning sound stopped somewhere in the room. _An elevator, perhaps? So either it's Chi-Chi or... company._

She could hear some voices talking, but they were too quiet to be intelligible. A few words, though, did manage to float over to her.

"Base is a nightmare…"

"...could it be here?"

"...says somewhere…"

"Around this corner, here!"

It was clear that it was two people speaking. They had grown louder until they were right around the corner from Rayne. She slowly withdrew a grenade from her backpack, ready to pull the pin and throw at the first sight of someone. However, the footsteps stopped right before coming into visual sight. Still considering whether to throw a grenade around the corner, Rayne continued to listen in to their conversation.

"You sure this is the right crate? Doesn't look very different from the rest of them…"

"Just look at the radar, it's right on top of us. Give me a hand pulling this out." Rayne heard some grunting and scratching until she heard the distinctive sound of something being pulled from a shelf and hitting the ground with a _thump_.

"Jeez, what did they put in that box? Uranium?" one voice said while audibly panting.

"Only one way to find out." Rayne heard a wood lid being lifted. "Hah! It was in a metal crate inside the wooden crate! Explains the weight. Looks locked though… hmm…"

"Not to worry. I got the thing from Bulma right here." A hissing sound went through the air, as the _fuss_ of hot air collided with metal. A few seconds later she heard something heavy _clink to the ground_. "There. The lock's off. Open it up."

After another section of groaning, Rayne could hear the telltale signs of a metal joint being lifted, finally flipping over and clanging against the side as gravity took it down and fully backward. She then heard some rummaging until one of them gave a whoop. "Got it."

 _Okay. So very clearly these people aren't Red Ribbon- otherwise, they wouldn't have needed to melt a lock off. This must have been the group of people who infiltrated earlier. But that doesn't make sense. These two are talking away while sneaking around in a base. Do they understand anything about stealth? How the hell did they get inside?_

Rayne grimaced in the dark, putting away her grenade. _Guess these questions aren't going to be answered anytime soon. Guess I'll just wait until they leave and then-_

 _Oh crap._

Rayne was face to face with the two people she was eavesdropping on, who had rounded the corner and discovered her in her hiding spot. One, from the looks of it, was a bald boy (maybe a teen? hard to tell) monk, loose, neutral color clothes clinging to his body and wooden sandals on his feet. In his left hand was a circle-shaped object. An orange ball was in his right hand. To his left was a slightly taller teen, unkempt hair peeking out of his dusty brown scarf wrapped around his neck and lower head. He wore the clothes of the desert, grey and brown fabric tied down to his body with bands and belts at his waist, wrists, and ankles. In his left hand was a blowtorch, presumably producing the sound she had heard earlier. They seemed about equal in age to Rayne. Both of them looked very surprised to see she was crouching in the darkness.

The one to Rayne's left opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. The one on the right used his free hand to scratch his head. "How much did you hear of all that, exactly?" he asked nervously.

"Enough." _Hopefully, I can convince these idiots I have some leverage over them._

"Well," the one of the left said, "you don't look like a Red Ribbon soldier. Were you sneaking in like us?"

 _Well, I was a Red Ribbon Army and I'd hardly call your actions up until this point sneaky, but regardless…_ "Yeah, I was. Still am, too." _Now, do I appeal to their practicality or their sympathy?_ "I was with my friend and we got separated in this building. I'm a little freaked out that I can't find her…"

Their expressions changed instantly. _Severe for the situation given to them_. They looked towards each other and nodded. "This complicates our plans, but who are we to not help someone in need? Let's find your friend." Said the one who looked like a monk, extending a hand towards Rayne. She hesitated for a second, looking at the hand, before meeting his eyes and shaking. _Well, this was unexpected. Not unwelcome, though._

As they walked back into the crate maze, Rayne felt a bit disoriented by the maze's lack of distinguishing features. She fought off the urge to question her helpers until they rounded another corner and found themselves looking straight at a freight elevator. The two walked in and beckoned Rayne inside. _Guess this is where they came in from- this must have been that metal sound from before._ She walked inside and moved toward the back of the elevator. One of them pressed a button and the elevator started ascending.

"What's your name?" The one to the right of her asked after no one had talked for a few seconds.

"Rayne." _I should be more cautious… but meh. They're goofy enough._ She smiled, asking, "What about you two?"

"I'm Yamcha," the one at the buttons gestured with his thumb, "and his name is Krillin."

They didn't really know what to talk about for the rest of the elevator ride, so they sat there in silence until the elevator came to a stop. The doors were about to open when Yamcha very quickly said "Oh-by-the-way-we-have-a-plan-just-roll-with-it."

"You're under arrest!" A guard quickly emerged from behind the doors, producing three sets of shackles and affixing one to Krillin. Rayne was about to try and bolt out of the elevator when Yamcha elbowed her. _Don't run_ , his eyes said. _This is part of the plan._ Wary, Rayne let herself be shackled, glaring at Yamcha the entire time. When the guard finished Rayne glanced at him only to find that he had whiskers and was winking at her. As soon as this happened, the whiskers disappeared and the guard returned to his resting grouchy face. _Something's not quite right here._

Yamcha was the last person to be shackled. Checking their locks one more time, the guard then led them down a hallway. Bright white light made it difficult to tell how far they'd walked.

"So," the guard asked, "I bet you guys did some pretty bad stuff in that storeroom."

Rayne blinked. _Definitely not right_. Yamcha didn't seem to pick up on the weirdness. "Like we'd ever tell you what we stole!" He said proudly.

The guard shook his head. "Terrible. Looks like I'll have to take you to the special _outside_ holding cells… tsk, tsk."

The group took a right around another corner, and in the distance, Rayne could see natural light peering through the glass in the door that led to the outside.

Unfortunately, a guard blocked the hallway, gun drawn and pressed against her body.

"What's the meaning of this? I have prisoners! I am a ranking officer! Let me through!" Their captor rumbled.

The woman didn't flinch in the slightest. "Sorry sir, but as per Colonel Silver's orders, no one is to leave the base. She looked over to the three shackled people behind the guard. "I see you found some of the infiltrators."

Rayne's ears perked. _More?_

"More?" the guard echoed what Rayne was thinking, "What do you mean more?"

"Colonel Silver captured a young girl in the base. He took her to the mess hall. You'd better bring these three there. I'm sure he'd like to know the girl had accomplices, sir."

Their captor grumbled something of a goodbye, then turned and started walking in the direction the woman guard indicated was the mess hall. Once they were far enough away, he stopped and started unlocking their cuffs. His eyes met Rayne's. "This is a problem right?"

Jolted by the immediate change in personality, she haltingly nodded. "...Yea. I came into the base with a girl named Chi-Chi. We got separated before I got to the storeroom. Guess this is the worst case scenario…"

The guard disappeared in a poof. In his place now floated a cat, eyes still locked with Rayne's. "Yea, it is. By the way, I'm Puar and I'm a shapeshifter. Anywho, we can't leave your friend here, so here's the plan. Huddle in…"

By the time they reached the mess hall in full red ribbon uniform, about five minutes had passed. Most of that time was taken just dressing - finding some hapless soldiers milling around the base and telling them they needed to fetch something was simple for officer Puar. The doors to the mess hall were of the double-door swinging variety, so as the four of them pushed through the doors they made quite the grand entrance.

A huge group of soldiers was on the right side of the rectangular room, luckily looking away from where they had entered. These soldiers seemed to be affixed on some sort of spectacle going on at a mess table. From where they were, well behind the crowd, it was impossible to tell what exactly was happening. They cautiously approached the crowd, nodded to each other, and then separated and blended into the crowd. Rayne, summoning some of the authority she used to command her subordinates, tapped the shoulder of the nearest soldier and barked, "What the hell is going on, soldier?"

Her tone of voice worked wonders. "N-N-Nothing sir! Everyone just wanted to get a good look at the infiltrator! Kinda hard to see through the mass of bodies…"

Rayne scowled at the soldier. "Well, might as well clear me a path forward. I want to see this 'infiltrator' for myself." The soldier nodded, quickly putting himself to work elbowing other soldiers and pushing people away. A path through the crowd steadily formed before her. Marshaling a sense of superiority, she followed in the soldier's wake, taking care to not make eye contact with any other soldiers. Soon enough, she walked into a pocket of open space, dominated by a steel dining table.

The man standing on top of the table, oppressive in his size and stature, had the air of someone very important within the Red Ribbon Army. He wore tall, brown boots, that almost went up to the midpoint of his shins. Blue jeans and a purple-blue trench coat framed his physique, chiseled to the point of absurdity. The lack of shirt left nothing to the imagination. A red bandana was wrapped around his neck, providing an interesting contrast to his wild mane of fire-red hair.

Both of his arms were on the shoulders of the person in front of him - _Chi-Chi._ She very briefly made eye contact with the chained girl, a pleading helplessness pouring from her. Chi-Chi's arms were shackled behind her. _Well, let's see if I play my cards right -_

Arms were on her. Try as she could, Rayne couldn't resist the mass of people closing around her, trapping her. She heard the tell-tale _click_ of metal and the cool sensation reached her wrists. _Damn it_ _…_ She was able to glance toward Colonel Silver and saw that he was staring back, his features a strange mix of satisfaction and tranquility. _A mistake to underestimate the Red Ribbon Army, a mistake, a mistake!_ Two more people joined her at the front of the crowd. Krillin and Yamcha were brusquely shoved forward, both in a similar state to her. _Clink, clink, clink_.

"Well," Colonel Silver finally spoke, "that plan couldn't have gone much better. Amateurs, all of you. Why would you try to rescue your collaborator during a stealth mission? It's as they say, then. 'Criminals always return to the scene of the crime', or something like that." he said with a particular cutting tone.

He closed his eyes, waving his hand in dismissal. "I grow tired of success today." He gestured to a soldier close to him. "You there! I want you to take these group of… thieves? Or spies? Doesn't really matter. Take them to the cells downstairs." The guard's eyes flicked back between Colonel Silver and the four shackled prisoners. "Yes," Colonel Silver continued, " _those_ cells."

The earlier memory of the corpse room flashed through Rayne's mind. _What a shitty way to go_...

Seemingly bored, Colonel Silver climbed down from the table and waded back into the crowd. In the space of a few seconds, he was gone. The guard led the four of them out of the crowd, towards where they had come from, the soldiers in the crowd parting and staring as they went. Soldiers followed them as they walked through the base, petering off until disappearing fully by the time they entered a stairwell.

It was while the guard was opening a door to the next flight of stairs that he literally collided with Colonel Silver, who seemed to be rushing _up_ the stairs. _What? Where did he come from?_ thought Rayne. His eyes lit up once he saw the guard's chain of prisoners. "Ah! Perfect that I caught you all. I've received a change in orders." He turned towards the guard, his face as calm and placid as before. "I want you to take these prisoners to my helicopter outside. We're going to transfer these four to our headquarters immediately. I'll join them on the helipad in a few minutes. Tell my pilot of the change in plans. Dismissed."

Saluting, the guard changed course and started ascending the stairs to the outside, eventually emerging into the open air outside of the office building. No one had returned to their posts outside as of yet.

Colonel Silver's helicopter turned out to be a good 100 meters into the forest, far away from the compound. A small landing pad had been carved out of the forest. The guard walked up to the cockpit's passenger door and knocked. The door opened. "Colonel Silver says that these four are to go to headquarters immediately. Here's their mass inhibitor device." The guard handed something to the person he was talking to. "Keep it close at hand." _Inhibitors? In the shackles? Isn't that experimental tech?_ Rayne's mind was spinning. _Is that why no one else was making an attempt to escape?_ She glanced back towards their companions. Sure enough, they looked ready to collapse from exhaustion. _I'm having trouble focusing… the shackles must be getting to me, too..._

"Good luck." The guard closed the door and started walking back through the forest towards the base. A handful of seconds passed where there was no movement from the helicopter. Then, both doors opened and two Red Ribbon soldiers left the cockpit. The woman on the left smirked, lifting up a remote and pressing a button. Almost instantly, Rayne felt a mental and physical pressure lift from her. Krillin and Yamcha immediately burst into _whoops_.

"Way to go guys!" Krillin exclaimed. "You really pulled our asses out of the fire."

The other soldier exploded into a puff of smoke. _Puar?_ The cat gestured 'it's no big deal' to them. "Please. It was simple once we knew who was involved. Just needed one good look at that CO."

"Yea," a voice said from behind them, "that's really all it takes." Rayne turned around and nearly jumped at the sight of Colonel Silver, standing with his arms crossed, walking over to the helicopter.

"I have a feeling," Colonel Silver spoke with a decidedly not Colonel Silver tone, "that we all have a bit of catching up to do. Then, he too exploded into a cloud of smoke. _What is going on!?_ Rayne turned to Chi-Chi and saw she was as confused as her.

A pig walked out of the smoke, gesturing to Rayne and Chi-Chi. "Hop into the chopper. We can debrief you once we get away from this awful place." The pig climbed up into the open air back of the chopper with Krillin and Yamcha and beckoned Rayne and Chi-Chi inside. Rayne shared a glance with Chi-Chi, then nodded, climbing into the back with her. Bulma and Puar smiled and disappeared from sight. The helicopter's engine started soon after and the ground started to pull away.

As the base shrunk in size and was slowly re-disguised by the surrounding forest, Rayne couldn't help but appreciate the caper that'd been pulled off for them.

0o0o0

Colonel Silver waited in an elevator for what he assumed would be a reprimanding. He shifted his weight between his feet uneasily; he was not looking forward to the next minute or so _at all_. The elevator stopped at the third floor and opened to a scene of mechanical chaos. Metal and tools lay scattered on every empty countertop and table. Dirty rags laid on the ground in heaps. In the center of the room was an empty table, save for some loose metal bands wired together as if forming a barrel. Colonel Silver stepped out and observed the table, eyes adjusting to the light to notice the man absorbed in his work at the far end of the table, welding mask pulled down and blowtorch in use welding two metal strips together. He hadn't seemed to notice Colonel's Silver's entry.

"Doctor, the prisoners have escaped."

The man hunched over the center table didn't react in the slightest. After a few heartbeats of welding, he lifted his mask and looked at the Colonel. The beginning of a grey mustache was growing on his face. "Your loss then. Not you, strictly, but the army. I was _especially_ interested in that little trick you described the girl could do. What was it, the candles?"

Colonel Silver nodded.

The man flipped back down his welding mask. "That's all the conversation you'll get out of me today. Leave."

Obliging, Colonel Silver gave a small bow and walked back into the elevator, pressing the button for the ground floor. Once the doors closed, he let out a long, heavy sigh. "Could have gone much worse," he spoke to himself in a quiet cadence.

* * *

 **Reviews:**

 **Q: Krillin as the hero and goku as the bad guy. Interesting! I like your take of the relationship between Yamcha and krillin too. A sort of rivalry/friendship.**

 _ **A: Thanks! That's definitely the feel I was going for the relationship between the two of them. Their relationship will probably be one of the more consequential ones in the series...**_


	7. Mortals Gather Before the Gods

Pursual Arc

Chapter 7: Mortals Gather Before the Gods

A/N: Hey everyone! Just so you know this chapter is a bit on the short side; mostly because this is sort of a 'setting the table' chapter, but also because I mashed my left pointer finger in a door. Makes typing hurt a bit. Other than that, enjoy!

* * *

The helicopter flew through the air for about half an hour, keeping a high altitude to the ground. Rayne and Chi-Chi couldn't think of anything to talk about with their newfound companions, so they resigned themselves to watching the ground go by below. Krillin, Yamcha, and Oolong seemed to be content with the silence, letting the minutes pass in quiet. The helicopter began descending soon enough, landing in the middle of a camp set up next to a forest. Or, more accurately, a camp with a fully constructed house. The landing rails of the helicopter touched to the ground. Krillin, Yamcha, and Oolong rose

"Alright, alright," Oolong laughed as he exited the helicopter, "you have to admit, that was a pretty darn good mission.

"Oh," Bulma responded while pulling off Red Ribbon Army logos from the helicopter exterior, "it was. Close, but that's what made it _good._

"Yea," Puar said as she came around from the other cockpit door, "you really came in clutch at the end, Oolong. We couldn't have done it without you."

"It was nothing."

Rayne and Chi-Chi felt hopelessly lost. "Would it be possible," Chi-Chi asked of the group at large, "if we could have an explanation of what just happened?..."

"Oh, so sorry! We haven't introduced ourselves. My name is Bulma," the woman who had piloted the helicopter said while waving a hand in greeting. "That pig over there is Oolong, and the three others are -"

"No need. They told us before."

"Alright. Honestly, I wasn't actually there for most of the mission, so Puar?..."

The cat nodded. "Well, the short version is that Oolong and I are shapeshifters and we impersonated a bunch of people. Want the long version?"

Chi-Chi and Rayne very quickly said yes.

"Well, Oolong and I went to a shapeshifting school where we learned how to turn into any shape we wish, including people. We teamed up with Krillin and Yamcha, two aspiring martial artists, and Bulma, a techy adventurer, to recover a set of magical wish-granting balls to revive a deceased martial artist."

"That's not very long, but okay..." Rayne mumbled under her breath before speaking louder. "Why were you at the Red Ribbon base?"

"Simple. We found out there was a dragonball being stored there by the Red Ribbon Army, and we need all the dragonballs to use them to grant a wish. Right now we have five, so we have two left to find before we have all seven. So, we snuck into the base." She gestured to herself. "I played the important role of captor, leading my 'prisoners' to the 'outside cells'. Or, that was the plan before it got messed up by the arrival of a certain Red Ribbon officer."

 _Well,_ Rayne thought, _I figured that out, at least_.

"I, on the other hand," Oolong continued, "played the illustrious Colonel Silver, rescuing everyone with one timely order."

"Wait," Rayne said, "I'm confused. Were you Colonel Silver the entire time, or?..."

Oolong shook his head "Nope. Didn't even know he existed before I saw him while disguised in the mess hall crowd. Once I did, it was just a matter of finding a hidden spot to change and catching up with you guys. Lucky for us that the man seemed decidedly disinterested in making sure his original order was carried out. He just… disappeared. Odd."

 _For sure_. "Well, we're definitely grateful you all bailed us out."

"Us too, Oolong." Puar floated over, smiling. "If we hadn't trusted you to help us out then we'd all be wasting away in prison cells right now. We owe you one."

"It was nothing," Oolong said with a smidget of boasting, "just doing my part. For sure, the best part was when we first got in we and convinced the entire base they were being attacked by angry villagers… I even saw one guy firing into the forest, terrified of 'movement in the trees'!" He led the group in a genuine fit of laughter.

"There's something I'm still not clear on, though." Chi-Chi tapped a finger to her chin as the rest slowly let their laughter die off. "Presumably infiltrating an army base is a very dangerous thing, even with shapeshifters helping you. Were the other dragon balls so hard to find or as dangerous?..."

Out of the corner of her eye, Rayne saw most of their company frown.

Not Oolong though. "While I haven't met the guy personally, apparently there's this kid named Kakarot who has one of these dragonballs. And he is one mean dude."

Rayne unconsciously narrowed her eyes. "So," she said, seemingly forcing herself to talk, "You know of him."

Still frowning, Krillin nodded. "At the very beginning of all this, he was the first person we met while we were hunting for the dragon balls. We watched Kakarot kill a martial arts master, then spare us. It was… disturbing.

Puar floated over and whispered in Oolong's ear. They waved and walked away from an increasingly somber scene.

"So," Rayne said, eyes on Krillin, "he spared you, too."

Krillin simply stared back his response.

"He has a dragonball?" Chi-Chi asked. "Wait, what does a dragon ball look like?" Suddenly Chi-Chi threw off her pack and started furiously rummaging through it. After a few seconds, she emerged with an orange ball in her right hand, six stars on it.

She had successfully shocked her company. "What! Where did you get that?" Bulma yelped.

"Well, this was given to me by my father when I set out from our castle. He said it was a very powerful artifact that would reveal its power to me when the time was right."

"Who's your father?"

"The Ox-King of Fire Mountain. You've heard of him?"

Bulma shook her head. "No, but it seems like he knew more about the dragonballs than the average person… hmm…"

"Wait, Bulma," Krillin asked while withdrawing the seven-star dragon ball he had stolen from the red ribbon army base from his pack, "how many dragonballs do we have now? Our pace of acquisition has gotten pretty frantic as of late."

"One second." Bulma pulled out a capsule and _clicked_ it, and threw it at the ground; it exploded in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, there were four dragonballs on the ground.

"Hand the dragonball to me for a second…' Bulma commanded Krillin. "Chi-Chi's your name, right?"

Chi-Chi grinned. "Yes, it is. Here you go." She handed the six-star dragon ball to Krillin. He brought that and the seven-star ball to the pile, arranging the six dragon balls in a line according to their numbers. When he finished that, there was a straight line of six dragonballs, a gap in the middle from the absence of - if the pattern held - the four-star dragonball.

"Bulma, could you use the dragon radar, please?" He asked as he knelt before the line.

She quickly pulled out it out and turned it on, eyes glued to the screen as it scanned. "Well, the good news is there's one dragonball left to get. Bad news, Kakarot has it." Six dots on the radar were right on top of each other. Much farther away was one.

"Great," Krillin whispered, his gaze distant as he stared at the six balls gathered in front of him, "just great."

0o0o0

Everyone was a bit too tired, too drained, to continue down the path of thought of facing Kakarot again. They settled into the motions of setting up camp, with Rayne and Chi-Chi volunteering to help out wherever they could. A nice meal, the group decided, would be relaxing for everyone. At least, that was the hope.

As the scraps were being polished off, Chi-Chi watched the rest of the camp settle into their activities for the rest of the night. Bulma languidly entered her capsule house, lights inside flickering on and off occasionally. Oolong and Puar chatted while taking a walk away from camp, apparently reminiscing on some shared memory. Krillin and Yamcha exchanged a look and walked over to the far end of camp, stretching as they went. Which left Rayne and Chi-Chi by the fire. It was then, Chi-Chi realized, that they hadn't had a chance to talk since the whole fiasco at the Red Ribbon army base. Rayne herself looked decidedly disinterested, absent-mindedly poking the fire, embers flying into the wind every so often. Chi-Chi felt the need to press on.

"Rayne," Chi-Chi ventured, feeling a bit uncertain of what to say, "I understand what you're feeling. I for one wouldn't want to come face to face again with someone who almost murdered me. I-"

"It's not that."

"Huh?" Chi-Chi asked, surprised. "Then what's going on with you?"

"It's… mmm. I feel _useless_ , if that makes sense. Powerless."

"What do you mean? Towards Kakarot?"

"That's a part of it, but there's more. While everyone here seems like great people, I don't know how _I_ could help with their quest. The only reason you and me survived that base was because there was two martial artists, two shapeshifters, and a genius - _(I'm guessing that's what Bulma is? A scientist? Fits with the magically appearing and disappearing items she has) -_ were there to bail us out." Rayne sighed. "I don't see how we could ever help in taking a dragonball from Kakarot. If the past is anything to go on…"

Chi-Chi laughed. And it wasn't a puny, tiny giggle, or some half-hearted chortled; it was a full belly, loud and proud laugh. After a few seconds where Rayne was shocked- _rude! or at least blunt -_ She frowned at Chi-Chi. Wiping some proto-tears from her eyes, Chi-Chi cast an amused glance at Rayne. "I can't believe this is the same person I met in that forest so short a time ago.

 _What's that supposed to mean? Hmmph._ Rayne internally grumbled.

"You know what? I think I know what can give you some perspective. You lack motivation. Go ask Krillin and Yamcha what motivates them."

"What?"

"That's all I'm gonna say." With that, Chi-Chi rose and walked away, if for no other reason than to leave Rayne alone with her thoughts. _I!... Her!...hooooo… breathe in, breathe out. Frustrating as she is, she might be onto something._ Rising, Rayne looked over to where Krillin and Yamcha had walked off to, and sure enough, she found the two calmly sitting on the ground. _Time to pay a quick visit._

Trying to be as unobtrusive as she could, Rayne strode over to the two, making sure to not make much noise. It wasn't successful. About ten feet away Krillin opened his eyes and saw Rayne approaching. He nudged Yamcha and he came out of whatever he was doing, and watched Rayne as she closed.

With both of their expressions saying ' _What's up?'_ , Rayne asked, "What motivates you?"

They looked at each other, to confirm they were thinking the same thing. "What motivates us," Yamcha began hesitantly, "is the goal, I guess. The quest, more accurately. To get the seven dragonballs to revive someone-"

"I understand that," Rayne cut him off, hoping she wasn't being rude, "but why him? This… whoever he is."

"This person," Krillin explained, "was called Master Roshi. Have you heard of him?"

Rayne shook her head no.

"He was a famous martial artist and an even more famous teacher. He was, well, an amazing individual. Yamcha and I have heard thousands of tales about the good work he's done."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with us?"

Krillin momentarily looked aggravated, but if he had any frustration he didn't show it. "Master Roshi is a positive force for the world. For the wellbeing of its people and their wellbeing. When he's not out there defeating evil he's inspiring others to do the same. He has and was going to keep on doing this for a long time… until he was killed by Kakarot."

To be honest, Rayne wasn't shocked that Kakarot had killed someone they knew/idolized. _Definitely keeping with his personality._ But Rayne felt the pain written on their faces while they brought up the subject. Krillin, in particular, looked hurt by the discussion. "So that's the goal then? Revive this old master so he can resume his good life before he was cut down?"

"Rayne, to tell the truth, there's no reason for why me, or Yamcha, Puar, Oolong, Bulma - no reason why we specifically are doing this. But there's a part of me that before this was crying out to help the world in some way, change it in a good way. When I saw Master Roshi die in front of me… it clicked. I needed to help." Throughout this monologue, Krillin was getting more and more worked up. "I can't really say what motivates me… but I can say that I am, this resonates with me, and I need to see it to the end."

 _So the truth comes out. Motivation is more than just motivation; it's the tool itself. Someone could crush planets in their hand, but without a reason to act, they're useless. Don't sweat the details; focus on the goal._ "You know, that actually makes a lot of sense Krillin." Still feeling a bit unsure socially, Rayne risked a genuine smile. "Thank you."

Visibly relaxing, Krillin nodded. "No problem, those are just my thoughts..."

"So uh… do you two usually meditate?"

"Not all the time." Krillin responded, "We usually try to spend half of our free time meditating and half of our free time training."

"Interesting. Do you mind if?..." she motioned to sit.

"Go ahead. Be warned though, we're not going to be talking much during this." Rayne saw a glint of humor in Krillin's eyes.

Assuming a cross-legged position, Rayne let her mind wander for a time, going back to her past, going back to her time in the Red Ribbon Army, passing over all the events that had brought her here to this place, this time. _I'm lucky_ , she realized, _to be where I am._

0o0o0

Fists flew. Blows rocketed back and forth, as neither Krillin nor Yamcha allowed themselves to be pushed out of a circle they'd drawn into the dirt. Their arms were locked, muscles bulging against each other as their feet dug into the ground. Legs skittered around, trying to avoid going out but also trying to reposition to knock each other off balance and out of the ring.

Off to the side, Rayne watched intently, trying to track every single movement the two made. While Rayne trained extensively in hand-to-hand combat while with the Red Ribbon army, what she was watching now confirmed her suspicions; these two were on an entirely different level from her. _At least for now_. Rayne was confident that as long as she kept her eyes open and her mind pliable, she'd be able to pick up anything she saw.

Another kick from Krillin. Yamcha seemed to be caught off guard for the first time in the session, but after a few seconds revealed this to be a feint and threw up a punch at Krillin, him barely blocking it with his arms and his forward momentum. He dangerously teetered near the edge for a second before reigning in his body and twisting right, reassuming a strong position in the circle. Neither was determined to give up any ground.

 _I'm tempted to jump in there first chance I get, though I'm still miles behind them in strength, and slightly behind in skill._ A block collided with a strike. _So far, I haven't seen anything crazy._

No sooner than she thought that, she was blinded by a sudden flash. When she could clearly see she saw Krillin knocked out of the circle on his back, Yamcha standing victorious in the circle, panting. _What? What just happened?_

"Now, I'll admit," Krillin conceded as he propped himself up with his hands, that was well-timed."

Yamcha relaxed his arms from a guard. "I may still be a one-trick pony, but at least I'm a _strong_ one-trick pony." He walked out of the circle to where Krillin laid sprawled out on the ground, helping him to his feet.

Noting Rayne's bewildered expression, Krillin addressed his next few words at Rayne. "What you just saw was _ki_. Basically, it's a life-

"I'll stop you short there. I know _ki_. What I don't know is how you sent an evenly-matched opponent flying."

"Simple." Yamcha said while dusting off his clothes, "You just concentrate it into one spot of the body and then release it all at once. Helps when the opponent doesn't really know how to block it. Unfortunately, I can't really use _ki_ in any other way except how I did just now, but at least I'm at the point where I'm strong enough to use it without blacking out.

"You were blacking out from your own attacks?" Rayne asked, dumbfounded.

Yamcha could only scratch his head and nervously laugh. His eyes shifted to the two people approaching the sparring ring.

Puar and Chi-Chi had come over to watch the tail-end of the session. Oolong and Bulma were nowhere to be seen.

"Everyone," Puar spoke once she was close," I think there's something we should talk about. At Puar's side, Chi-Chi looked a bit impatient, though seemingly more from positive than negative anticipation. "Chi-Chi here was telling me something very interesting about a certain person we all know."

"Who? Bulma?" Yamcha asked in a dumb guess.

"No! Listen for a second." She turned to Chi-Chi. "Go ahead."

"Right. So here's something I learned while I was tracking Kakarot for a few days. He has a pattern to his... _routine_." Chi-Chi said shuddering while referring to Kakarot's repeated killing of innocents as commonplace. "After he destroyed a settlement, every time after it seemed he was… weakened, in some way. While I never saw the attacks for myself, in what I saw afterwards there was a serious drop in his power. If you all are planning on attacking him, that's when I would…"

"You do realize," Krillin said very plainly of fact, "that that plan of action requires us waiting for Kakarot to kill an entire village."

No one stepped forward to acknowledge Krillin's statement.

"Krillin," Yamcha pleaded, "you should of all people should know how strong Kakarot is. We have to take every chance we get…"

"I refuse." Krillin quickly said in a tone bereft of consideration. "What you're all suggesting is manslaughter at best and murder at worse. We fight Kakarot as soon as we're ready. Which is looking like any day now."

"Hold on a second Krillin. Think about how the dragon ball legend works." Puar reasoned. "There's no asterisk or condition about the wish granted; it's just 'your wish is granted.' There's a good chance we could revive _everyone_ who was killed by Kakarot and not just Master Roshi, if we choose our words right."

Krillin arched an eyebrow in skepticism. "So what, we say 'revive everyone who has been killed Kakarot'? And you think that'll work?"

"There's no reason it wouldn't. One thing taught to all shapeshifters very early on is that all details matter, so if there's no warning associated with the dragon ball legend, well… what's the difference between one or one hundred lives to some sort of wish-granting thing?"

"I suppose you have a point… but you do understand what all of you would be committing if that wish can't be granted."

"I think," Yamcha spoke somberly, seeing the agreement in everyone else, "that we need to take every opportunity to give ourselves a fighting chance at defeating Kakarot. We accept the risks."

Minefield successfully navigated, Chi-Chi resumed her original line of thought. "So… if you're going to track Kakarot, you're going to need someone to help you with that. Which is where I come in. Like I said my father is the Ox-King - he tasked me to hunt and stop Kakarot. So, as it turns out I have a reason to stop Kakarot, as does Rayne who was almost killed by him." Chi-Chi looked over to Rayne, and saw her shaking her head in agreement. "We offer to help in whatever way possible to take down Kakarot. Use the radar to get close to Kakarot, and let me take it from there."

"I think I speak for everyone," Krillin said while smiling at his companions, "when I say that we would be honored by both of your help."

0o0o0

When Bulma and Oolong had heard the news their reaction was to shrug with indifference- it seemed that the group was adding someone new by the day. They all spent some time talking and celebrating the acceptance of their newest members before everyone settled down for the night. Bulma had said tomorrow she would be, one, searching her capsules for a bigger car to fit everyone and, two, driving towards the last blip on the radar. Driving to Kakarot.

Thus, while the entire camp was asleep, Chi-Chi and Rayne were left alone in their bedrolls, uneasiness stemming from the daunting nature of their task. They were idling chatting until both of them felt sleepy enough when a question popped into Chi-Chi's head.

"Rayne? Mind if I ask you a sorta personal question?"

The look she received spoke very clearly: _choose your next words carefully_. "Yea?"

"Well, I remember when we first met, you were pretty… unwilling to talk about your past. We're both tired but… is there anything you want to tell me?"

Chi-Chi couldn't see any reaction on Rayne's face in the darkness. Granted, she also couldn't see Rayne's face. "Goodnight, Chi-Chi," Rayne said after a moment, before she turned in her bedroll to face away from her.

Chi-Chi sighed. _Rayne, I tried, but you insist on torturing yourself..._

0o0o0

Camp broke an hour after dawn. The tone surrounding everyone was noticeably more serious, the enthusiasm and joy of the last night being tempered by a night's sleep. Rayne and Chi-Chi were both surprised when Bulma found and deployed a minivan/jeep hybrid from a tiny capsule, but by now the both of them had come to expect the unexpected with these people. As they were climbing into the car, and Bulma was making the very last adjustments to the day's planned route on her map, she rapped on the metal of the car and got everyone's attention.

"Something occurred to me that I want to confirm. When we defeat Kakarot, we're going to kill him, right?"

No one was quick to respond. _These people must have been thinking about this, right?_ Bulma thought aggravated.

"I'm not sure I feel comfortable with that," Yamcha replied.

"I'll be honest; me neither." Krillin chimed in.

It was Rayne's turn to be frustrated. "Are you serious? You don't want to kill Kakarot? Do you not understand how many people he's killed? How many lives he's destroyed? If we left him alive we'd be condemning more innocent people to die. I can understand taking risks to kill Kakarot, but once he's been dealt with, not killing him would be inexcusable!" She finished on the verge of screaming, face red with exertion.

She took a second to breathe. "I'm not going to let anyone else bargain with human lives. If none of you will kill Kakarot, _I_ will."

No one wanted to acknowledge what Rayne had said. But by leaving that last comment unanswered they gave their tacit approval to the plan.

It was an uneasy tone to leave a car in, now accelerating and speeding along, on the eve of battle.

0o0o0

Ashes drifted in the wind. Corpses pooled in their own blood. It was a magnificent sight to Kakarot.

From where he was on the hill, he could fully admire his handiwork. As of late, he'd come to love killing again, surprising as it was to him. Here he was, thinking killing had finally lost its luster, when, really, all he needed was some time away from it while he walked lost in the wilderness. Destroying his first village in a week had a way of making his blood flow.

Although, he didn't have much memory of actually _doing it_. He approached at night; then he woke up this morning some 200 yards away from the village in some sort of crater. It didn't really matter. He had wiped the village from the face of the Earth. Whether or not he remembered was a secondary concern.

His stomach growled. Hungry as he was, never in his devastation did he ever to think the eat his victims. _They look too much like me._ Kakarot reasoned he'd have to go into the forest to scavenge some fruit or kill some animals. Taking one last look at the wreck of the village in front of him, he turned and entered the tree line.

A bit further into the forest, he found where he had left his pack propped up against a tree. He was about to sling it on when he heard movement. _Animals? Would never come this close._ Kakarot peered into the woods and saw two decidedly human figures moving towards him. He grinned as they emerged into the day's falling light, shrouded by the colors of dusk and trees.

He didn't recognize the one on the left. He did recognize the one on the right. They bent their legs and arms, arming themselves like missiles pointed at him.

Kakarot chuckled. No, he laughed. He gave the strongest, hardest, most genuine laugh of his life, louder than any other thing he had ever spoken. The moment was beyond funny. Fools! Rushing to die. This was beyond his wildest expectations. For someone to challenge him again so soon, wanting to avenge the past… this was the stuff of dreams.

Slowly, he stopped laughing. He stood up straight and extended his arms towards his audience, gesturing with entire his body: _Come at me!_

They obliged. A shockwave rang out through the forest. The battle had begun.

* * *

 **Reviews:**

Q: Haha, Yup, the Krillin/Yamcha friendship is one of my favorite.

Great chapter! Good character devlopment, with the shapeshifter school and the flawed characters ( with how they try to correct their flaws ).

A: Thanks! Trying to balance boring exposition and actual things happening, haha. And thanks for the 2nd review! I love how this section has become just an ongoing dialogue between the two of us :)


	8. Go! Fight for the Future!

Pursual

Chapter 8: Go! Fight for the Future!

A/N: Hey everyone! Really sorry for the delay; I got sick a few days into the week and made pretty much everything unpleasant. On top of that this chapter serves as the end to the arc, so I needed some time to lay the path going forward. Hope you all enjoy!

* * *

The forest exploded into chaos. Leaves and dirt were thrown into the air, mixing and pulsing outwards. Krillin and Yamcha had charged at Kakarot, chasing after him as he jumped away deeper into the forest. They'd try to get close enough for a swing or a chop, but Kakarot effortlessly kept them out of range, more amused than anything else at the current state of affairs. He maintained his distance from the two fighters, satisfied with letting them exhaust themselves on their first offensive.

After a minute Kakarot noticed that they weren't really trying to land any blows- instead they seemed content to keep his moving, chasing him endlessly. _Oh? Strategy at work?_

Minutes of this passed before Kakarot realized he'd made a circle through the forest while avoiding their attacks, as he edged back into the clearing they first started fighting. _Interesting. They've led me right back to where we were before. I wonde-_

An explosion rocked his vision. A grenade had landed and erupted maybe two feet from him. It didn't damage him at all, of course, but it stung like hell, and annoyed him even more. He turned in the direction it had been thrown from, but only saw more forest. _A lucky shot?_ Kakarot didn't have any time to think further before Yamcha and Krillin were on him again, this time sticking close to him and trying much harder to land some blows. Try as he might, he couldn't find a chance to counterattack - whenever either of them overextended on an attack, the other would quickly rush in, covering them from any retaliatory strike. They were crowding out his space to maneuver. _Pitiful. So weak they need to cover each other's weaknesses._ Kakarot continued to block their attacks without much trouble, but he noticed he was again being pushed into another section of the forest.

They abruptly scattered into the brush, leaving Kakarot by himself. _What's-_ The area around him burst into flame. Kakarot rolled out of the inferno, patting his smoldering clothes. _Gotta hand it to them, this tactical garbage is getting **old**_ _._ He wrenched his head away from his ruined clothes to scan around him - to see a kick flying straight for his face.

The best he could do on short notice was throw up a hasty block, taking the full force and pain of the blow to his forearms, and be launched him away. He careened through the air before landing on his feet, lowering his stinging arms to the ground as he glared with murderous intent to the attacker. The taller one with the dusty clothes. He seemed to be smiling, even egging on Kakarot with a small wave of his hand.

Growling, Kakarot charged him. Yamcha ran around a corner of a tree trunk, and shockingly, when Kakarot rounded it Yamcha was gone. _There's no way he could have moved faster than me-_

He was cut off by a fist colliding with his head, staggering him as another blow connected with his stomach. Kakarot threw up his arms and was able to deflect the next intended strike, a diving kick aimed at his hip. He glared between his arms and saw his other assailant, the shorter one he remembered from before, smirking in satisfaction at landing his hits. _Unbelievable... those stung._ Wiping a trickle of blood from the busted skin of his cheek, Kakarot planted his feet on the ground, letting a smile creep onto his face. "You and your friend," he spoke, "you two have got a lot more fight in you this time around."

"No."

"Hmmph?" Kakarot was immediately angered by his opponent's terse response.

"Look below."

Kakarot glanced down and saw he was standing on a metal plate. _F -_

A pillar of fire erupted into the sky.

0o0o0

"Direct hit!" Chi-Chi hovered a hand over the ground, face scrunched up in intense concentration. Suddenly, she opened her eyes. "West! 20 meters! Push the trigger!"

Bulma flicked a switch guard and pressed a button. A _booom_ rang through the forest, shaking the trees as it radiated outwards. Bulma kept her head down as dirt rained down with the occasional rock. When the dust cleared, she came up to Chi-Chi's side, who still had her eyes screwed shut in concentration. "Tell me," Bulma asked concerned, "how many more explosives do you think we have buried in the stretch of forest around us?

Declining to open her eyes, Chi-Chi responded, "Not enough to kill him, that's for sure. We'll do what we can and then it's in the hands of Krillin and Yamcha…"

"Speak for yourself."

Chi-Chi and Bulma nearly jumped out of their skins, not noticing that Rayne had snuck back to them in the past few seconds from the forest.

"Rayne!" Bulma yelled in a loud whisper, "you already planted everything?"

"You didn't give me much, to be fair…"

"Wait. What were you saying? 'Speak for yourself'? Do you plan on fighting that monster?"

Rayne simply shrugged. "I could try it, at least."

"Damn it, Rayne! We can't leave you behind - " Bulma said, sadness snaking into her furious expression.

"Wait," Chi-Chi cut them off with a calm command, "quiet down. He's getting closer to us."

0o0o0

It was quickly becoming obvious to Kakarot that he was in one big trap- his scorched patches of skin could attest to that. _I admire their commitment, not to mention their confidence. But now that I have a handle on what's going on… time to punish the masterminds in the middle of the circle these two have been leading me around._ Kakarot suddenly put on a burst of speed to his movement, running past a slow-to-react Krillin whose head followed Kakarot as he flew past. _One on one, they're useless._ Kakarot could see the edge of the clearing when a figure suddenly stepped into his path. It looked oddly like the monk he had left in the dust behind him... He slowed his run, moving to the right to avoid him-

Only to run straight into Yamcha's outstretched fist. Kakarot slid to the ground, the right side of his head pounding with pain for the second time today, and snarled as he locked his right arm and tripped Yamcha as he slid past. Kakarot rolled into a crouch, looking back to see Yamcha sprawled on the ground behind him. A fist collided into Kakarot's side, staggering him back a few feet. Vision blurred, he regained his bearings and looked towards the direction of the fist. Krillin stood there, arm still outstretched from the punch, a smirk plastered to his face. Kakarot growled in response. _They may be talented, but they're not that talented. If he was able to move as fast as he just did, this battle would have been over a long time ago. No, there's something else going on…_ Regardless of how angry he felt, Kakarot didn't want to pass up a moment to congratulate his opponents. "You're all pathetic. Resorted to throwing in anyone to fight just one person, using dirty tricks and traps. Where's your sense of honor?" _...Honor? Not a word I've never really thought of before. Is this me talking, or?..._

Krillin's smirk fled his face; a frown replaced it. "I'm glad that you refreshed me on your opinions of us. I'd forgotten what's at stake here and what we're up against." Krillin reassumed a fighting stance. "We'll do whatever it takes to stop you, otherwise people will _die_. You probably don't understand the significance of that, but we do."

"All you have are tricks for me to decipher… oh well…" With that Kakarot jumped into the fray, setting Krillin on the defensive while Yamcha rushed behind him. _Perfect_. At the last second Kakarot jumped up and flipped in the air, landing behind a charging Yamcha.

He was confused at what he saw next. When Yamcha collided with Krillin, the former monk exploded into a cloud of smoke, as Yamcha continued tumbling forward. After a second, a floating cat emerged from it, looking particularly angry at the person who had just collided with them. _Wait a second, what's-_

A kick into his back interrupted his thoughts and knocked him flat onto his stomach. _Just. Need. Time. To think!_ He huffed as he climbed to his feet, dirt staining his clothes as he scrambled away from his attackers. Dodging around a hill, and lacking a better idea, he started furiously digging into the side of a mound of dirt, creating for himself a small hole to temporarily hide in.

 _Okay. Think. Surrounded by traps. Some sort of… technique making them look like they're everywhere at once. I'm stronger than them, faster than them._ Kakarot clenched his fists. _I'm been fighting them the wrong way._

0o0o0

After Kakarot was sent running by the last blow, Krillin tried to follow but he lost him in the forest. He strained to see any sign of Kakarot's presence. Yamcha guarded his back, similarly watching. While he couldn't see them, Krillin knew that Puar and Oolong were still hovering around, waiting to jump in when the time was right. _The strategy is working well so far. Just need to keep it up._

Krillin walked up an embankment of dirt. When he reached the top, his vision was obscured by a mane of black hair. _Wha-_ A fist collided with him, launching him off the edge to land painfully on his back. Wincing, Krillin saw Kakarot standing at the top of the embankment, smirking down at them. Yamcha charged towards him, but Kakarot sidestepped to the right and maneuvered around a tree trunk, using his momentum to swing around and smash into Yamcha's charging body with his legs. The former bandit flew a few feet before landing, moaning in pain as he landed.

Not done, Kakarot then gripped onto the next tree trunk and climbed up, disappearing into the canopy above. _What the hell is he doing-_ Then the realization struck Krillin like a wrench to the head. _He's moving to the center! He's avoiding the ground to bypass the traps!_ Filling with dread, Krillin set off in the direction Kakarot ran off towards.

0o0o0

"Chi-Chi!" Rayne whispered. The three of them were still squatting in a circle. "What's his reading? Where'd he go?"

"Not sure. Trying…"

Abruptly, Bulma ran off at a full sprint away from them.

Turning in the opposite direction, mumbling under her breath "that's not good," Rayne looked at the treeline.

A blur, then out of reflex Rayne brought up her arms over her head. She barely absorbed the intended blow for her, her arms buckling but not breaking under the brutal strike. Through her block she could see a manic face, hovering away from her briefly after the blow before drawing back.

Behind Rayne, Chi-Chi slowly withdrew her axe. Doing her best to ignore the blinding pain in her arms - _quite possibly some of the worst pain I've felt_ -Rayne definitely stood her ground, carefully moving her arms back into a guard position.

"To be honest," Kakarot spat, his face still clothed in mania, "I'm glad the cowards in the back line could at the very least defend themselves. If I had killed you in one blow, well, now _that_ would have been disappointing…"

 _Very nearly came to that, just now. He doesn't even seem to recognize me..._ Even though her's and everyone else's lives were on the line, that last realization irritated Rayne. Infuriated her. Suddenly she didn't care about making a hasty retreat; she just wanted to take Kakarot down with her. She knew she'd only have one good shot - once Kakarot got serious she'd be down quick.

Noticing that Kakarot had briefly turned to see the approaching figure behind him - Krillin, but still a long ways off - Rayne sprung into action. Pulling back her fist, she rushed up and landed a direct hit on the right side of Kakarot's chest. Worryingly, there was no physical reaction from Kakarot. _The gap, still too wide, still too wide!_ Panicking, she desperately started to backstep, only to receive a reflex arm strike from Kakarot, swinging through her and batting her away. He didn't even bother to look at his attacker.

Landing in a heap nearby, multiple ribs broken, Rayne still tried to smile through the pain. _I got one shot in, at least._ Then, she was out.

0o0o0

Krillin stopped several strides from Kakarot. He had almost panicked when Kakarot struck Rayne - thankfully, she hadn't looked to be grievously injured. She was thrown against a tree, looking awful but alive. _Thank… thank- that's good enough._ Sighing, he turned towards Kakarot, who was shifting his body to face him. Chi-Chi made an urgent gesture, a few meters behind Kakarot. Krillin immediately understood what she wanted.

"Kakarot," Krillin spoke, "humor me; why?"

Kakarot tilted his head, as if still processing what Krillin had said. Behind him, Chi-Chi silently moved over to Rayne's unconscious body. "Why what?"

"Why do you do what you do? Kill people? Destroy villages? Ruin _lives?_ Do any of these words have any meaning to you?"

Fully grasping Krillin's question, Kakarot cockily smiled. "Simple answer to a simple question. I like what I do. And the world lets me. No one has stopped me from killing people. No one has stopped me from destroying villages. And certainly, _no one_ has stopped me from ruining lives." A dangerous undertone wormed its way into Kakarot's voice.

Krillin assumed that last line was directed at him. "You really think you've ruined my life then? Why do you think that?" Krillin, though disgusted by his opponent, was still enjoying the verbal spar.

"Simple. You've charged right into your suicide. You're weaker than me- that much is clear. And your allies are even weaker! I can't see anything that _wouldn't_ make me your death sentence…" He trailed off, chuckling.

While Kakarot was talking, Chi-Chi had quietly picked up Rayne with the help of Oolong and Puar, who seemed to have given up on the combat ruse. _Can't blame them, to be honest. After what happened to Rayne… it's better we go with plan B and only have Yamcha and I fight Kakarot. Chi-Chi, Bulma, Puar, Oolong- they all could have been killed by that attack..._

Together, the three of them carried Rayne towards the opposite end of the clearing, passing from view into the forest beyond. _Looks like I stalled for long enough… well then._ Krillin observed that Yamcha had emerged from the forest behind Kakarot, evidently taking the time to backtrack and discuss the situation with the others. He looked tired. _You and me both, buddy._ The adrenaline had somewhat faded; Krillin was becoming more and more aware of the bruises and cuts across his body. Kakarot wasn't in much better shape, but so far he's seemed unaffected by their attack. _Time for last-ditch efforts, then_...

Yamcha seemed to have the same idea. The light of the forest around them started shifting.

Krillin dimly realized Kakarot was still talking to him. "... and let me tell you one more thing, _weakling_ , if you thought the last time was traumatic, I guarantee you're going to wish I had killed you once we're done here.

"Oh? And here I thought you were going to buy us ice cream…" Krillin responded, faking a hurt sincerity.

Krillin thought he saw a vein swell on Kakarot's forehead. "I don't even know what ice cream is! Shut up! Talking is done!"

 _Wonder if…_ The light in the forest was now decidedly blue-ish. "Well, good, because you were just going _on_ and _on…_ "

Kakarot pointed an accusing finger at Krillin. "You started it! You're an idiot!"

"Definitely _an_ idiot here…"

Fuming, Kakarot charged Krillin, taking him off guard with the speed of his attacks. Krillin, calm, kept dodging Kakarot's blows. _Typical. Just like Yamcha, get him worked up and he can't fight straight. Both forget to pay attention._ To Krillin, it now looked like Kakarot had a blue outline, light spreading and blowing past him from behind him. He took the next possible opportunity to roll out of Kakarot's way. Krillin had the perfect view - one second, Kakarot was glaring at him ready to charge back into the fray; another second, and his body was being slammed by a blue freight train.

Yamcha's aura was burning brightly around him, flinging him right into Kakarot's back as he began his technique. Fanged hands blurred and collided with Kakarot, each blow driving him forward. Fists rammed into his body, denting him like a sheet of metal. Yamcha's pace became quicker and quicker, as his technique started to crescendo and hammer even faster. The strikes were getting so fast that Krillin was having trouble seeing them individually. They all blended together into a beautifully destructive dance, driving themselves deeper and deeper into Kakarot with each successive hit. Finally, when it seemed there could be no more, Yamcha yelled at the top of his lungs, "WOLF, FANG, FIST!" as he shot his leg forward to knock Kakarot's flailing legs out from under him. Then. with both hands low he brought them up through Kakarot, lifting him up into the air. Yamcha brought his hands quickly above him and cupped them, bringing them down with a mighty _Brmmm_ onto Kakarot's back, dunking him into the ground. The impact shook the ground with its concussive force.

Rising to his feet, Krillin walked over to Yamcha, who was panting over Kakarot's cratered body. Yamcha pulled out a knife Rayne had given him. _Our grim pledge…_ Krillin's eyes drifted towards Kakarot. He had literally been driven into the ground a good half-foot by Yamcha's finishing blow. _If he's anything like me, he'll be out cold for the next couple hours_ , _at least. Jeez._

Kakarot looked mangled. _But…_ Krillin, out of the corner of his eye noticed Kakarot's tail twitch a fraction of an inch. _No, no,_ Yamcha had gripped one of Kakarot's arms, _NO, NO-_

Krillin was lifted up into the air, flung with such a force as if a tornado had materialized on top of him. He painfully collided into the ground, the flight and impact massively disorienting him. No, it was more than that. _I feel cold… like my ki was pushed away_. _Was that attack?... was that ki?_

A scream punctuated Krillin's racing thoughts. He unsteadily propped his head on his chest and glanced back to where he had been standing with Yamcha. He couldn't see Kakarot's body, but he could very clearly see a hand gripping Yamcha's arm far too tightly. Crushing.

Gasping from the pain, Yamcha suddenly brought the dagger down on Kakarot just below him, but was stopped by Kakarot grabbing that arm, too. A squeal of pain accompanied the danger's _thud_ to the ground.

Krillin tried to stand-up. He got as far as sitting before he fell back. _Come on! I need to get up!_ He lolled his head to see the two of them again. Kakarot was now sitting up, whispering something in Yamcha's ear. Yamcha was deathly pale, shaking from fear and the effort he was making to escape Kakarot's grip. His arms might as well have been attached to fifty-ton weights.

 _He's too weak, he can't get away, I need to help, I need to HELP!_ Krillin got as far as a half-squat before he flopped back on the ground, nearly screaming from frustration. Another glance. Kakarot was standing in front of Yamcha, forcing the former bandit to his knees, whimpers of pain floating across the forest floor as Kakarot employed brute force on Yamcha's already broken forearms.

On his third attempt, Krillin staggered to his feet and started running over to them.

Kakarot had brought both his hands to Yamcha's left arm. With a sickening display of raw power, he wrenched the limb to a 90-degree angle, almost separating it in half at the elbow. Krillin was sure that if Kakarot desired to, he could have done it. Then, ignoring Yamcha's whimpers, Kakarot gripped Yamcha's forearm and maliciously yanked it.

Yamcha's arm made a sickening _crunch_ , emphasized by Yamcha's howling screech of pain. Jagged white edges broke through Yamcha's skin, his arm becoming a plaything of Kakarot's.

Krillin was still running.

Yamcha's bone was jutting out from his forearm towards his body and its owner screamed; Kakarot punched Yamcha's abdomen, ominously silencing the human with a vicious blow. He collapsed backward, his face in anguish, still clutching his now useless left arm. Kakarot leaned in close enough to Yamcha as if to whisper again, and his hands closed on the jutting shaft of bone.

"Here," he said at barely a volume Krillin could hear, "let me help you with that."

Another howl, more tortured than the last. Blood spurted over Kakarot, his face devolving into madness as both his hands started applying pressure on the bone at a 90-degree angle. It snapped. He withdrew from the arm an inches-long section of bone, grievously cutting his own hands in the process, mixing his and Yamcha's blood beyond the point of recognition. Kakarot cradled the piece, turning away from the fallen bandit, who was now mercilessly unconscious.

Krillin stopped a few paces away from Kakarot. He wouldn't show fear. It was on him to end this. Kakarot, for all his cockiness, was heavily injured; the newly added cuts to his hands were similar to the smaller ones crisscrossing his body. His shirt was completely destroyed, revealing the skin underneath- old scars intermixed with soon to be new ones. Yamcha's attack from earlier was plainly evident on Kakarot's body; he wasn't even standing up straight, suspiciously avoiding fully standing and extending his spine. Krillin was face to face with a hulking, snarling animal.

Palming the bone piece back and forth between his hands, Kakarot finally held it up in his clenched fist, outstretched in Krillin's direction.

"This is what we forget, you know." Kakarot said while admiring his handiwork.

Krillin didn't respond.

"That we're blood and bones. All of us, humans and animals- we're all just a hodgepodge of parts and pieces rammed together into a consistent shape. There's no value to any of us, the names and emotions we give to each other. We're flesh. And Flesh only exists to battle and to kill, and to eat other flesh, to grow smarter or grow stronger. Did you forget that? Did you?" Kakarot's hands dripped blood onto the forest floor. "Because I _haven't_."

"You're a monster," Krillin coldly answered.

"Wasting the little time you have left? Typical…" Kakarot dropped the bone chunk down on the ground. "I'll leave this here to grab later. It's a souvenir, you understand…"

Something snapped. "YOU! SADISTIC ASSHOLE!" Krillin yelled, abruptly charging at Kakarot while he was still straightening from bending over. He took Kakarot by surprise, his face very clearly shocked, as Krillin pushed him back with a vicious offensive of knees and elbows ramming into Kakarot's body.

Krillin wouldn't even give him a chance to catch his breath; he batted away arms and legs as if they were nothing and continued to pound on Kakarot, left and right hooks endlessly barraging his opponent. Kakarot became a punching bag, endlessly absorbing the shock and force from Krillin's onslaught. Krillin started to hear bones crack from the torrent.

 _It's not enough_. Deep within Krillin's mind, he began to notice the rising defense; slowly, Kakarot was turning the tide. _Physical force was never enough. I need…_ he reached for the spark, hovering so close to him, to grab it and use it to finish the fight with Kakarot. His hands grasped around it, phasing through it. Krillin was falling…

Krillin's body was rocked by a fist to his midsection. Kakarot hung his head, blood dripping from his face, but unmistakably chuckled as he panted and his fist opened to close on Krillin's clothes. "I'll give you some credit. You pushed me as far as that old man did. That is, to my limits." He started laughing before coughing up a hackful of blood onto the ground. "To think... you people could challenge me like this…" he looked up at Krillin, bewildering him with his sincere expression. "I underestimated you. I apologize."

The color of the forest wavered. Kakarot tightened his grip on Krillin, his face twisting as he did. "I won't make that mistake again." Krillin only had a second to recognize the purple ball of _ki_ in Kakarot's free hand before his body exploded into pain.

0o0o0

It took a few minutes to be able to see again. Kakarot waved the dust away. Krillin was gone. Where Kakarot had pushed the ball of ki into him now laid a crater. Smoke wisped up from the ground, the sounds of smoldering matter filling the air. Satisfied, Kakarot patted himself, used his sleeve to wipe blood from his lip, and peered over the edge to see the bottom of the crater, looking for the charred bones of his victim. _Like so many other times_.

He couldn't see anything; no bone, no clothes, _nothing_. _Odd._ He bent over further to look down. That was the plan, at least. His mind had told his body to move, but it hadn't. _What is-_

"Appropriate." A quiet, emotionless voice said behind Kakarot, delivered with enough of a lack of an emotional connotation to send shivers down Kakarot's spine. Agonizingly, he twisted his head around.

 _Krillin!_ Kakarot saw that he had survived the blast- barely. The human's body was scorched from the point-blank ki attack, but his face glowed with fury, showcasing a newfound energy he hadn't had a few minutes ago. His eyes burned into Kakarot's memory, hate barely contained within him. "You're easy to predict." Krillin continued. "A hunter always checks to see if his prey is dead. When they do, they make themselves vulnerable."

Kakarot struggled to move, flee, do _anything_ , but he couldn't move a single inch. "W-what have you done to me?" He asked panicking, barely keeping his voice steady.

"To be honest, I don't know. But what I do know," he paused, and Kakarot suddenly felt a horrendous pain in his tail, "is that I've found your Achilles heel."

 _My tail? I!... I never knew it was such a weakness! To think just grabbing it could completely immobilize me…"_

"Enough talk." Kakarot was snapped out of his thoughts. Krillin's voice was now bleeding with emotion. "It's time you paid for your actions!"

The light around them changed yet again.

"You've killed hundreds of people! You've scarred all of us! You've taken things from the world that can't be replaced!" Krillin's anger suffocated Kakarot, his eyes displaying true fear as he tried to fight against his paralysis. His body started shaking. The air around them seemed to electrify, pregnant with power.

"In this moment, here and now, it is up to me to deliver justice! For everyone you've hurt!" Krillin brought up his free right hand from behind him, revealing a small-sized blue orb. _Ki. He knows ki!_ "Krillin was now shaking, struggling to keep a grip on the massive amount of power he was pouring into his right hand.

Kakarot closed his eyes, bracing for the worst. Seconds passed and nothing happened. He opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder. Krillin was frozen; emotions warred on his face, and his eyes danced to the tune of a frantic mind.

"One more question," he said through gritted teeth, "why? Why, why, why? Why bring so much suffering into this world?"

Kakarot had no answer. _I was always like this. I don't know._

Krillin tightened his grip on Kakarot's tail, not waiting for a response. Waves of pain rocked Kakarot's body."KAKAROT! NO MORE!" Krillin locked eyes with Kakarot, and twisted his body forward, lounging with his right hand right towards the middle of Kakarot's back. The blue ball of _ki_ made contact. Then, white.

0o0o0

Panting, Krillin labored to see through the clearing smoke. In the explosion he had been launched from Kakarot's body, the blast sending his spiraling across the forest. Struggling to his feet, he felt the full brunt of the combat's injuries coming to him after using all of his ki. He scanned the immediate area; a body laid unmoving in front of him.

Favoring one leg over the other, Krillin limped over to the form in the dirt, arms drooped at his sides. Amazingly, Kakarot was still intact; he was curled up into a fetal position, his clothes totally incinerated. Scowling, Krillin crouched down and turned over Kakarot, spreading him out on his back. His body was a ravaged mess. His skin was charred and grievously cut, wounds forming a ghastly web of injuries over his body. Krillin put his hand to Kakarot's neck, expecting the worse. A heartbeat. Two. Kakarot was still alive. But conscious? Definitely not.

Krillin knelt in the dirt, withdrawing his hands. He gazed down at his knees. His tired, injured body cried out for rest relief, but there was one more thing he had to do. Krillin pulled out a knife from a holster on his side, which he usually used to cook with. He sweatily withdrew the knife from its sheath, turning the knife back and forth in his right hand while he recalled the silent vow they made. The vow they all made. But it was up to him. Everyone else was either far away or down for the count. He had to use the knife. He had to kill…

Kakarot's chest rose in slow rolls. Krillin watched, holding the knife steady. He paused, looking around him. _Yamcha!_ Not taking his eyes off Kakarot, Krillin painfully got up and walked over to where they had left Yamcha.

A few paces forward and he could see Yamcha was no longer lying where he'd fallen. Two pairs of footsteps were visible in the dirt to and from where Yamcha had been. _No need to worry about that, then… glad they came back for us._

Krillin limped back over to Kakarot. He stopped and stared at the body, resuming his kneel beside it.

Even after maybe a minute, Kakarot was already looking better; his blood dried and clotted his cuts, healing himself at an astonishing rate. _Lucky bastard. Almost like he was created to fight and kill._

Krillin realized he had sheathed the knife.

He felt on the verge of crying. His soul was gut-wrenchingly undecided. _I made the pledge, I told everyone I'd go through with it if need be… but I can't. I couldn't then, and I can't now. I never could. Kakarot… you're despicable but… I can't sentence you to die. I can't sentence anyone to die. My whole life, a series of never-ending 'can'ts'..._

Krillin shakily moved a hand towards his dagger, gripped it, but couldn't make himself draw it. _Krillin, wake up! If you don't do this, people will die! You'd be condemning hundreds of people to death! You've already condemned that entire village…_ Not intervening as Kakarot decimated that town had taken every ounce of willpower they had. _To not kill him now… there's no coming back. I'll never be trusted again- I'd be condemning myself._

His eyes rested on Kakarot's face. _We all gave up so much. Why can't I?_

 _Because I'm a coward._

 _That's the truth, then. I'm not afraid of becoming a nobody and a weakling again - I've done it before, I'll do it again. I'm afraid of becoming a murderer._

Krillin let go of the knife and rose from beside Kakarot's body.

Before setting off, Krillin took a moment to sit down on a nearby tree stump, eyeing his unconscious fallen enemy, his hand gripping and releasing the knife's handle before withdrawing. _I understand what's going to happen right? What I'm doing? We've worked so hard to stop him - to make sure he wouldn't do anything bad again. We agreed that killing him had to be done. But… but when I see him I don't see evil. I don't see the unspeakable brutality. For all his cruelty, his monstrosity… I can't help but see a kid. Did I always see the best of people?... Heh..._

Krillin stood up. _There's no way to justify this. I guess at the end of the day, whether it's because of emotion or reason, it's my decision. One of the first decisions that's been all my own in a very long time._

His gaze lingered on Kakatot for a long moment, letting his mind come to grips with what he was about to do, and then he turned and left the clearing, letting the melancholic sounds of rustling leaves take his place. On his way out he quietly pocketed the dragon ball that had fallen off of Kakarot earlier in the fight.

 _Funny. He never realized..._

0o0o0

Sometime later, in a scene far away, six stared at seven, one spreading their arms and calling forth light and darkness. For all the wonder and majesty of the moment, a gloom hung over the scene.

Yamcha pushed the day's events behind him. His broken arm, set as well as it could, might never heal right. Bulma stood at his side, helping him to stand and supporting him as the summoner.

He was the only one left who deserved it, anyway.

A green figure shot into the sky, morphing and spiraling in a majestic flight, growing and growing until seemingly blotting out the sun with its size. At the peak of its ascent, it stopped moving, twisting one more time to face down at the six figures on the ground with a dragon's head.

"I AM THE LEGENDARY SHENRON! SPEAK YOUR WISH AND IT SHALL BE GRANTED!" he boomed louder than they thought possible.

One side propped up by Bulma, Yamcha swung his undamaged arm in a sweeping gesture. "Dragon! Bring back to life the legendary martial artist Master Roshi, alongside everyone else killed by Kakarot!"

The dragon made no response except for its eyes to glow. After a few seconds, it stopped.

"YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED."

Everyone looked around for Master Roshi without success. Him and about a hundred other people.

"Did-did it happen?" Oolong thought out loud, to no in particular.

"MASTER ROSHI HAS BEEN REVIVED AT THE PLACE OF HIS DEATH, ALONG WITH EVERYONE ELSE WHO WAS KILLED BY KAKAROT!" the dragon boomed, thinking it was the target of Oolong's question. "GOODBYE…UNTIL NEXT TIME..." Shenron faded away as he seemed to disperse out of existence, shrinking into a ball of light and then splitting into seven different comets streaking across the sky.

It was quick; it was both climatic and utterly mundane. And nothing, at first, felt different except that they had lost seven shiny orange orbs.

"Well," Yamcha said, turning around painfully to face the group, "looks like we've got a trek ahead of us, huh?"

* * *

A/N: And that's the end of the so-called Pursual Arc! Hope you enjoyed the ride and are as excited as I am for everything to come!

Q/A

Q: Oh, I am going to stalk the reviews.

So... Haha that's true he blacked out from his own attack the first time!

And blunt Chi Chi is blunt. Probably the better way to talk with Rayne.

A: As always the review is appreciated :) Really excited to get to the point where characters have histories between them and can really rag on each other for stupid stuff they did in the past :s.

Q: I really like where this story is headed. It's always good to see the non-Saiyan fighters get some attention. Please keep up the good work!

A: Thank you so much! Reviews like these keep me going more than anything else!


	9. Life Goes On

The Coming Storm

Chapter 9: Life Goes On

A/N: Hey Everyone! Wanted to give you all a heads-up and say that I'm heading back for another round of college in a few days. Because of this, I can't say with 100% confidence I'll have another chapter out in a week from now as per the weekly update schedule I've been trying to adhere to. What I can say with 100% confidence, however, is that I'm still fully committed to completing this story and will work my hardest to get the next chapter out as soon as possible. Alright- chapter nine!

* * *

Considering the vast distance they had traveled in the course of fulfilling their quest, it took a few months to return to where Master Roshi had died; then, it took a few more months to follow him back to his home. About half a year, Yamcha reckoned, had passed since they first set off to find the dragon balls. Time flies.

The island where Master Roshi was training him, Rayne, and Chi-Chi was almost comical due to its tiny size and the even tinier house occupying it. The three of them had to quickly get used to sleeping on bedrolls in Roshi's common room. The gentle sound of waves lapping the island's beach had yet to fade into the background for Yamcha. Like many other nights, while Chi-Chi and Rayne were deep in sleep a few feet away, he was deep in thought.

 _In retrospect, it's not surprising we all went our separate ways as quickly as we did. Bulma was in it for the dragonballs; Kakarot just happened to be in the way of that goal for her. I know she couldn't follow us where we were going… but it still hurt when she left to go home to West City._

Yamcha shifted, rolling from his right side to lay on his left.

 _Now, on the other hand, I was perfectly fine when Puar left. We've been talking about our plans going forward long before we set them into motion. I needed a dead martial arts teacher; Puar needed a fellow shapeshifter. Once we both got what we needed, we agreed to part ways. Thus, here I am, training with Master Roshi while Puar romps around with Oolong. Always wondered if she told Oolong about her pledge to stop any more shapeshifting schools from popping up. That might've have convinced him to join us way back when…_

Yamcha purposely adjusted his body to look at the sleeping forms of Rayne and Chi-Chi. _So it's just us students left then… What rotten luck they happened to be the most uncommunicative and unfriendly of the bunch. Though I guess that really can't be blamed on them._ He quietly sighed, wrinkling his nose in displeasure as he brought up a memory he had already played over in his head a hundred times.

Snapshots of when Krillin had returned victorious with the dragonball played through Yamcha's head. He rememberd his calm demeanor as he handed over the last missing piece of the legend. His expressionless face denying him any sort of emotional catharsis as he admitted he hadn't killed Kakarot. Yamcha could still see the back of his head perfectly as he walked away from an enraged Rayne, who hurled every curse imaginable at Krillin. Who was crying as she bared her teeth.

 _I hate… I hate how they act like I'm a part of what Krillin did. Like I had some association or complicity with his crime. Punishing me for the actions of someone else. They may think I'm like Krillin, a coward who couldn't sacrifice when needed, but they're wrong. I had more courage than him… always._ Yamcha unconsciously focused in on the tactile sensation coming from his healing arm. _My nearly ruined limb is a testament to that. If they ever question me about it, I'll show them my scars._

 _...Ah well. What we think or don't think of each other doesn't really matter in the end. The cold hard fact is that Kakarot is lost to us- when we took that dragon ball from him we unknowingly took away the one way we had to track him. That was probably it… the fact that we couldn't fix that mistake, we couldn't prevent any more people from being senselessly slaughtered…_ _it fe_ _els like just a matter of time before I hear in passing about a randomly destroyed village._

Yamcha felt hollow. And, thankfully, tired.

 _All I want is peace… what we all want…_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was a slow day, passing time in a barebones office deep in a military complex. Granted, to Colonel Silver, most days were slow nowadays. The unwarranted and unpredictable attacks made on the Red Ribbon Army in the past year had been crippling to the organization, both in terms of resources and morale. Colonel Silver sourly noted the newfound cautiousness that pervaded every order Commander Red and his staff relayed to his COs. Having previously been independent of other officers in the Red Ribbon Army, Colonel Silver resented being put under command of General Blue.

Not that he had anything against the general himself, of course. Though he wouldn't admit it, General Blue seemed to be his superior in every aspect; stronger, smarter, more handsome- loathe as he was to accept it, it seemed appropriate he should be his superior.

Unfortunately, that didn't make him happy to wait around in an office all day. General Blue had been in discussion with Commander Red for what felt like an eternity- day in, day out, General Blue would enter Commander Red's office at dawn and leave at dusk. Endless discussion on the future of the Red Ribbon Army and the ongoing army-wide consolidation and retreat from widespread operations. It was all dreadfully boring.

His nominal equal, Colonel Violet, who was also brought in from another part of the world during this process, wasn't a very good companion either; she was prone to disappearing whenever possible. As to where she was going and what she was doing, Colonel Silver had no idea.

Adjusting his posture in the chair he was sitting in, and plopping his feet on the desk. He turned his head and looked out through the broad windows behind his chair. Surrounding the base were trees, trees, and more damn trees. _Commander Red sure knows how to pick a spot for a base..._

He held his gaze out towards the horizon. _Someone out there is mucking with our plans… and so we decide to put our tails between our legs and hide in a faraway part of the world. Now if I was in char-_

"Colonel?"

Colonel Silver nearly fell out of his chair, catching himself at the last moment and taking a frantic look at the door. General Blue was placidly gazing at him. _How? Wh-What was that? I didn't hear anything…._ Straightening, and rising from the chair, he gave the customary salute to the General. "Sir. Usually, your meetings with Commander Red take a bit longer… any reason why you two broke so early in the day?"

A corner of General Blue's mouth curled in amusement. He closed the door behind him. "Oh, there's a simple explanation for that. We've finally decided what the path forward for us will be."

"Really? _This is definitely news, then._ "If I may ask, what are we committing to?"

"Well, the way the Commander sees it, there's been a specific group of troublemakers messing with our operations. Troublemakers most likely like the ones you happened to _lose_ at our East Base. It is in the opinion of both Commander Red and me that these people can not go unpunished."

Colonel Silver felt a bead of sweat run down his neck. "So?... That means?"

"We find them, we kill them. All _five_ of them to be exact. Find Colonel Violet at once. We need to discuss orders for the both of you."

Colonel Silver clicked his heels, saluting. He promptly exited the room via the door General Blue had come in, not bothering to contain his all-at-once relieved and excited grin once the door closed behind him. _It's about time the Red Ribbon Army went on the offensive. Now, where is that Colonel Violet…_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 _Clouds. Endless clouds filled the sky. Grey clouds, white clouds, clouds of every color, type, and size. Clouds that hugged the ground so tight it was like curling up under a blanket. Clouds that loomed so large that you felt like nothing against them. Raging, swirling, forming-_

 _Krillin was on the ground, sitting in a cross-legged position. The sky above roiled with a preternatural force. It was dark. Extremely dark. It was… night? No, can't be. Surrounding Krillin in all directions the horizon was lit by the sun's rays, forming a rising or setting sun in every direction. Red and orange waved and faded as it went farther and farther into the sky, eventually succumbing to the all-encompassing blackness... but the color didn't die. It wisped and spooled, slowly pulling into a single point right above Krillin. The point grew brighter and brighter, suddenly pushing against the darkness, spreading wider and wider…_

 _And then Krillin saw it. A massive dragon was plunging to the Earth, plunging right towards him, moving faster than Krillin thought possible as it coiled and snaked down through the sky. It was wailing with pain, a sound so dark and deep it shook Krillin to his core. It was going to devastate the world, destroy everything, it was so huge, so HUGE- but Krillin couldn't do anything. His body refused to do anything. He was resigned to watch._

 _At seemingly the last possible second, the dragon shuddered, shaking violently until finally splitting apart in an unpredictable sequence- one second, the dragon was falling from the sky; the next, in its place seven massive orange balls now rocketed towards the surface. They were nearly on top of Krillin, too big, way too big-_

Krillin woke up drenched in sweat, propping himself up off the damp straw underneath him. He caught his breath as the wagon underneath him rocked, the steady _creakk_ it made the only sound he could hear other than his breathing.

He brought a dry part of the sleeve of his robe to his face and dabbed with it, mentally replaying the events of the dream. _That was… that was definitely a nightmare._ Krillin finished trying to rid his face of sweat and fell back onto the straw, sighing and closing his eyes. _Brain, do you really need to torture me while I sleep, too? I already do that enough while I'm awake…_

Krillin shifted around in the straw for a few minutes, trying to fall back asleep. _No luck_. Light was fighting against the darkness outside, slightly illuminating the world beyond the canvas stretched over the wagon. Giving up on trying to go back to sleep, Krillin turned onto his stomach and lifted a flap of canvas near his head.

The man beyond it, who was sitting at the head of the wagon with his back to Krillin, turned at the sound of the flap opening. "Up already? Hope it wasn't my handling, hah." He gave a good-hearted laugh, shaking the reins in his hand as he did.

Krillin waved away the playful accusation. "I've been having trouble sleeping, that's all. Do you know how far off we are from the town?"

"Look ahead."

Krillin adjusted his eyes to see beyond the man. Above the manes of the two horses pulling the wagon, a distant cluster of buildings could be seen through the gathering morning mist. "Oh? So we're close?"

"It's a bit misleading, actually. We're still about an hour out. I'd recommend you try to sleep a bit longer, personally. Not much else to do in the back."

"Guess that's a good idea… thanks." Krillin let go the flap, dropping back to cover the front opening. Krillin rolled onto his back and laced his fingers together on his chest. _Good advice, but unfortunately a little too late for me. Been up a bit too long now. Guess I should meditate a tad… haven't done that in a while anyway…_

About five minutes into his meditation, Krillin was snoring away.

Later on, after being woken by the chuckling farmer, Krillin paid the man and disembarked. He watched the farmer pull his mules around in a circle and head back the way he came. _Guess he's about half a day's distance from his home… best of luck to him._ The town he had been left in was by most standards modest- closeby farms and pastures served as a reminder of the settlement's rural past, but the more modern homes and commercial stores in the center of town served as a herald of its future. A type of town where there was only one place for every service -one bank, one grocery mart, one police station- except when they were feuds between people. As he walked down the town's main street he gaped at what seemed to be the only two food markets in town- they were right next to each other. A person from each store seemed to be trying to draw in customers from the street by indirectly deriding the other store. A man outside one store was yelling: "...Come on down to The Mart, the only place in town you can buy _locally grown_ potatoes!"

Meanwhile, not ten feet away, a woman was shouting: "Low prices at Main Street Grocer, where you'll find the freshest fruit in miles!"

Krillin briefly reflected on how weird that job would be to have before something occured to him. T _hey must talk to a lot of people… maybe…_ Suddenly Krillin broke from the crowd and approached the gesticulating woman outside Main Street Grocer. He caught her when she was taking a breath. "Excuse me? Could you tell me about any big problems around town, or direct me to someone who could tell me, or…" He lost his train of thought.

The woman gave her response in-between delivering her pitch. "Freshest Food!- Yea I know of some stuff- We sell the only beets around!- just go the town hall down the stree- HEY!" She stomped over to someone who tried to enter the Main Street Mart but was being detained by The Mart's yeller. She began wrenching the potential customer out of the grip of the other yeller. Krillin felt a crowd of people closing in around them, and by extension, him. _Uh oh. Time to scoot._ Elbowing himself through the contracting crowd, as he broke out the back he started to hear cheers and yells. Raucous cheers and yells. _What the hell? Did they start a fight over one a customer? This is one weird town…_

Krillin blended back into the normal street traffic and continued walking down the town's main street. The town was honestly pretty cute- well-sculpted statues and large old trees littered the walk, giving the town the air of a proud community that had cared for itself for generations. Eventually, the stores disappeared and Krillin entered a corner of the town that seemed more administrative- a fire station here, a post office there. He stopped outside of the biggest building in the area, and sure enough, it was the town hall. The doors were open.

Stepping inside, Krillin saw a quaint little desk in a somewhat too large room. A lady sitting it was typing into a computer at her desk. When Krillin entered, she lifted her head and gave a friendly smile towards him. "Heyo. What can I do for you?"

"This may be a weird question, but is there someone I can talk to about offering my services as a martial artist?"

The woman stared at Krillin, as if expecting him to go on. When he didn't, she shrugged. "You're lucky the mayor is having a slow day. Go up the stairwell to my right. He should be in the first room on the left."

Krillin bowed his head, feeling like he'd narrowly avoided failing the woman's 'should I bother the mayor with this' test. "Thank you so much." Waving, he climbed the stairs and came to just outside the door the receptionist mentioned. He hesitated for a moment, then decided on a simple two-part knock. After a second, a voice inside called for him to come in.

He entered into a typical mayor's office, barring a disassembled chair scattered in pieces around the room. The man who was presumably the mayor was lying on the floor, blankly staring up at the ceiling. "I'm afraid you caught me at a moment of weakness. I foolishly thought I could adjust the height of my chair if I took it apart. Not only could I not do that, but I can't even figure out to put the damn thing back together." The mayor turned his head, making eye contact with Krillin. "Never seen you before. How'd you make it past my secretary?"

Krillin cleared his throat. "A-Ahem. Mister Mayor of Ladoya, I'm a traveling martial artist who sells his services to down on their luck towns. I heard that this town is having some problems I could help with- not that I'd imply this town has a lot of problems, haha!" Krillin furiously scratched the back of his head in self-inflicted awkwardness.

"Well, actually, we do have a stubborn problem someone of your caliber could deal with." The mayor groaned and stood up, brushing dust off himself as he did. He motioned Krillin to sit in a chair facing the desk while he pulled over a stool to where his chair should have been and sat in it. Krillin could only see the top of the man's head behind the desk. "There's been two particularly stubborn crime bosses who have been racketeering and extorting protection money from local businesses on Main street. We catch some guys in the act every once in a while, but we can't make any moves on the bosses because they retain this super strong, super freaky guy who's on both of their payrolls. The only thing they don't fight each other on. Because of this guy, they can sit pretty in their daytime business fronts and we can't do a thing."

"What businesses do they run?'

"The two food stores in town, The Mart and Main Street Grocer. I'm surprised you didn't see their cutthroat practices at work out on the street."

 _Oh. That… makes a lot more sense._ "Haha, yeah, I guess I didn't see them." Krillin gave a nervous chuckle, placing his hand on his neck.

The mayor kept staring. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I caught your name earlier. It was?..."

"Krillin. Sorry."

"My name's Beat. Or _Mayor_ Beat on formal occasions. So Krillin, how much do we have to pay you to take out their bodyguard? We lose a huge chunk of revenue to their grafting, so you stand to make a hefty profit if you help us out."

"Actually, I'm not interested in money." Krillin leaned forward, locking eyes with the mayor. "I'm interested in _information_."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The sun crept over the horizon, shining reddish light onto Kame House and the sands surrounding it. Master Roshi had been awake for an hour; in his small upstairs room he meditated, legs crossed and eyes closed under his shades. It was… an instructing meditation.

Ever since agreeing to take on these three new pupils, he'd sensed a tension amongst them. A metaphorical elephant that overshadowed every single one of their interactions. It was quite possibly the worst class of students he'd ever had. _Though, to be fair, the bar has been set pretty low by past pupils…_ Master Roshi painfully remembered the sight of his house burnt to the ground upon returning from a day trip, his two students pointing fingers at each other. _Mischievous two, them. Wish…_ _wish they were still around._

Master Roshi oscillated on how he viewed his immortality. There were times like these when he remembered all the souls that had touched him before he inevitably lived past them all. Times like these where he regretted eating that plant- _oh, what was it, 70 years ago?-_ that purchased him another century. As the years came and went, so did the regrets.

But through these regrets shined the past and future promise of his work. His students would go on to protect and promote his teachings elsewhere, securing communities for generations against anyone who'd seek to do them harm (although Master Roshi was _extremely_ prompt in reminding them there was only one Turtle Hermit). His students had gone on to save villages, towns, even _nations_ … though, _personally_ , hewould never brag about their accomplishments. The best thing about living for a long time is that you really get to see the full impact of things, people, events in the world- and it was clear from the beginning of his school that, indirectly, he was doing a lot of good.

Master Roshi decided a long time ago that he would continue to extend his life as long as he had a positive purpose for the world. When he died to Kakarot (which his pupils were so kind to provide the name of) and briefly experienced the afterlife- _something I'll have to ask Baba about later on..._ \- he accepted the fact that his time among the living was over, his job done. After being revived, however, he saw no other path forward than to continue what he'd been doing near for, _what, how long_? 250 years now. The fractured group before him reminded him of that.

A twinge of frustration rose to the surface of Master Roshi's consciousness. _I must really be out of practice. I can't remember the last time I thought so much during meditation. Guess there's a lot to think about…_ Opening his eyes, seeing the sun fully rise above the horizon, Master Roshi stood up and walked out of his room. On his way out, he grabbed his gnarled, wooden cane and the turtle shell propped up against the wall. He made no effort to disguise the obnoxiously loud wooden creaking of the steps as he descended them. By the time he reached the bottom, three tired groans began rising from the floor. His voice rose to meet theirs. "I don't want to hear any of that! Like I said, training is from dawn to dusk. Now…" Master Roshi ran his fingers through his long, white beard in thought. "Your first task for today… is... to... cook me a meal!"

Three new groans filled the room, louder than before.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Krillin was standing outside of the two markets, making sure to keep at least one or two people in between him and the storefronts at any given time. The two yellers he had seen before were gone, the only sign that they'd been here was the ominously destroyed shards of what seemed to be a wooden crate outside. Pieces of it littered the ground, almost as if it exploded. _Wonder if that's the work of the bodyguard… guess I'll find out soon enough._ He scanned both stores, looking to see which of the two had fewer people in it. As it turns out The Mart was having a special sales day and was absolutely packed with people tripping over themselves to buy produce. Krillin quietly opened the door to the Main Street Grocer and stepped inside.

The building itself was fairly small. Aisles raced up and down its length, making it hard to see more than a handful of feet in any direction. Keeping his head low, Krillin ambled down the bread aisle before peeking at the back wall of the store. There were two swinging double doors that led deeper into the building next to the milk section. Checking no one was watching him, Krillin ducked through them.

The room Krillin emerged into was half full of food items, blanketing the side with the door that led to the rest of the store. Amazingly, the other side was littered with literal stacks of money, so tall that some dwarfed Krillin's with their height. _The mayor wasn't kidding about the bosses being untouchable. You'd have to be completely blind to miss this…_ Tiptoeing over the foodstuffs, Krillin crept over to the money as quietly as he could.

He heard the door behind him start to open. _Crap!_ In the space of a second Krillin flattened himself to the floor, quieting his breath. As he heard someone enter, Krillin realized he was flush up against a package of frozen tuna. _Why is it out in the open!?... oh yeah. The purpose of this place isn't really to sell good food…_

Krillin heard a smattering of footsteps echo around the room. The mystery person briefly hovered around on his side before walking towards the other end. Krillin thought he could smell smoke. Soon enough, he heard the sound of bills being rifled through. He gambled, lifting himself slightly off the ground, just enough to peak the top of his head over the stack of frozen tuna.

A sweep of air flew over him. On instinct Krillin lurched forward, narrowly avoiding a huge boot from crashing down onto where he had been. Turning over to lie on his back, he gazed up at an absolute behemoth of a man; he stood at well over eight feet, with muscles bursting from every square inch of uncovered skin. His blue shirt and black pants were straining to fit around the man. A thick pair of sunglasses dominated his face, framed by long strands of long black hair.

A voice drifted across the room, accompanied by a cigar cloud. "Mister… uh… what was it? Mister Bronze? Please take care of this little pest. And try to keep his guts _off_ the money." The sound of cash once again filled the air.

His assailant cocked his head towards Krillin and pulled back his boot, scraping the ground with his foot. Krillin couldn't help but gulp. _In retrospect, I shouldn't have taken this job…_

A flash of movement. Krillin launched himself to the right, ducking behind a crate. The man had aimed a punch right where Krillin's head at been. Surprisingly, the movement seemed to jar the man, who took a faltering half-step as he settled his weight after fully extending his arm. _So… agility then? Guess the weakness was obvious…_ Krillin ran around the crate, rounding another corner of a pseudo-aisle and bringing his right leg in a swinging arc around it. It collided the man's back, immediately stopping at contact. Pain shot up Krillin's leg. _What!?_ Nearly stumbling from the interruption to his strike, Krillin was helpless as the man turned and grasped a hand around Krillin's ankle. The bone nearly shattered from the pressure of the grip. **_WHAT!?_** Krillin was then tossed across the room; fortunately, he landed in a cushioning pile of money. At his side, he heard some curses. "What was the one thing I said!"

 _Okay. Horrible pain. The guy is kinda slow, not very agile, but he's strong and seemingly indestructible._ Krillin weakly lifted his head off the ground. His opponent was slowly making his way across the room. _Giving me time to strategize? Awfully nice of him._

Krillin pushed himself out of the money stack, shifting his weight off of his right leg. _Gotta figure out a winning strategy here… hmm…_ Half-unbelieving he'd find something of use, Krillin sighted a pipe running down the length of a wall, directly behind the man. _Maybe…_

When the man was about ten feet away, suddenly Krillin broke into a dead sprint, charging the man head-on. The man crossed his arms, expecting a strike, but right before colliding with him, Krillin slid underneath the man's bent legs. Continuing his momentum, Krillin rolled up towards the wall, wrenching away a section of pipe about an arm's length long. He held it with both hands, watching the man turn around to face Krillin again. His expression hadn't changed.

 _Alright… here goes nothing!_ Krillin ran up to the man, ducking under a horizontal arm sweep and bringing the pipe up and across from his left hip. It collided with the side of the man's ribcage, producing a metallic _clunkkk_ as it struck. _That's… odd_. The man staggered to the left, twisting slightly in response to the blow. When he resumed his normal posture, Krillin noticed that, this time, the man's body had reacted to the attack. It was _dented_. Underneath the arm the shirt had almost been… scratched away, as if it was... _paint? No way…_ Krillin stared up at the man towering over him, who was bringing a hand up to his head. He gripped the sunglasses, shook his hand for a second, then took them off. Where the man should have had eyes were two vertical slits, red light shining through them. These slits were growing brighter. _Robot. Robot, robot, ROBOT!_

At the last second, Krillin jumped to the right- two red beams shot out of the robot's skull and burrowed into a crate, instantly setting it on fire. The smell of burning meat filled the room.

Krillin landed painfully on top of an open crate of yams. As he struggled to extricate himself from the vegetables, he watched the robot sputter his head, like a gear catching. Eventually, it succeeded in putting his shades back on. _Okay, the eyes shoot laser beams. Gotta remember that._ Still gripping the pipe, Krillin got back on solid ground and circled around the robot, looking for any type of weakness he could exploit. The robot swiveled with Krillin's movements, making sure to keep the former monk in its sight.

The robot moved his right foot- and accidentally slid across a pool of vegetable oil that had leaked out of a crate ruptured earlier in the fight. The heavy mass of the robot caused it to almost slip and fall, but at the last second, it readjusted, barely keeping itself upright. _Oooo... as the cliche goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall._ An idea popped into Krillin's head.

Krillin put on a burst of speed, dashing again straight towards the robot. Thinking that Krillin would try to slide between its legs again, the robot shrunk its stance, bringing its legs together. _Perfect._ Krillin lowered into a slide like before, but at the last second popped his body off the ground, aiming with both feet at the knees of the robot. Through the sensation of another horrible, jarring pain running up his legs, Krillin distinctly heard something _pop_ , as the robot's knees hitched and then collapsed in on themselves. Metal slivers started to spray out out as the thighs began to crush into the shins. Krillin rolled out of the way of the massive form crashing down to the ground. The robot fell onto its back, cracking into the concrete floor into spiderwebs and smashing through another couple boxes of food.

Hesitating, Krillin stayed prone, watching the body struggle to move a few feet away. Suddenly, the robot lifted its upper torso off the ground. Its sunglasses were missing- the shades were crushed next to it. The two vertical slits the robot used to see with started to glow with red light. _There!_ Krillin brought a hand around from his back, blue light now mixing with the growing red tinge in the air.

"A GIFT!" Krillin swung his body, throwing the ki ball a few feet into the robot's face. It detonated immediately; the robot's face disintegrated in an instant, spraying a mess of oil and metal over the area. After a handful of seconds of the robot's parts raining down, Krillin stood up and examined what was left. The head and the shoulders of the robot were gone, oil and metal bits all that remained alongside the heavily damaged midsection. The legs were completely severed at the knees.

 _Man, that is one useful move_. _Though I'm not sure that it would have been as effective if that robot hadn't been charging its laser attack._ Smirking, Krillin glanced over at the man who earlier had casually sentenced him to death. The man was presently shaking next to a stack of money. He was quivering so violently that the cigar fell out of his mouth. "Now," Krillin said, in just a little too friendly of a tone, "I assume you're the owner of this proud establishment?"

 _It's nice to see someone else gulp, for a change._

Caught up in his triumph, Krillin didn't notice when what was left of the robot's chest started to blink.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Half an hour later, two mob bosses were being escorted out onto Main street. The police came to the area reluctantly, then celebratory, as they learned they could, at last, do their jobs. The scene was a spectacle; police cars and officers had tried in vain to block off the area from the thousands of onlookers, who intently watched the two men be escorted into an armored van. The cheers from the crowd were overwhelming. Though from what Krillin saw of the prices inside the stores, he couldn't be sure if they were cheering for justice or the prospect of reasonable prices for groceries.

It was a short walk back to the town hall; the receptionist once again waved him up the stairs to the mayor's office. Krillin was about to put his hand on the doorknob when it twisted. The door swung open, revealing a beaming Mayor Beat. "Astonishing! You've done it! You've accomplished in a day what the entire town government couldn't do in two years! You… I've... " the mayor was practically tripping over his words. "You've left me speechless. Truly."

Krillin's mouth curled, uncomfortable with the praise. "Ah… I had a job, and I did it. There's no story there."

The mayor seemed shocked. "Seriously? You just freed the town from expensive produce!" He paused, then coughed when Krillin didn't respond. "Oh, I wasn't being serious… you've freed us from worst things, of course… You know my secretary doesn't like my jokes either, she says 'Mayor, you need to be more serious', and 'you can't be making jokes about your own weight _all the time-'_ "

"Mayor," Krillin cut in, "not to be rude, but our deal?..."

"Oh! Right! Of course. Sorry." The mayor grinned apologetically. "I get talkative when I'm happy. Let me tell you what you want to know…"

About a minute later, Krillin practically sprinted out of the mayor's office. _So he's here!... Hope I'm not too late!..._ Krillin dashed down the stairs, gave a short wave to the mayor's secretary, then exploded out into the busy street beyond.

* * *

Q/A:

Q: I'll admit that this is a pretty common plot in fanfiction but I am impressed you took it to a whole other place! It's very creative and well written, and you make such good use out of the human characters too.

A: Thank you! I'm trying to avoid the 'a bunch of characters standing around doing nothing' problem that afflicts a lot of stories.

Q: Oh YES! That's a fight . Using strategy and not just raw power. That was great!

And , oh, look like kakarot is still alive?

Once again, great chapter! :D

A: Kakarot's tale is far from over.

Q: Ola, desculpe pela mensagem em portugues, mas eu gostaria de lhe parabenizar pela ótima história, gosto bastante quando os humanos são o foco em uma história de DBZ. Deixo aqui meus votos para o seu bem estar e que continue o ótimo trabalho

A: Glad to hear you're enjoying the story and the human focus (and props to Google Translate for allowing me to read this wonderful review).


	10. Wandering Home

The Coming Storm

Chapter 10: Wandering Home

A/N: And I'm back! Hopefully without such a long interruption this time. Feels nice to be writing again! Some thoughts in no particular order: I think the weekly schedule was unnecessarily putting pressure on myself. Was definitely feeling burn-out as time went on. I'll be writing and publishing at my own pace from now on which I think will be more sustainable for the future. I'm still very, very excited to get this story to the places I want it to go.

* * *

The cell was surprisingly dark. Whoever had designed it hadn't bothered to make the windows large enough for a decent amount of natural sunlight to shine in. The cell was practically pitch black save for a very thin shaft of light that was quickly faded with the setting sun. Krillin could barely see beyond the bars. It wasn't until he started moving closer did a body throw itself against the bars at him. A dull sound ringed as the former monk involuntarily took a step back. Eyes focusing, Krillin gradually began to see snarling tiger-man trying to worms its way through bars.

"Yea, he does that sometimes." A guard following behind Krillin said nonchalantly, coming up next to Krillin, placing a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Pretty much since day one he's been drooling, cursing, and banging. Hasn't said a single word. I know the mayor gave you permission to talk to him, but you'd have more luck trying to talk with a wild bear-pig. A popular theory is that he was insane _before_ he murdered his… what, 7 neighbors?. But now why would a tiger-man would be living by himself in a village of seven huma-

"I get the idea. Can I have a few minutes alone with him?"

The guard raised his eyebrows. Pressed up against the bars? You sure about that kid?"

"Trust me- I can handle myself."

"Alright…" The guard shrugged. "I'll leave you two alone. So, you know, if you get into any trouble, I won't be around to help." His tone resembled how a parent would talk to their toddler child.

Krillin said nothing. He kept his eyes forward on the feral-looking tiger-man and took the keys from the guard. Another 30 seconds, and he was alone in the hallway. All the while the prisoner continued his almost feral behavior.

Checking to see that there were no cameras in the hallway, Krillin leaned in slightly towards the tiger-man, a small smile on his face. "Really? That's the best imitation of an insane tiger-man you can do?"

Recognition momentarily flickered in the tiger-man's face, before it slipped back behind a feral mask. The banging on the bars increased- he was even trying to claw Krillin through the bars now.

For his part, Krillin didn't react. "Look, I know your situation pretty well by this point. You awoke one day- or maybe came back to the village after being gone for a few days?- and find that all your neighbors have been brutally killed. Your house is untouched by the carnage; you have no knowledge and no alibi as to what happened. The courts aren't fair to tiger people in this part of the world. The only good option left at that point is to practice your insanity act, and hope that you can live out the rest of your days in a relatively comfy home for the clinically insane. That about right?"

The tiger-man stood there, obviously stunned.

"You don't need to confirm or deny anything I just said. Well, except for one part." Krillin abruptly dropped the playfulness from his voice, growing more serious. "You need to tell me everything about the attack. Every detail you remember. Or I go share my theory with the guard."

"No please! Everything you said was right… Please don't…" The tiger-man weakly clung to the bars.

"Well? Start talking?"

"That night… that night was horrible. I came back and found the entire village in ruin… Bodies were splayed out, killed in every manner imaginable… burned, mutilated, crushed… it was almost like every single death was unique in its own twisted way. I… I can't…" the tiger-man's eyes grew distant, evidently caught in remembering the scene.

Through this, Krillin stood motionless. When the tiger-man finished Krillin walked down the hallway. The tiger-man then heard a _thunk_ , followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

Krillin shortly reappeared. He nonchalantly unlocked the cell, sliding the door open. "Consider it a gift for your information, friend. The guard shouldn't wake up for at least another hour or so."

Baffled, the tiger-man hesitantly went past Krillin, taking one step of freedom at a time down the hall, before deciding to break into a run. He sprinted to the end of the hall and rounded a corner, disappearing from sight.

Krillin watched with a distant look in his eyes. "My legacy", he muttered, as he walked down following the tiger-man's path to the exit of the prison. _My legacy, my legacy… for all that effort… the monster I fought is still out there…_ Before he knew it, Krillin was outside. The sun was on the precipice of touching the horizon. Behind him, the prison was shrouded in dim orange light, picturesque against the background of the sparsely populated edge of Ladoya proper. There wasn't a single person out and about.

Twinges of emotions flashed on Krillin's face. _I've been running away from this for too long. I knew this would happen… death… because of me._

 _I need Master Roshi._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Kakarot's feet ached. Five days he had walked non-stop, following the tracks left by a truck. _That big red 'R' that was emblazoned on the truck seemed familiar._ The timing of this chase couldn't have been worse. No sooner had Kakarot had finished killing some villagers- in a very ki exhaustive way- had a convoy of vehicles appeared to take all the debris from the scene, erasing any existence that the village had ever existed. Kakarot was also amused by the tiger-man who had shown up beforehand, who panicked and promptly ran away. Admittedly, though, humor did not restore his _ki_. He had hoped to linger around the ruined village for a few days, resting to full strength.

Instead, here he was crouching at an outskirt of a hastily made camp, a few trucks parked side-to-side in the center with a scattering of tents set up around them. A guard was posted at the edges here and there, but overall the camp seemed pretty empty. _I think this time… I will kill every person except… one._

To the untrained eyes of the guards something bolted out of the forest, colliding with one guard and launching them back with a sickening _crunch_. The other guards turned and fire wildly in that direction, the sound reverberating through the forest. Kakarot continued his bloody dance, indifferent to being hit by bullets, as he literally plowed through guards. After a minute, the forest was silent.

The first guard, his ribcage broken and wracked by spasms, hazily saw a figure approach. A foot painfully clamped down on his arm, crunching his wrist. A scream, and then a long string of whimpers.

'You know,' Kakarot finally said when the men had gone as quiet as he could, 'I think I mixed up the order of this. Usually a torturer is supposed to hurt their captive _after_ they refuse to give up information, not _before_. Then again,' Kakarot said while pressing his foot down harder on the man's wrist, 'I wouldn't really consider this _pain_ yet…'

Through ragged breaths, sweat glistening on the man's ragged features, he gasped, 'We-are-recon!-hua-huahuah…'

'Oh, that's it? Shame. Thought this was something interesting.'

A moment later, and Kakarot was the sole living thing in the camp. He was about to walk away from the carnage... but for some reason, he felt compelled to look through the debris in the trucks. To his surprise, he found underneath the rubble sealed plastic envelopes. He opened one, scanning the paper contents inside.

 _Surveillance...not to be known as... retain attention on the whereabouts of the 'five'...none of this seemed very important…_

Kakarot rifled through some more documents scattered in the rubble. _Did I really not destroy these papers with the town? Lazy._

One the last documents Kakarot picked up had _TOP SECRET-FOR TOP LEVEL EYES ONLY_ written at the top. He wasn't sure what _that_ meant.

He opened it and poured out the contents. A solitary picture floated out of the envelope. black-and-white color photograph of a... _no, that's, that's a…_

It was a dragonball. With seven stars on it.

 _That thing… it looks like that thing- that thing that was taken- TAKEN! FROM ME!_

Kakaort stumbled out the back of the truck, his hands panicky searching for his tail. Instead, they settled on a two-inch stub of tail growing out of his tailbone. _He took that ball! He took MY TAIL!_ Snarling turned into yelling, then screaming, as Kakarot gathered energy in a _kiai_ into his right hand and then violently flung it towards the truck. The resulting explosion radiated outwards, igniting the other truck and pushing Kakarot onto the ground. Smoke and burning pieces of wood littered the now destroyed camp. A wildfire was quickly breaking out in the adjacent forest.

Amongst it all, Kakarot stumbled to his feet and departed.

0o0o0o0o0o0

The weeks came and went. So far the legendary turtle training was not living up to expectations. Rayne, Chi-Chi, and Yamcha had slaved over every menial task Master Roshi had given them- they fetched milk from absurdly far away stores. They adjusted the single sun umbrella for Master Roshi's lounge chair to shade the old man from the constant position-shifting sun. And, of course. they cooked for him. Because why not, right?

Their only companion so far in this torture had been ancient turtle called...Turtle. Or, more accurately, Turtle was a tortoise. This, distinction, among other ones, was lost on Rayne. _I can't believe we wasted a wish on this farce of an old man. Most of the time we just do his chores. I haven't trained once under him. Too bad for him I haven't been idle…_

So it was in this mood that Rayne was lined up with Yamcha and Chi-Chi on the beach, when Roshi addressed them to start the day.

He was not wearing his sunbathing hat. 'Now I understand these last few weeks have been tedious, but I want you to know they were not _meaningless!_ These tasks were meant to test your patience-considering that all of you are still here, I'd say you have all passed this test. Now, however, we must move on to something more specific- _spiritual_ patience. If your spirit is not calm, then neither will your _ki_ be. So today you all will join me in meditating until night falls.'

'No.'

Roshi swung his head towards Rayne. 'Sorry, what did you say? At my age, I can't hear too well…'

'No,' Rayne said, a little louder.

'No? No to what? Meditation? It's quite helpful if you give it a try.'

'No to this charade. It's obvious to me and everyone else that you're a charlatan, nothing more. There is not one martial bone in your body. I don't even think you can fight your way past a screen door.' Rayne turned towards Yamcha and Chi-Chi. 'You both see this, right?'

For their part, they both avoided Rayne's gaze.

Roshi pushed his shades up the bridge of his nose. 'So that's what you think, huh? That I'm a clown who lives in a pink house on an island in the middle of nowhere? Someone who's so weak that opening doors is a challenge?' He started descending the steps of his porch to the beach where everyone was gathered. 'Well, I have a proposition then. I am going to stand in this circle,' he said as he used his walking stick to draw a thin circle around him, 'and if you succeed in moving me out of it, I will give you this stick, this house, even the clothes on my back, and proclaim you the legendary Turtle Hermit. That way you can, at the very least, profit off the menial laborers who idolize the brand,' he said with a tone of amusement, glancing over to Yamcha and Chi-Chi.

Rayne held her gaze towards Roshi. 'Fine then. This should be over quick.'

Roshi dropped his stick on the ground and positioned himself in the center of the circle, folding his hands behind his back. Rayne approached him, standing maybe a few inches taller than Master Roshi. Shen then crouched and burst into an athletic run, charging the Turtle Hermit. She collided with Master Roshi, and then immediately rebounded backward to land painfully in the sand. Pain laced across her body while Master Roshi stood, unmoved, peering at her over his shades.

Huffing, Rayne stood and then placed both her hands on Roshi's chest. She pushed and struggled to make him move an inch, but he didn't even budge. Then Rayne tried a sweeping kick aimed at his ankles, but like before, her leg rebounded with as much pain as striking a steel beam. Panting from both exertion and aches from where she tried to strike to strike Roshi, she laid on her side, propping her upper body up from the sand. 'I don't understand,' she said peering up at Roshi in shock,' how could you be this strong?'

Master Roshi smiled, and then extended a hand towards Rayne. She grasped it. 'Oh, it's not pure physical strength that allowed me to do that- though if I wanted to I _could_ have used physical strength. That was a simple manifestation of _ki._ I used it to spread it across my body and harden myself to physical blows. Thus, to most physical attacks, I acted as a stout, rooted tree. And,' he said grinning as Rayne climbed to her feet, 'it takes a lot of control. Control only a _certain_ activity teaches.'

'Fine, fine, you've made your point!' Chi-Chi exclaimed. 'Can we just get to the teaching now? Not to hurry you along but all of us are impatient.'

'Hah! Fair enough. I probably could have started the meditation earlier. Come… there's a lovely sitting spot in my living room that _just so_ catches the light later in the day…'

From the shoreline, Turtle watched Rayne, Chi-Chi, and Yamcha follow Roshi into their house. _Those poor souls… you're never really past the stupid stuff with Master Roshi…_

0o0o0o0

'Colonel Silver? Do you read?'

From his position in the passenger seat, leaning back in an effort to nap, Colonel Silver darted forward and grabbed the transmitter. '-Reading you loud and clear, Colonel Violet. Do you have any news?'

'That I do. I picked up on something- actually two things- in the vicinity of Ladoya, a medium-sized settlement we have a small covert presence in. I'm heading over to the first site in town. Apparently, some tech with an A classification was destroyed by a bald kid during field tests. While I'm doing this, you should check out the second site- one of our intelligence recovery teams lost all contact with HQ a few days ago. Sending coordinates to you now.'

A series of numbers flashed on a console in the middle of the helicopter. Colonel Silver tapped the pilot and gestured to numbers.

 _It's lucky we were in the vicinity. I would have been pissed if we had to go somewhere remote like Muscle Tower._ He glanced down at his bare-chested jacket attire. _Pissed and frozen._

A few minutes later the helicopter landed in a clearing where the camp used to be. Scraps of metal and canvas were scattered all over the vicinity. Colonel Silver crouched down to examine the ground. It was obvious from the burned out forest and the dust and soot blazed into the ground that a massive explosion had happened here. The scattered remains of what looked like trucks supported that theory. _That's odd. Usually when an intel squad is hit the intel isn't destroyed in an inferno. Of course, whoever did this could have blown up the camp after collecting the intel. It's what I would have done._

Colonel Silver stood and decided to pace around the perimeter of the camp. More of the same- blackened trees and ash littered the landscape, stretching on for an uncomfortable distance. _Must have taken the whole town to put out this blaze. Hmm? What's this?_ Colonel Silver picked up a clear plastic envelope from the ground. The edges were fused from the heat, but after some prying, he was able to remove the contents. Inside the envelope were blueprints for the A-tech that was destroyed in Ladoya. _This information would have fetched a high price for one of our competitors. Very strange._

He carefully folded the blueprints into this coat and began walking back to the helicopter, thinking. _The blueprints would have been the prime target if this was an attack to steal information. And yet, here they are, forgotten at the scene of the crime._ The helicopter pilot had kept the engine hot, and saluted Colonel Silver as he entered the cockpit. _This wasn't a considered attack. This was indiscriminate destruction._

As soon as they were airborne the radio crackled to life. Colonel Silver picked up the transmitter. 'Colonel Violet, how did things go on your end?'

'I got some information from the locals about our mystery saboteur. He was in town for a day and then set out west. If I had to guess I think he's making for the coast. Also got a description of him- definitely matches the profile of one of the infiltrators from a few months ago. Bald kid. I assume he was responsible for your site's communication silence?

Colonel Silver leaned forward in his seat. 'The camp was utterly destroyed. In addition, important intel was left at the scene. Tell me: what was the condition of our storefront after the A tech was destroyed?'

'From what I saw, everything was pretty much in order, save for a few boxes of foodstuffs broken open here and there.'

'So, from what you're saying, the _only_ thing that was destroyed was the A tech?'

'That's correct, yes.'

'Then I think we're dealing with two different enemies. If the same person who had been at my site had been at yours… I don't think there would have been anything left.'

'That bad?'

'Yea. So no, I don't think we're dealing with the same person.'

Radio static. 'Well,' Colonel Violet resumed, 'do you think it's possible that these two were working together? There are the four other infiltrators, after all.'

'Unlikely,' Colonel Silver responded, 'as their methods were different. Your description of the status of your site matches the bald kid's MO at the base a few months back. We know he has friends but I don't think any of them were capable nor willing of decimating my site as much as it was. Full-out devastation isn't their style.' He paused.

'My site was too heavily damaged to pick up on a trail- the fire burned away any sign of passage from the area. You said you know where your saboteur is going?'

'Correct. He's heading east. But none of our intel indicates he's with anyone- he's alone. It's possible that if we track him he'll lead us to the rest of his friends.'

'I see… Now, I understand that our main mission right now is to find those five infiltrators, but the devastation I've seen at my camp- I think whoever did _that_ is a much bigger threat to our operations. Whoever they are, they committed a slaughter against our people for seemingly no reason.

'So what are you suggesting? We table our search for the five?'

'Hardly! This may be our best chance to figure out where the bald boy and his friends are hiding. But it's not a pressing concern. We can have a team track them from afar and keep tabs on their movement. If we do discover them it's not going to be a problem _keeping_ them discovered. That means we can deal with them at our leisure. I think we should track this second person and eliminate them immediately. We stay in this area and make routine visits to Red Ribbon outposts in the vicinity. We wait for this destroyer to attack again, and we eliminate them.'

'If you think that's the best course of action, sure. But who should we task to track the bald kid?'

'Why don't you get Captains Dark and Yellow to do it? Last I heard they were kicked back to HQ for 'differences' with the Muscle Tower senior staff. I'm sure they're eager to get back into _someone's_ good graces.'

'Paging them now. Over and out.'

Pleased, Colonel Silver placed the transmitter back into its holster. He took the moment to gaze out the window, seeing the landscape run past below him.

 _I know you're out there._

 _And I'm going to kill you._

0o0o0o0o0o0

'Do you think we're wasting time here?'

Yamcha was so startled that he nearly dropped the twin casks of milk he was carrying, which were hanging from a pole resting on his shoulders. Barely catching himself before completely toppling over, he let out a relieved sigh before turning to Chi-Chi. 'You do know that's the first thing you've said to me in the entire time we've been here, right?'

'Answer my original question.'

Yamcha straightened and resumed walking side by side Chi-Chi, who had her own matching set-up to carry milk. '...No, I don't think so. I can't speak as to what you and Rayne are getting out of this, but the meditation has been… enlivening. Is that the right word? I don't quite know how to describe. I feel much more in-tune with my spirit and my _ki_ than ever before.' Yamcha grinned. 'I'm come up with a lot of new ideas for techniques, actually…'

'Meanwhile, for people like Rayne and I who _don't_ comfortably know how to use _ki_ , we learn nothing.' Chi-Chi looked away from Yamcha.

'No! It's not like that! Everyone benefits from having a calmer approach to-

'Of course you'd say that, Yamcha.'

The former bandit bit his tongue. He paused for a time. 'Chi-Chi, both you and Rayne have been growing stronger.' He gestured to the milk jugs they were carrying as best he could with the pole on his shoulders. 'Don't you remember that when we got here these were nearly uncarriable? They may be chores but we're improving by doing them.'

'I'm glad the fabled Turtle Hermit has substituted menial physical tasks for actual training.'

Yamcha didn't respond and thus the two walked on in silence.

About an hour later they reached land's end, where a makeshift wooden jetty that they themselves had cobbled together sat in the water. It was built so that they wouldn't have to swim every time they collected milk. Unsteadily, they proceeded one at a time, until Master Roshi's island appeared in sight. They had finally stepped foot on solid ground again when a shout of anger rang out from the other side of the island. Glancing at each other, Yamcha and Chi-Chi set down their bottles and ran around the house.

Immediately they noticed Rayne hulking over something in the sand, one arm thrust in its direction. Master Roshi was standing on his porch, watching impassively. After a moment, the figure beneath Rayne began to rise, slowing pushing back Rayne's arm from them.

Rayne's fist was in Krillin's hand, shaking from Rayne's sheer effort to push it through Krillin. Calmly, the former monk stood, still holding back an enraged Rayne from spearing him. His eyes briefly looked up at her. 'You've gotten a lot stronger.' He gave Rayne a slight push, enough to move her away a few feet. Krillin then turned to Master Roshi, and proceeded to go down on one knee, bowing his head.

'Master Roshi of the Turtle School, please train me.'

* * *

And that's it! I think going forward I'm going to try and move the story beats along faster with as little chaff possible, so hopefully, this chapter represented that. See everyone soon. As always, reviews are appreciated.


	11. A Momentous Day

The Coming Storm

Chapter 11: A Momentous Day

A/N: Now we're cooking with gas!

* * *

'Hmph.' Master Roshi tapped his walking stick once into the porch, then turned and went inside Kame House.

Krillin glanced over at Rayne once more- she was glaring back with deadly intent- and then walked past her and up the steps into Kame House. He closed the door behind him.

Chi-Chi and Yamcha approached Rayne, who stood with her hands clenched at her sides, watching the closed door. Hesitantly, Chi-Chi approached Rayne and placed a reassuring hand on her back.

Surprisingly, Rayne seemed to relax, letting out a long exhale as she worked her hands free of her anger. Waves churned and crashed on the shore, sending a thin film of foam to lap at their feet. Rayne turned to Yamcha and Chi-Chi, a gleam of tranquility in her eyes. 'I'm okay.'

'...Are you sure,' Yamcha said skeptically, 'because I'm pretty certain you just tried to kill Krillin.'

'That was my first reaction, I'll admit. It was a bit… hasty. But I understand what this means now. This is an opportunity for me. For _all_ of us. That was our problem before… we had no goal, nothing to motivate us. Everyone and everything was out of reach.'

'Wait,' Chi-Chi interrupted, 'what did you mean by hasty? What goal do we have now?'

With an air of a calm fall breeze, Rayne smiled. 'Krillin is stronger than us. We get stronger than him. Then we kill him.'

The waves continued to crash against the sand. 'Okay…'

0o0o0o0o0

Master Roshi unceremoniously plopped down on his couch, gesturing Krillin to do the same on an adjacent one. He adjusted himself until he was comfortably half-submerged in the cushions. 'I expect this will be a long conversation, Krillin.

Krillin arched an eyebrow. 'How-'

'Let's just say that I had a source that kept me informed in the afterlife about you- including your name- and your party's quest. And, of course, I remember you from the day I died.'

'Alright'. Krillin leaned forward, propping his arms up from his legs. 'I expect you have questions. Please, before we begin, answer mine. Will you train me or not?'

'That depends,' Master Roshi said while removing his shades, taking a moment to rub them with a corner of his shirt, 'on how you answer my questions. The Turtle School doesn't take just _anyone_ who shows up on this island.'

'Fair enough... Ask and I'll answer.'

'Well, for starters, tell me why you _left_. After I was resurrected you were nowhere to be found. By now I've pieced together _why_ you did this, but I still want to hear it from your own mouth.'

Krillin brought his hands to his head, covering the lower half of his face with interlocking fingers. 'The short answer? I was scared. The long answer is a bit more complicated.' Krillin sighed.

'I hated myself for not killing Kakarot. Tortured myself, really. Here was someone so evil, who caused so much death, who almost _killed_ me, completely helpless before me. He clearly deserved to die. It would have been quick. Painless for someone who was unconscious. _Easy_. I think that was the problem. _Easy_. Since I've left my temple, I've done a lot of good things. I've saved people from the rule of autocratic pigs, befriended bandits for the better, and defeated a monster in hand-to-hand combat-hell, I've even broken an innocent tiger-man out of jail. But none of these things were _easy_. See, the thing is, I don't think good acts should be effortless. If they were, I think the world would be a better place than it is now. Instead, good actions are _difficult_ \- they aren't the first or most attractive option that comes to mind. Good actions are hidden away behind all the tempting, selfish actions. They're buried. They're never _easy_.

'So, in that moment, with the object of all my hatred helpless before me, I chose the difficult option. I let him go. Was it difficult because it was the right thing to do, or because I was afraid of the consequences? I don't know. Either way, if I couldn't be certain that taking another person's life was the right thing to do, then I wouldn't do it. I decided this long before Kakarot was at my mercy.'

'Indecision hurts. I've questioned that decision every day since. And it didn't help that my teammates, people I would have _died_ for, voiced my own doubts out loud. I couldn't take the rejection. I gave them the dragonball, told them what I had done, and turned away from their horrified looks. I didn't have a place by their sides anymore. That much was obvious the moment I walked away from Kakarot. I never shared their confidence in death solving things…

Krillin tailed off. He glanced up and saw Master Roshi's passively gazing back at Krillin. 'You've explained to me why you left,' Master Roshi stated, 'but you haven't explained why you _returned_. What changed?'

Shaking his head, Krillin leaned back on the couch to stare up at the ceiling. 'I'd love to tell you that I've defeated my mental demons. That'd be a lie, though. My self-doubt hasn't ceased. I still regret what I did.'

'But,' Krillin said, glancing back at Master Roshi, 'I can't wallow in my own self-misery. Not when I've been recently reminded that Kakarot is _still killing people_. I don't think I told anyone, and I don't know what they think happened, but I didn't actually beat Kakarot fairly. I wasn't stronger than him. I might have survived long enough to defeat him, but I didn't _outlast_ him. If I hadn't discovered that grabbing his tail paralyzed him, neither of us would be here. I wasn't stronger than him then. I…' Krillin closed his eyes, letting out a breath. '... And I couldn't beat him now. I couldn't _stop_ him if I needed to. And it's obvious now that something needs to be done. You agree, don't you?'

'Krillin,' Master Roshi answered, 'finish what you were saying. Because you can't stop Kakarot now, you want what?'

'I want to train with you. To grow stronger. To surpass Kakarot, and be able to do something.'

'You mean to kill him?'

Krillin paused. 'I don't know.'

Master Roshi let those words hang in the air, before rising a bit from the couch to sit at an even level with Krillin. 'Let me say this first, Krillin. The fact that you struggle to end a life is a _blessing_ , not a _curse_. There are some with power who always choose to kill- like Kakarot- and as a result they close many paths off to themselves. Sparing someone is a recognition that we are fallible, that we sometimes _don't_ know what to do when given the overwhelming power of judge, jury, and executioner.

Master Roshi rose. 'But that's a conversation for another time. There's another, more relevant question to answer.' He allowed the slightest smile to cross his face. 'I will train you, Krillin.'

'Even though-'

'To be a student of the Turtle School you must be willing to confront evil wherever it threatens innocent people. In you, and in Yamcha, Chi-Chi, and Rayne, I've seen that desire. I would be proud to call you all students.'

For the second time that day, Krillin bent down on one knee, as awkwardly as he could among all the furniture in the one-room floor of Kame House. 'Thank you, Master Roshi.'

'Get up, my boy. Time to announce to everyone the news- uh, but first, could you do me a favor?' A mischievous grin crept onto Master Roshi's face. 'There are some turtle shells in a closet in the corner,' he said, pointing. 'Be a dear and pull them out onto the porch.'

'Turtle shells? Will they be heavy?'

'Oh, nothing you can't handle, I'm sure.'

0o0o0o0o0

This was agony.

Yamcha had lived in the desert. He had trained under the beating sun, driving himself to near exhaustion and clinical levels of dehydration to adapt to the harsh environment.

And he was being defeated by a turtle shell.

He, Krillin, Rayne, and Chi-Chi stood in a line on the beach, every person straining to stand upright. Master Roshi himself had donned a turtle shell, unfazed by the weight, and had asked each person to stand as long as possible. That had been an hour ago.

 _This thing must weigh at least as much as myself! If not more! I'm not going to be able to feel my shoulders after this!_ Yamcha spared a glance down the line- everyone was pretty much in the same position as himself. Chi-Chi looked ready to faint. Krillin, for all his swagger earlier, was sweating like a madman from the effort. And Rayne… it looked like she was putting what she said earlier into practice. Her face was a mixture of anger, concentration, and sheer will, which seemed to be the only things keeping herself upright.

 _This is insanity_ …

Master Roshi's face, with his eyes hidden by his shades, was blank. 'Everyone, I'll be honest. I had planned to take an afternoon nap right about now after the four of you had tapped out. But, everyone is still standing. So I'll give credit where credit is due- you're all stronger than you look. I still, however, want to take my nap.' Master Roshi approached Chi-Chi, and with the gentlest touch, tapped Chi-Chi in the chest with his stick. She fell over backward like a felled tree.

There was no escape. In a matter of seconds, Master Roshi had toppled everyone. Above everyone's panting a quiet chuckle rolled over them, as Master Roshi walked away towards Kame House.

Exhausted, everyone lengthily unclasped themselves from the shells on their backs, rubbing their shoulders as they stood. Krillin, however, was still on the ground. 'That's it? You're all giving up so easily?' Krillin asked testily.

'Oh please,' Chi-Chi scoffed, 'show us how it's done.'

Krillin screwed his face, as he attempted to surge forward into a sitting position. His face burned red; eventually, he released himself backward with a groan. 'Not today… then. But... tomorrow…'

Chi-Chi shook her head and walked away. After a moment, Rayne followed her.

Yamcha crouched down to Krillin. 'Hey man, just so you know,' he said as he helped unclasp Krillin from the turtle shell, 'it's good to have you back.'

Krillin gave a weak smile, before squirming loose and grasping Yamcha's outstretched hand. 'Nice to know I'm not totally hated here.' Krillin stretched his shoulder muscles as he stood. 'That means a lot Yamcha. Thank you.'

'Look- I know it looks bad now. Chi-Chi and Rayne probably won't be on speaking terms with you for a few months. Hell, _I'm_ still not on speaking terms with them… but maybe you could start with an apology? Clear the air as soon as possible. Try to start over.'

'How can I apologize for sparing Kakarot when I'm not even sure it was the _wrong-_ or even the right- decision?'

'That's not the point Krillin. You just need to apologize for how you affected them. They had a stake in how Kakarot was dealt with. You robbed them of their say.'

'Huh. That's actually really… smart, Yamcha. And you? Do you feel the same?'

'You know me. I'm not the bloodthirsty type… but I think on that day, with my arm as it was, I would have damn tried. I'm going to be honest Krillin- I have no idea whether you did the right thing letting Kakarot go. He's probably killed more people. But I can't hold you accountable for that. Not when I'm not sure that I would have done something different in your shoes. We have to live with the choices we make.'

'You're telling me…'

0o0o0o0

'I think we need to present our case to Master Roshi. Krillin is a disgrace to the Turtle School. He's a coward! He deserves to be thrown out!'

'What's with the change of heart? I thought you felt the Turtle Hermit was full of crap.'

Rayne was pacing back and forth in the living room, while Chi-Chi sat lazily on the corner of a couch. 'The last thing we need here is more charlatans. Don't you think it's going to be harder to train, to get anything we want to get done _done_ , with such a distraction here! The very person who put us in this situation! I feel like I'm losing my mind!'

'What happened to your cold-hearted calm from yesterday?'

'I'm allowed to vent! I'm allowed to-'

A knock on the door interrupted Rayne. The door opened a crack and Krillin's head hesitantly poked through. 'Uh… don't want to interrupt or anything… but I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For everything. I'm sorry for what I did to you two. That's it. Uhh… bye.' Krillin quickly withdrew his head and closed the door.

Rayne's face was a mixture of rage and bewilderment. 'Well,' Chi-Chi finally said, 'maybe he's not a total ass.'

0o0o0o0

It wasn't until noon did Kakarot realized he was being tracked. Not tracked in the traditional sense, that is, but tracked regardless. The sky above him was lousy with all types of planes and helicopters- not only that, but they were flying low as if looking for someone.

And then there was the squad he had come across and killed, of course.

They had been outfitted with heavy armament as far as puny earthling standards go- they had obviously planned to get into a firefight. Unlucky for them. Kakarot didn't fight by their rules. _Strange though- if they're tracking me shouldn't they know guns won't work on me? Nothing will work short of a dirty trick._

 _Oh, but I stopped that, didn't I? Oh yes, if a weakness existed I had to remove it, purge it, eliminate it!_ Kakarot's hands crept to grip the stub of his tail, feeling twinges of paralysis flash through his body. He made _it a weakness. He forced my hand! I had to remove it- no weakness-no weak-_

Kakarot found himself in a forest grove. _What? How did..._

A helicopter was steadily descending to land on the other end. _I'm in control… breathe…_ Kakarot clenched his teeth, forcing out of his mind visceral imagery of blood and gore, memories of anger, weakness, hatred, _so much hatred… for myself? I don't under-_

'-So you die here, now. Do you have anything to say?'

Kakarot blinked. He was facing a tall man, who wore army pants and a long, unbuttoned jacket, but no shirt underneath. 'I… what?'

'You're dead.'

The man bounded forwards, aiming a chop at Kakarot's head. Kakarot easily dodged out of the way but didn't see the man side-step at the last second, following Kakarot and forcing him to block the strike. Kakarot sank to the ground, trying to kick the man in his chest, but the man grabbed his legs before they made contact. Then the man heaved and flipped Kakarot over his head, smashing him down into the ground. Kakarot kicked the man's hands off and rolled away, taking a moment to catch his breath. _What? Catching my breath? Since when?_

The man straightened, turning to Kakarot. 'I can see how you dispatched my men so easily. You're clearly above their level. Unfortunately,' he said while tensing, 'you're below the level of Colonel Silver!'

Kakarot stood, bracing himself for his counterattack. _Once this fool overextends, I'll trap him, and then-_

He hacked blood, his vision flipped, as he realized that he was being held upside down by his leg. He willed his head to look up- _oh god my head, my face, oh god everything hurts-_ and saw Colonel Silver menacing over him, his hand flattened into a point.

'You put up a good fight, but I'll be honest. I'm a little _disappointed._ Here I thought this would be an actual challenge. He drew his hand back.

 _No no NO! Need to do something-_ Kakarot spread out his arms- _NOW!_ \- and flung them towards Colonel Silver, expelling a flurry of unfocused ki towards him. The space between them filled with light, heat, and pain, as Colonel Silver yelled and dropped Kakarot. Taking his chance, Kakarot used what little energy he had left to speed into the forest, keeping low to the ground. Eventually, he came across a hollowed base of a tree stump and collapsed into it from exertion. Feebly, he brought his hand to his forehead and rubbed. His hand came back bloody.

 _What… happened?_

0o0o0o0

The next day Master Roshi was nowhere to be found. A little piece of paper was taped to the interior side of the door to Kame House; 'GONE FISHING, WILL BE BACK AROUND NOON'.

'Well,' Chi-Chi said as one of four heads cramming to see the note, 'I assume he wanted us to continue what we were doing yesterday… might as well get to it.'

It took some time for everyone to suit up, but soon enough everyone was standing on the beach, groaning under the weight of the turtle shells. 'Not to complain or anything-,' Yamcha wheezed while sucking in air, 'but does this feel _harder_ than it was yesterday?'

'We're probably more exhausted than we think. We did push ourselves yesterday. But, as long as we're not doing anything else than _this,_ ' Chi-Chi said while bumping her fist against her turtle shell, making a hollow _dmph,_ 'I think we'll be fine.'

For the duration of their conversation, Rayne had been standing next to the sea. 'Guys? I think Master Roshi is coming back.'

The other three painstakingly waddled over to the shoreline to get a better look. There was the tiniest blip on the horizon that _seemed_ to be coming towards them. It took a few seconds for them to realize it was moving far too fast for a standard wooden rowboat. Additionally, alongside the first blip two other ones were also rapidly approaching the island.

'Yea,' Krillin spoke, 'that's not Roshi. Everyone out of our shells, quick!'

There was a frantic fumbling with the complicated harnesses of their shells, but they were too securely fastened. 'Crap!' Yamcha yelled, 'we can't take these shells off while standing! The weight makes it impossible! We need to plop down on our backs like yesterday!'

'If we do that we'll be sitting ducks!' Chi-Chi said, 'and we don't have that much time!' A mechanical _whirr_ was steadily growing louder. 'We're already tired and unless we get the shells off while we're on the ground _quickly_ , we'll be stuck! Don't try to-'

Chi-Chi turned and saw that Rayne was on the ground, strangling her harness in an effort to work herself free.

'Okay, new plan! Krillin, Yamcha, we defend Rayne until she can get up off the ground. Spread out around her!

They nodded. 'You're certain that we're going to be attacked?' Krillin asked.

'Take a look for yourself.'

The three patrol boats made contact with the beach, skidding up and coming to a stop on the sand. A Red Ribbon Army flag billowed out from each boat.

 _What a pain…_

Out of the middle, and presumably lead boat, climbed out two people, who stood in front of the disembarking Red Ribbon detachment. One of them was dressed in beige army fatigues, a whip in one hand and a bulging body showcasing his original enlistment as an officer, not a soldier. The other person was a tiger-man, hugely built, a permanent snarl glued to his face. He was holding a PDA and was hurriedly glancing between it and the four Turtle students. 'That's them,' he said, 'for sure. That's four of the five right there. What a surprise.'

The other officer sneered at them. 'See, Yellow, this is what you get for having initiative. Once we haul these four back, dead _or_ alive, we'll be back on the officer track before you know it.' He unfurled a whip from his right hand and tightened his grip on the handle. 'I think you agree that confrontation is more suited to our _capabilities_.

The tiger-man hooted in agreement. 'Boys, open fire!'

 _Oh crap_.

Reflexively, Krillin, Yamcha, and Chi-Chi turned around and dropped to their knees, forming a makeshift turtle shell shield wall. Amazingly, their shells held, and the bullets starting madly ricocheting off and back towards the Red Ribbon soldiers. Bodies hit the sand before Captains Dark and Yellow succeeding in stopping the gunfire.

'Krillin,' Chi-Chi said as the din of gunfire died down, 'did you know that would happen?'

Krillin was wild-eyed. 'Absolutely not! I just wanted them to try and get closer- that way we won't have to move around as much in these shells.'

'They stopped firing. Which means…'

'Get ready.'

'Soldiers!', Captain Dark shouted, 'hand to hand weapons! Charge!' The still standing Red Ribbon troopers ran at Yamcha, Krillin, and Chi-Chi, who turned to meet them. Even with their shells the three of them were able to keep themselves ahead of the soldiers' clumsy strikes. Yamcha found himself opposite Captain Dark. 'It's obvious that the Red Ribbon Army doesn't teach their soldiers anything about martial arts!' he taunted.

'Shut your mouth!' Captain Dark drew back his arm and flashed out his whip, catching Yamcha on his abdomen and stitching a horrible burning sensation across his belly. Yamcha staggered back, surprised by the pain of the blow. _This guy is a weakling! I must be more exhausted than I thought.'_ Yamcha barely kept out of range of Captain Dark's whip, slowly being pushed back towards Kame House. _Crap, I'm running out of room. Welp, if there's nothing that way…_ Yamcha shifted his weight forward, to the point of almost toppling, but then forced his legs to run forwards, desperately trying to move fast enough to resist falling over. He barreled through a whip strike and crashed into Captain Dark, sending them both spinning to the ground. Thankfully, Yamcha's impact was blunted by Captain Dark's body. The officer was knocked out cold. _Thank Kami that worked. Now to just… uhh- oh._

Yamcha realized he couldn't get back up. _The shell. Right._ _I guess there are worse things to be stuck on top of- that's a short list, though…_

While this was happening Krillin was skipping around Captain Yellow. The tiger-man had more talent in martial arts than his soldiers, though that wasn't saying much. _He's not quick but those claws could really mess me up- YIKES!_ Krillin hopped a half-step backward to avoid a slash, but in the process collided shell-to-shell with Chi-Chi. The bump turned out to be too much- both lost their footing and fell to the ground, literal turtles on their backs. Captain Yellow triumphantly lorded over them. 'Just like stupid turtles, hah! Alright, round em-

'Stop!'

Captain Yellow turned to see a giant tortoise in a martial arts pose, staring down the remaining 10-odd Red Ribbon soldiers that were still upright. He broke out into laughter. 'Okay, I think I've seen it all now. You plan to fight us?'

'No,' Turtle looked towards something behind Captain Yellow, 'I plan to distract you.'

'What-' Suddenly a hand chopped down on Captain Yellow's neck, knocking him unconscious and sending him crumbling to the ground. Rayne stood with one hand raised, sizing up the rest of the Red Ribbon Army soldiers. She moved as quick as the wind, winding between sloppy and overreaching attacks to pummel through numerous Red Ribbon Army soldiers. She took a few down before the rest of the troopers' morale broke and they fled, dragging their wounded and unconscious as they went. Rayne kept her guard up as she intently watched them go when a shot rang out- Rayne flinched forwards. Captain Dark had woken up and pulled out his pistol from under Yamcha. He grinned until Yamcha knocked him unconscious again.

'Rayne!'

She didn't fall over. Instead, she straightened, turning to them without a single bullet wound. She crouched down in the sand and picked up a bullet. 'I… thought I was dead,' she murmured. 'How did I survive being shot? How did I survive this?'

'Thank goodness you're alive!' Krillin exclaimed. He paused for a moment. 'We should talk about that, but could you please get us out of these stupid shells first?' he pleaded from the ground next to Chi-Chi. 'I don't think any of us have any energy left… Also, did everyone see a giant turtle just now? That has since disappeared?'

'Yep,' Yamcha and Chi-Chi said in unison.

'You all might have to wait a couple minutes for me to get you out.' Rayne gestured towards the massive man underneath Yamcha. 'I need to throw that man into the ocean first.'

'Are you serious?'

'Half'.

0o0o0o0o0

When Rayne returned to the island- in the end she decided to untie everyone before rowing out an unconscious Captain Dark to the mainland- she noticed a small helicopter was parked next to Kame House. Krillin, Yamcha, and Chi-Chi were standing in a circle, facing someone Rayne couldn't see. _More Red Ribbon Army? This could be trouble…_

Her fears were unfounded. By the time she finished disembarking and pulling the boat onto the island, she could hear laughter rolling down to the shore. Despite her mood, she smiled.

As Rayne approached their circle, she saw Bulma standing next to the helicopter, pride evident in how she was sweeping her arms around it. '... and this part took me the longest. See how the plate has a thin slit built into it? It's designed to enable airflow _through_ it instead of around it. Took me a while for me to realize that the path of least resistance is no resistance is all.'

'Bulma, this is incredible,' Yamcha said in awe, 'how did you even come up with the idea to build this?'

'Oh, that was the easy part. I spent too long in that Red Ribbon chopper we stole a few months back and couldn't _help_ but notice all the crappy design flaws. It would have been a scientific _crime_ if I didn't rectify them in any way.

'Some things don't change,' Krillin said wistfully. 'It's nice to see you again Bulma.'

'You too, Krillin,' Bulma bumped fists with him.

'Bulma, can I look inside?' Chi-Chi asked excitedly.

'Sure, go ahead!' Bulma tapped a code into the door and it popped open- Chi-Chi eagerly jumped inside.

Rayne walked over. 'Bulma, it's good to see you. Really.' She smiled.

'Rayne!' Bulma practically jumped and drew Rayne into a hug. 'I didn't know you were here.' Bulma said after they had separated.

'Yea, the four of us… well, three of us, have been here awhile… but that's beside the point. You're not just here to gloat and take that thing out for a joyride, are you?

Bulma threw a funny look at Rayne. 'And what if I was?'

'Then that'd be okay.'

Bulma shook her head. 'You're right. I _do_ have something else to show you all.'

From a pouch at her side, she withdrew a tiny capsule. She _clicked_ it and dropped it at her feet. A few seconds later and the characteristic _phooom_ sounded, a puff of smoke revealing a… 'uhh… is that… is that a cell phone? A walkie-talkie?' Krillin asked hesitantly.

'Do you really think I'd come all the way here to deliver _mass produced technology_? Disgusting! This little wonder was made by yours truly. Though you're on the right track. It's essentially a walkie-talkie… that works everywhere. 10000 feet below water, 10 miles up in the sky… I didn't get the chance to find out but I'm pretty certain this thing could work in space, too. It's a direct link to a series of Capsule Corp satellites orbiting the Earth, which then directly beam any transmission to its sister units.'

'Units? How many are there?' Yamcha asked.

'At the moment, three. One for me, one for you all, and one for Puar and Oolong… when I find them.' A weak smile clung to her face. 'Would any of you happen to know where they are, by the way? I'll admit I spent a lot of stubborn time trying to find them first to no success… don't know _why_ I would try to find shapeshifters first…'

'Actually, yea,' Yamcha said, 'Puar told me that she would be periodically returning to a camp somewhere on the outskirts of East City, for when we'd meet up later on. Just stay in that spot for a while and I'm sure they'll turn up. Do you have a PDA? I can type the coordinates in…'

As Yamcha and Bulma were fiddling with a finicky geolocator app, Rayne turned to Krillin, who had been admiring Bulma's helicopter. 'Krillin, I should mention. Thanks for the help today.'

'It's what… allies do, I guess.'

'Allies. Yea.' Rayne looked as if she was turning the word over and over in her head. _Allies. Well, against the Red Ribbon Army, he better be._

'Done. Thanks Yamcha.' She smiled, causing Yamcha to quickly turn his head away to hide his slight blush.

'It was nothing. Is that everything?'

'Fraid so. Keep the walkie talking handy- actually, don't call it a walkie-talkie. Too generic. Call it a… uh… the handheld.'

'Isn't that just another word for cell phone?' Krillin asked, confused.

'It's a single thing! Not generic! So _the_ handheld.'

A line of blank faces stared at Bulma.

'Well fine! Call the stupid thing whatever you want. Just keep it handy.'

Bulma shooed Chi-Chi out of her helicopter, and with a slight scowl on her face powered up her aircraft and flew off. Yamcha was the only one waving.

'Off she goes...' he sighed.

0o0o0o0

Kakarot spent what felt like an eternity hidden. His breath was shallow, quiet, as he intensely listened to the ambiance of the forest around him. Once or twice a soft patter of footsteps had come near, but it always passed in a minute or two. He was being hunted. And he was hiding. _Why am I hiding?_

There were… two possibilities that Kakarot didn't want to believe could be true. _Either that man from before is stronger than me… or something's wrong with me. Seriously wrong._

For the first time in his life, he felt _reflective_.

 _I know- I_ _ **need**_ _to kill people. Everyone here. I… I don't know why… but the need is there._

 _But why does that feel so… foreign? Intrusive? Is that really_ _ **me**_ _who wants to kill? Do I actually care about any of these weaklings? No, I don't think so. Killing them is effortless… boring. But it's different when I meet someone strong… I don't know how to describe it… Maybe I don't want to kill them outright? Is that why I spent so much time with that first man… who took me in and sheltered me?... Because I respected his strength? But why…_

 _Is that what's going on? Am I holding back? Losing concentration, intentionally or unintentionally?_ Kakarot glanced down to the dried, crusty blood on his hand.

 _…_

 _Why did I have a tail? And why do I feel so naked without it?_

Night was falling. The sounds of the day slowly faded for the cacophony of nocturnal creatures to unveil. Inexplicably, Kakarot felt a need to step out of his hiding spot, momentarily ignoring his pursuers in the surrounding area. He looked towards the starry night sky. A full moon was out, shining brighter than any other star in the sky.

Kakarot felt a… familiar sensation, though he couldn't place it. He suddenly felt energized, the pain from his wounds disappearing. A calm settled on his mind.

 _The night is my element. Fear the night._

0o0o0o0

The sun was dipping in the sky by the time Master Roshi returned. Conspicuously, his boat contained no fishing rod or fish. He was also shirtless. At this point, the four turtle students knew better than to ask.

'So,' Master Roshi said as he disembarked, 'did you entertain our visitors?'

Chi-Chi cocked her head 'How did you-'

'What kind of master would I be if I didn't have techniques that are vastly beyond my students?'

'But-' Krillin interrupted.

Master Roshi held up his hand to stop them. 'I will teach what you all need to know at the exact moment you need to know. Who's the master here?'

'You are…' they groaned in unison.

'Good. Now listen up! I have some news.' He gestured to the turtle shells piled to their right. 'You're all acquainted with those. From now on you're going to be living in them! They will be on all day, every day, for the foreseeable future. The goal is to make you all forget you're wearing them.'

'Second- you're going to be learning a _special_ technique of the turtle school over the next few months. But before that, we need to make sure you all have a basic grasp of _ki_. So know that.'

Rayne glanced Chi-Chi, grinning.

'Third- our training is on a deadline. Has anyone ever heard of the World Martial Arts Tournament?'

Everyone gave their own version of an unknowing frown.

'Figures. The youth these days know nothing.' Master Roshi smiled to himself. 'The World Martial Arts Tournament is a competition to see who is, quite literally, the World's Strongest. I am going to accompany you to that tournament in about half a year's time. And I expect you to win! Your actions there will reflect my skills as a teacher, and I can't have my brand suffer!' For emphasis, he excessively swung his walking stick back and forth in their direction.

He paused for a moment. 'Of course, if you lose, that's okay too. I expect that you'll have some _tough_ competition… hehe. Everyone understand?'

A row of heads nodded.

'Good. Now from what I see you all look exhausted, so we'll break for the rest of the day and start fresh tomorrow. Bring your A-game!'

As the group broke Krillin caught Master Roshi before he had entered Kame House. 'Master Roshi,' he said quietly, 'is there- are you really going to say nothing about him? About Kakarot? What are you planning to do?'

Master Roshi glanced back. 'What is there to say?' Without another word, he entered Kame House and closed the door behind him.

Once inside Master Roshi climbed the stairs and entered his bedroom on the top floor. He sat cross-legged on the ground, facing the soon-to-set sun in the west. He closed his eyes and gradually reached out with his _ki_ \- sensing his students, then the life of the sea, his circle growing ever larger. Soon enough his _ki_ sense was racing across the land, spreading in every direction. He noted a few familiar flickers. Shen was surrounded by smaller, but still powerful, _ki_ signatures. _Shen must be training a new class of crane students. Ironic that they feel around the same age as my own…_ Master Roshi could also sense Shen's brother, Tao. _Not surprised by that either._

 _He's hard to find… but… there!_ A dark, malevolent energy flickered at the edge of Roshi's consciousness, but it felt… weak. _Is that Kakarot? I remember him being much stronger… what's going on?_ Concentrating, Master Roshi probed deeper, trying to fully grasp Kakarot's _ki_. _It's not ordered right. It feels tight, almost trapped. Some sort of mental block affecting his life energy? Stranger things have happened._ For a second Master Roshi felt the slightest flicker of response from Kakarot. He was somewhat startled and drew back, but whatever he felt subsided as soon as he withdrew. _What am I doing? Kakarot has never been taught anything related to_ ki _. Just a coincidence._

Master Roshi took a moment to focus where Kakarot was geographically, and then spread his _ki_ sense out from that spot. _Now, this is odd. The carnage, the death around him- it's nothing like what I felt months ago. Nothing like what compelled me to act. It's dropped, considerably._

 _Why change now?_

0o0o0o0o0

Kakarot was running through the forest when suddenly he felt… something. It felt like… his skull was itchy. He stopped, scratching furiously at his head, feeling a waving, prickly sensation wander through it. Changing tactics, he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the sensation, but before he could focus on the feeling, it vanished. He then felt something else though- almost like an itch _outside_ of his body. Something itching behind him. Turning, Kakarot opened his eyes. A small, furry creature with an acorn in its mouth was staring at him. The itch was coming from where it sat.

 _What?_

* * *

Brawls, _ki_ , and preparations begin for the World Martial Arts Tournament! Big plans and bigger fights on the horizon!

Reviews:

Q: Glad to see a new chapter !

So Krillin is with everyone now...

Tension ahead ?

A: I'm glad too! And right you are.


	12. Strength Unfurled

The Coming Storm

Chapter 12: Strength Unfurled

A/N: Nothing new to say, except for a bit of good news- as of this posting I have the next two chapters fully written out but not edited. So except some cohesive story elements for a change! Anyway, as always I respond to reviews on the bottom. Enjoy!

* * *

'Rayne? Can I look at your skull for a second?' Chi-Chi asked, putting a hand on Rayne's arm.

'Go ahead.'

They were sitting on the porch by themselves, waiting for Master Roshi to officially start the first day of true training. The turtle shells were stacked ominously against the side of Kame House.

Chi-Chi parted Rayne's hair to get a better view of her scalp. 'It looks good. Perfect, actually. You healed at an unbelievable rate. If I didn't know better I'd say you aren't human.

'Ha-ha. My body just knows better than to saddle me with an injury for too long. I can't afford to be out of commission for too long.'

The early sun splayed on the water was always breathtaking in the morning. They were in no rush to look away from the sight.

'Does this remind you of anything?' Chi-Chi asked after a time.

'You mean,' she gestured towards the glowing waves, 'this?'

'Yea. Growing up on a mountain I never really saw much of the rest of the world. When we came to this island it was actually the first time I saw the sea. It was such a new experience. Still is.'

Rayne bit her lip. 'I had a bad childhood. So no, this does not remind me of anything.'

'Sorry.'

'It's okay.' She leaned forward. 'For the first time in awhile- I actually feel that things are getting better.'

A couple minutes passed and Krillin and Yamcha rounded the corner of Kame House. They were both panting.

'Do you really think it's a good idea to exhaust yourself sparring before we've even _started_ training _?_ ' Chi-Chi scolded.

Krillin drew in a big breath of air before replying. 'Training is constant. I'm even training in my sleep. Haven't you heard me doing crunches in the middle of the night?' he said laughing.

'If you're referring to your snoring,' Rayne replied, 'then yes. I've heard you.'

'I don't snore!'

'How would you know?'

Krillin had opened his mouth to retort when Master Roshi walked out onto the porch, his trademark shades hiding his eyes. 'Everyone, put on your shells. We're going to start the day by doing a brisk 100 laps around the island. Get to it!'

0o0o0o0o0

It was if he was walking in an entirely different world. As he crept through the underbrush Kakarot felt like he was almost 'touching' every single living organism around him. In any given direction, even a few feet, he could feel countless living things, to the point of overwhelming all his other senses. It was far too much. _This is too much, I can feel too much!_

Focus. Kakarot steadied… whatever he was doing, and purposely clenched himself- he was feeling less. The sensation was shrinking. The din of his surroundings disappeared, replaced with his traditional senses- he could faintly hear a pounding in the distance. With what felt like an internal _click_ , Kakarot again perceived within the confines of his own body. He could smell the dirt, blood, and sweat on him- he could clearly see his surroundings. And he could hear what sounded like a pair of boot steps now, getting closer but not with urgency. _Whoever this is, they don't know I'm here._

 _Time for an ambush._

He hid in a small bush before a woman with violet-colored hair came into sight. She was toting an assault rifle and walking tenuously through the forest, scanning to her left and right every few seconds. Kakarot waited until she was right on top of him before jumping out, punching the gun out of her hand and putting her in a headlock. It was entirely too fast for her to respond to.

'I- please stop!' the woman pleaded as Kakarot tightened his arm around her neck.

'If you do exactly what you'll say, I'll let you return to your pitiful life among the living. Got that?'

Unable to speak, she nodded frantically.

'Good. I'm about to loosen my hold around your neck _ever_ so slightly, and you're going to yell, or call, _whatever_ \- you're going to get in touch with that man who wears a jacket with no shirt. Got that?'

She nodded weakly, before gasping for air when Kakarot loosened his hold. She reached down and pressed a button at her hip. 'Colonel Silver, he's right on top of me! Come now!' She finished hastily, smirking as she tapped the button at her hip again. 'You're dead. Everyone in a ten-mile radius is now coming to this spot. Kill me if you want.'

'Kill you? Why would I do that? You've done exactly what I've wanted.' Kakarot abruptly pushed the woman down to the ground, ramming her head into the dirt and knocking her unconscious. He took a moment to snatch the communicator from her waist and crush it in his hands. 'A deal's a deal. I hope you enjoy what you see when you wake-up…' After scanning his surroundings for a second, Kakarot rushed off into the forest, trying to make as much noise as possible as he went.

 _I have a purpose here and now. Conquer!_

0o0o0o0

It had taken a few days of traveling and searching, but eventually Bulma stumbled upon the camp Yamcha had directed her towards. It was hidden by a rock wall that crept out and around from a plateau. Bulma had to circle for a few minutes before she found a suitable landing spot that was nearby.

When she opened her cockpit door, there was an immediate puff of smoke that cleared to reveal Oolong. 'Bulma! So nice to see you.'

 _Didn't like Oolong before, don't like him now._ 'Hi Oolong. Is Puar here?'

'Back this way. She sent me out here to hide and figure out who was dropping in on us.'

'What were you hiding as?'

'A rock, of course.'

 _Oh. Of course._

Bulma climbed out the helicopter and followed Oolong down a narrow, sloping path pressed against the rockside. It was a longer walk than she expected.

'So- uh Oolong, how does it work for shapeshifters? Any reason why you're a pig?'

'Excuse me?'

'No- I didn't mean it like that! I meant why you choose to be a pig… when you can shapeshift into literally anything else.'

'Oh, that's because I'm not fully trained. I know a few things here and there but I don't have the full shapeshifting endurance that Puar has. Also- I was born a pig-man. Why would I want to be anything else all the time?'

'Fair enough.'

The camp turned out to smaller than Bulma expected. Other than two tents there really wasn't much around, save for a couple of crates with tarps draped over them and a motorbike. When she entered the camp Puar peeked her head out of a crate she was rummaging through. 'Bulma! Nice to see you. What's up?'

'Not much. With everyone else training with the Turtle Hermit I've been at West City by myself. Had nothing else to do so I've been 'sciencing' a little. I built a helicopter to get around faster with and a long distance transmitter that'll connect you two, me, and the others.' She clicked a capsule and tossed it on the ground in front of Puar, creating a poof of smoke. 'It uses satellite technology, so basically, you can pick up a signal _anywhere_ in the world and talk to us. Hopefully, with this we won't have to make people stick around in one spot to link up with each other.'

Puar floated down to the device and shapeshifted into a human female to pick it up. 'Thanks Bulma. This will help us get information to the others much faster.'

'Speaking of information, have you gotten anything substantial yet?'

Puar shook her head. 'Not yet. The Red Ribbon Army continues to do what it was doing before- acting as an evil pseudo-government/ paramilitary organization with unclear goals. We tried to revisit the base we infiltrated a few months ago, but we couldn't find it- it was like it had ceased to _exist_. My theory is that the Red Ribbon Army has started taking extra precautions to shield whatever they've been doing from interlopers like us.

'This also means we haven't come any closer to finding their base,' Oolong interjected.

'Right,' Puar agreed, 'and because of that we really can't take any further steps to impede or interrupt their work. At the moment we're limited to spreading mayhem within any groups we find.'

'So you've found groups then?' Bulma asked.

'A few. Nothing as big as what we found at that base, of course. Whatever these people were doing seemed to be pretty unimportant, however. A lot of driving between one place and another, carrying supplies, that sort of thing.'

'Hmm. Well, barring any pressing tasks that come up, I could probably help you look for their base. I can cover a lot of ground with my helicopter in one day.' Bulma paused. 'Though I guess that's something we'd need to fully flesh out later. Tell me- are you having any more luck with your other goal?'

Puar frowned. 'Unfortunately, no. Shapeshifters are hard to spot- they can blend into the densest or sparest setting with ease. Also doesn't help that we don't even know what we're looking for, to be honest. We have no idea what actually happened to the rest of our classmates. We do know that there are a lot of shapeshifters already working for crime syndicates- but again, we don't know where to look to find these people.' Puar sighed. 'At this point, we need to trust that other shapeshifters have heard of us and will seek us out. Otherwise, there's not much we can do.'

'Puar,' Bulma said, closing the distance to reassure Puar, 'I'm sorry to hear that. If you think there's a way I can help out, just say.'

'Thank you, Bulma. And if I think of an idea I'll tell you.' Puar stopped for a moment, thinking. 'Though I think you'll be of more help trying to track down the Red Ribbon Army. But otherwise I think there's nothing else to update you on. Is there anything else you wanted to say?'

'None. Thanks for the information. Though you might want to relay the news to the others.'

'Will do. See you Bulma.'

Bulma waved to both Puar and Oolong before again setting down the path back to her helicopter. _I guess they really have found out nothing… where in the world is the Red Ribbon Army hiding?_

0o0o0o0

'Alright everyone, form up!'

Master Roshi waited for his students to finish their last grueling lap around the island. Though it would be more accurate to describe the 'lap' as a crawl by the end. It had taken _much_ longer than they had anticipated.

'Let me ask a simple question,' Master Roshi said once they had grouped up, 'does everyone, more or less, understand _ki?_ '

Various half-hearted nods.

'Should I explain it?'

More nods, stronger this time.

'Very well. _Ki_ is all around us- it is the energy that flows within every living being. _Ki_ powers life, essentially, allowing living beings to eat, sleep, to be _alive_. Most living things are usually not aware of their latent _ki_. Consequently, they're as strong as their bodies- dependant on muscles, metabolism, that sort of thing. Some few, however, such as myself, know how to harness this internal energy. When you learn to control your own _ki_ , you can use it not only to increase your own strength but also to grow the strength of your _ki_. That's it in a nutshell, at least. Typically _ki_ is something learned by doing, not by knowing.'

'What I want all of you to do now is meditate with your right hand open. Focus on your body and the feeling of _ki_ flowing through it. When you feel that you've grasped something, I want you to pull on that feeling, pooling it into your right hand. You'll know when you're doing it as soon as it starts.'

'Master Roshi, if you don't mind me asking,' Yamcha questioned, 'doesn't exhausting us make concentration like this _harder?_ '

'Exactly. Though more importantly safer. _Ki_ use can be very dangerous- an untrained user can draw on

too much of their energy and kill themselves if they're not careful. Thankfully, in the state you all are in now, there's no chance of any of you having enough energy to perform such a sustained action. Now, focus!'

The four Turtle students sat on the beach, trying to find this _ki_ as Master Roshi described it.

After a few minutes, a source of light caused everyone to open their eyes. A small blue sphere had appeared in Yamcha's hand.

'Master Roshi, I'm doing it!'

'Well done! Seems like you've had practice at this.'

'Have I never told you about my Wolf Fang Fist!? But uh- is there any reason why it's making light? And why it's warm?'

'Oh yes! I forgot to tell you. When ki is taken out of the body it manifests as pure energy- so it can take a number of forms, usually all at the same time. These forms include heat and light.'

While Yamcha and Master Roshi were chatting, a second source of light gradually appeared in Chi-Chi's palm. 'Got it,' she said, smiling.

From where Krillin was sitting, he muttered to himself.

After a whoop of surprise from Rayne a few minutes later, Krillin was the last one still sitting on the beach. The others had stood and joined Master Roshi at his side.

 _I don't understand why I'm having so much trouble! I can call on ki almost automatically in combat!_

Sensing Krillin's frustration, Master Roshi asked the three others to give him and Krillin some space. He tapped Krillin on his shoulder with his walking step. 'I think I know what's going on in your head, Krillin.'

'I can use _ki_ Master Roshi! I just- I'm having trouble summoning it right now.'

'Krillin, tell me; have you ever used _ki_ outside of a fight?'

'Outside?... Hmm… I can remember using it in a demonstration a few months ago, but not recently. Why do you ask?'

'I think you're suffering from a learned association between _ki_ and fighting. Which is not,' Master Roshi tapped his stick into the sand, 'the way of a martial artist. _Ki_ use should open and potentially present at all times- it serves as a connection to the life of this world in more ways than you think.'

'I'm… sorry, Master Roshi. I thought I could do this.'

'You will! Just give it time. It's good that you learned this sooner rather than later. Now, go join your fellow students. It's time for a demonstration.'

As Krillin rejoined his peers, feeling a little self-conscious, Master Roshi began to address them. 'You all, more or less, have a very basic grasp of _ki_ use. The fact that you all attained this basic grasp on the same day the idea of _ki_ was formally introduced to you is remarkable. I am truly honored to have a class of students as talented as this. I feel that you are all ready to see the signature move of the Turtle School. For the next few minutes,' Master Roshi advised as he began taking off his shades and shirt, 'simply watch.'

Master Roshi bent his knees and brought his arms to his side, sliding into a guard position. He turned towards the ocean and tensed. 'Hooo…'

The sand around Master Roshi's feet started kicking up, flying into the air and circling around Master Roshi's form. Wind started to move so fast around Master Roshi that a translucent white outline started to form around the Turtle Hermit. Almost instantaneously, the skinny, physically small Master Roshi was transformed into a monster of a man, his muscles growing to astronomical sizes to make him easily 4 times as big as before. 'HAAAH!'

Everyone's jaws collective hit the floor.

Not finished, Master Roshi brought his massive arms to his sides, veins bulging as he drew his hands back and cupped them at his side.

'KA...'

The wind picked up even more than before. A blue light began emanating from Master Roshi's hands.

'ME…'

An actual physical outline of something appeared in Master Roshi's hands- it was generating a massive amount of light, and was growing bigger by the second.

'HA...ME…'

Light was pouring out of Master Roshi's hands- it was if he had summoned the sun itself.

There was a brief pause, where it seemed that Master Roshi's body would explode, before a roar erupted.

'HAAAA!'

Master Roshi thrust his arms forward and out from his hands a wave of energy launched, blue at its core and the color of sea foam at its edges. It shot out towards and over the ocean, speeding like a missile and blinding everyone on the beach with its light. In a few seconds, the beam finished emerging from Master Roshi's hands, and he lowered his arms, exhaling. 'Hooo…'

The beam continued its path across the ocean until it seemed to fade and dissipate a few miles out. Chaotic waves lapped up onto the island, disrupted by the energy of the blast. Master Roshi dropped his guard, and in space of a second had resumed his previous form as an old man. He turned to his students, grinning. 'So? What did you think?'

Everyone was too shocked to speak, save for Rayne. 'A lot more things make sense now,' she mumbled.

'Hah!'

0o0o0o0o0

'Please, come in doctor.'

A man with graying hair stepped into the brightly lit room, sitting in the only chair opposite of the desk where Commander Red sat. The desk itself was bare except for a simple pen and paper laid out in front of the leader of the Red Ribbon Army.

'Gero, I understand that you've come a long way to talk to me. I assume there must be an important reason for why you need to talk to me face-to-face.' Commander Red said, eyeing the man across from him.

'Indeed there is. I want to talk broadly about the Red Ribbon Army's A-tech program, and my potential involvement with it in the future.'

'Potential?' Commander Red yelled, 'are you threatening me with your resignation! No one resigns from the Red Ribbon Army! The Red Ribbon Army resigns from YOU!', he bellowed, pointing a finger across at Dr. Gero.

Dr. Gero calmly held up his hand in a stopping motion. 'I'm not suggesting anything of the sort, Commander Red. All I'm saying is that, unless we make changes _now_ , I'm not going to be here in the future.

'Implying?...'

'That I'm going to die.'

Commander Red huffed. 'Well, that's quite morbid.'

'There's a clear pattern affecting our operations over the past few months- our forces are encountering more resistance, more losses, and more _enemies_ than we know what to do with. Is anyone even _trying_ to find the people who broke into our R &D lab a few months ago? Anyone at all?'

'I wouldn't know. I leave that stuff for General Blue to handle. Besides, I thought you didn't care about the 'meat' of the Red Ribbon Army.' He leaned back to plop his feet on his desk. 'You care about the metal and oil, so to speak.'

'You're correct. I wouldn't care if not for the fact that one of those intruders. Destroyed. My. Android!' Dr. Gero leaped out his chair, his face brimming with rage. 'I spent months creating that model and it was destroyed by someone who matched the description of one of the persons who infiltrated our base! That can't be a coincidence!' He huffed, before sitting down again. 'What I'm trying to say is that unless we do something now, eventually it's not going to be our subordinates being destroyed, but us too.'

Commander Red readjusted his eyepatch, thinking. 'You make a persuasive case doctor. But what exactly do you suggest we do?'

'Two things. I want my own self-sufficient private laboratory. Off the grid, underground, absent from every single logistical and administrative document the Red Ribbon possesses. No distractions, no interruptions. That way, I can work unabated and continue to hand off my androids to the Red Ribbon Army from a discreet location. Second, I want one of our infiltrators… alive. Or if that fails, some sort of genetic material. Hair, blood, _whatever_ you can get. It is imperative I study these mystery interlopers and find out what makes them so much stronger than our own troops. Do these two things, and I guarantee our fortunes will improve.'

'Doctor,' Commander Red said as he pulled out a cigar, 'you're one scary man.' After a moment he lit the cigar and took a long drag. When he spoke smoke came out of his mouth and nose. 'I'm glad you're on our side.'

0o0o0o0

Kakarot paused from his brisk run through the forest to listen. Close behind him he could hear footsteps. A lot of footsteps. _Perfect_.

He put on another burst of speed, running up a small hill to stop at the top. He spread out his 'sense'- he could _feel_ a mass of humans following his footsteps, about to break into the open where the hill stood. _Perfect!_

Kakarot glanced at the sky, feeling a newfound strength pulse through him, before turning his attention back towards the Red Ribbon soldiers. He closed his eyes and started focusing energy into his hands, forming two small pink balls of _ki_. _I've never done two before… let's see if this plan works._ His wounds started to ache again as he forced energy out of his body. _That's enough._ He held the two blasts in his hand. _They're there… I know it_.

Taking a breath, Kakarot chucked the first ball towards the very edge of the tree line, throwing the second on a higher trajectory a second later. As the first ball accelerated through the air a line of Red Ribbon Army soldiers emerged from the forest, having only a brief second to stop before the _ki_ ball made contact at their feet.

A flash of pink light filled the forest as trees closest to the blast topped over. The second ball, which was traveling above it, was detonated by the first one further back, its way cleared of trees by the first blast. After another concussive explosion, there were two small craters in a line from Kakarot leading into the forest. _And not a single soul was left_. He squinted as he felt something from one of the craters. _Give it a minute_.

Kakarot walked over to the second crater, and upon peering over, was uppercutted and knocked backwards. _What the-_ He fell painfully on his back, as he saw Colonel Silver climb out of the crater, his jacket incinerated, his body a mess of scorch marks and cuts, but alive. He was unsteady on his feet but he weakly raised his arms into a guard, grimacing. 'It takes… more than that to kill me.'

Smiling, Kakarot rose to his feet, waving his hand encouragingly towards Colonel Silver.

'Raugh!' Colonel Silver charged, aiming to knee Kakarot with his right leg, but this time Kakarot avoided the kick, sliding into Colonel Silver's guard and slamming a fist down on his outstretched leg, cracking Colonel Silvers femur.'Au-ACK!' Colonel Silver drew back his leg in shock, losing his balance and collapsing in a heap onto the ground. He tried to stand but his leg was useless- it was dead weight at this point. 'It was- _hoof_ ', Colonel Silver said through spasms of pain, 'it was such a stupid mistake… to die from.'

'What mistake,' asked Kakarot, curious, 'do you mean?'

'Trying to fight… in my condition. I should have just played dead…'

'So you know who I am,' Kakarot smirked, 'and you knew you had no chance against me.'

'I have no idea who you are. All I know is that I've only ever seen one other person do what you just did, and they were so far above me…'

'Really? Who were they?'

Despite the pain, Colonel Silver managed a weak chuckle. 'Do you really think- _heaugh-_ I would tell you _anything_ - _heaugh_ -...the Red Ribbon Army is going to destroy you. Hahaha…'

'Red Ribbon Army? Wait a second…'

Those troops with the silly outfits. That camp he destroyed. They were all…

'What is the Red Ribbon Army?' Kakarot asked, gripping Colonel Silver and shaking him. 'Is the person stronger than you in it?'

Colonel Silver ignored Kakarot's question, gazing up at the full night sky above them. 'This isn't a bad way to die,' he whispered.

 _So be it_. Kakarot raised his hand, and was done with it.

0o0o0o0o0

'Are everyone's _gis_ fitting well?'

'Master Roshi, it's baggy around my legs. Could you snip off something here? And here?'

'One second! There… and there. Better now?'

'Better.'

'Master Roshi, why is the Turtle School symbol on the back of our clothes, instead of the front? We can't see them when we fight!'

'It's to maintain the brand! Much easier for spectators to see the symbol on your back when you're in the ring than if it was on the front. Besides, there's a small one on your front too.'

'Oh yea…'

'Master Roshi, do I _have_ to wear this at the tournament? I'd much rather wear my own clothes…'

'Of course you have to! Your skills at this point are largely what I taught you! So until you learn from another master or improve significantly, you represent who taught you.'

'Fine, fine…'

'Do you think any of us can win Master Roshi? Be truthful with us.'

'What kind of question is that? Obviously I think you can win! Otherwise I wouldn't be bringing you in the first place. Just make sure to get to at least the quarters, or you can never call yourself a student of the Turtle Hermit ever again!'

Master Roshi paused, looking over his fully dressed students, their orange _gis_ shining brilliantly in the morning sun. _So that's what I'm feeling. Pride_.

'Is everyone ready?'

As a sign of agreement, everyone thumped the turtle shells on their backs.

'21st World Martial Arts Tournament, here we come!'

0o0o0o0

In a forest halfway around the world, Kakarot perked his head up from the deer carcass he was roasting over a spit. That strongest sensation- that familiar one- it was moving for the first time in months. Maybe even half a year. Going somewhere. _It's about time._

 _Time to see how far they've come_.

* * *

A/N: And that's it! World Tournament here we come!

Reviews:

 **Jredd** :

I really appreciate the review! Little messages like that remind me I'm not just throwing chapters into the void. I'll admit that I've never been the cleanest writer but I've been trying to improve my editing going forward (and retroactively too!). To be honest, editing is my least favorite part of the writing process, but I constantly feel like I'm writing crisper than I was before so I feel compelled to check over previous chapters every now and again. I also think I'm getting better at keeping track of story elements now that I'm writing ahead of the current chapters (so, I can at least ensure continuity between adjacent chapters).

Also really glad to hear you're doing a story of your own! It's tough work but as long as you feel that you have a story to tell, keep at it.

 **Anonymous** :

1-You're right. At this point (and for a good bit of time now) all the Turtle students have been immune to bullet fire because of their natural ki. They're all obviously more talented than the standard human. I tend to think untrained 'talent' in someone in DBZ actually just means higher natural ki. That doesn't mean, however, that these individuals know about ki. It's for that reason that Rayne (and company) didn't know they were immune to bullets- they weren't aware of their resistance that grew alongside their ki over the course of the Pursual Arc.

2- I don't want to give up anything about the state of Kakarot's mind but it's safe to say that he's undergoing a shift in thinking right now. Read and find out.

3- Again, don't want to give anything away, but Kakarot seems to be dealing with a lot of past baggage (both recent and old).

:

The Red Ribbon Army is going down a somewhat different path in this AU.


	13. Commence, 21st World Tournament!

The Coming Storm

Chapter 13: Commence, 21st World Tournament!

* * *

'Master Roshi,' Krillin chirped, 'you said this _entire_ island is dedicated to the tournament?'

'Yep. Take it in everyone.'

'Wow.'

The Turtle School strolled through a large stone pavilion pathway that seemed to stretch on for miles. It ended at a large archway, under which there seemed to be thousands of people. There were fighters of every ilk here- dragons, bodybuilders, monks.

'Listen up everyone,' Master Roshi yelled to be heard above the crowd, 'the way this works is that to get into the _real_ tournament, you come out on top of your preliminary group. These will be a series of short fights, so make sure to end it quickly but not use up too much energy! And whatever you do, don't leave the arena until your opponent has! I don't want any of my students losing on a technicality.'

They filtered into the main building and approached a table where some tournament officials were registering participants. After Master Roshi's quick conversation with them- which appeared very hush-hush judging from how quiet Master Roshi's voice was- Master Roshi handed to each turtle school student their number. '6, 2, 4, 5. Those are your preliminary group numbers. You're lucky none of you are in the same group. Now you have no excuses to not make it to the quarters!'

'What's that tucked into your shirt, Master Roshi?' Chi-Chi said, pointing at a scrap of paper with the number '7' written on it. It was sticking out of Master Roshi's chest-pocket.

'Huh?' Master Roshi took the piece of paper out of his pocket. 'This? Hah! I-uh- must have taken this by mistake! Silly me! Haha! I need to return this! Good luck everyone! I'll be cheering for you from the bleachers for the main matches!' With that Master Roshi disappeared into a mass of people.

'Doesn't look like he's going back to the table,' Rayne commented. 'Weird.'

'This is Master Roshi we're talking about,' Yamcha said.

'He said we could take off these shells for the tournament, right?'

'Yep.'

'Thank Kami.'

'Well,' Krillin spoke up, 'I think our matches are starting soon, so-'

'Wait,' Rayne said, grabbing Krillin's arm, 'we need to talk about something. All of us.'

'...go ahead.'

'I know we haven't talked about it the past couple months because of how caught up we were with training, but we need to talk about _him_.'

'What is there to talk about? We can't find him-'

'Don't you think there's a chance he could be here? Hiding among the contestants?' Rayne swept her arms towards the people around her. 'What if we have to face him? What if he tries to _kill us?_ I just want to make it clear that our number one priority, if we see Kakarot, is to kill him, all of us striking as one.' She glared at Krillin.

Krillin didn't meet her gaze. 'I don't want to make promises I can't keep.'

'You-'

'Okay! This is a conversation we don't need to have right now,' Yamcha interrupted, placing himself between Krillin and Rayne. 'I think there's a very _low_ chance Kakarot will show up here. Your conversation is entirely hypothetical right now. I'm sure that _if_ he shows up, we'll all act accordingly.'

'Right,' Rayne said, derision clear in her voice, 'you're sure. That's good.' She turned from the group and waded into the mass of contestants.

'Geez…' Yamcha sighed. Krillin pouted as Rayne disappeared from sight.

'Don't take it personally Krillin,' Chi-Chi said, 'she not just frustrated with you. There are a lot of things that are getting to her right now.'

'Things? What sort of things?' Krillin asked.

'I think she's more frustrated that Master Roshi has never talked about Kakarot. You would think he of all people would recognize Kakarot as a threat that needs to be dealt with.'

'That makes sense. We talked about Kakarot when I first arrived to train, but after that he outright refused to bring him up again. I don't understand what's going through his mind.'

'No one does.' Yamcha replied, letting the words hang in the air. 'Well, I do think it's time we got to our positions, so to speak.' He held up his fist. 'Good luck?'

Krillin and Chi-Chi brought up their fists and bumped them with his. 'Good luck', they both said.

0o0o0o0

'Crap, are we late?' Bulma was running down the needlessly long pathway to the tournament with Oolong and Puar, trying to get to the main ring in time. _Couldn't they have set up a bus, or parking, closer to the ring?_ 'I paid a lot of money for these tickets! They're prime spots!'

'Slow down!' Oolong yelled after her, 'my short pig legs can't keep up with you!'

'Then shapeshift into something that can!' She yelled back.

'Oh.' A few seconds later a tiger bounded past Bulma, loping towards the spectator gate and drawing a few terrified glances from some onlookers. _It's a handy ability when he remembers to use it…_

Puar floated up next to Bulma. 'Bulma, look at all the people out here. There's no way we can be late.'

'I still want to sit! I'm tired from all this running.'

'You told them we would be here, right?'

'Of course. They know exactly where to look for us. We'll be cheering them on from section D the whole way through.'

'You excited to see any of them fight?' Puar grinned. 'How about Yamcha?'

'Puar, I am running right now,' she tersely replied, 'and if you think I'm blushing when I'm physically exerting myself, I'll kill you.'

'Okay, okay… just making a joke.'

'Just float on in silence.'

0o0o0o0

Master Roshi continued to elbow his way through the crowd, making sure he was far enough from his pupils before turning a corner. Once alone, he spread out his _ki_ sense, trying to feel out the rest of the competitors at the tournament. _Nothing too strong or too unexpected- Shen or his students aren't here, that's for sure. But where is Kakarot?_

During the Turtle School's journey to the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, Master Roshi on several occasions had sensed what could only be Kakarot's _ki_. It seemed to have been drawing closer to them as the days passed. _It doesn't make any sense. There's no way he could be tracking us with ki. I guess it's possible he could have heard of the tournament- but how would he have learned about it, let alone have an interest in it?_ But the most baffling part? A few days before they arrived at the tournament Kakarot's _ki_ had simply disappeared. He could be anywhere at this point. And that was a disturbing thought.

 _I need to be prepared if he strikes- and on my guard._ Master Roshi unslung a bag from his shoulder onto the ground, opening it to reveal a change of clothes and a gray-haired wig. _I can't afford to play around. Sorry in advance, everyone_.

0o0o0o0

Krillin eventually found his group and stepped up to a tournament official. 'Excuse me,' he said, 'my name is Krillin. I was assigned to his group.'

The tournament official looked down dismissively at Krillin, and then checked his list. 'Krillin. You're up next.'

Krillin and the official were standing next to a small ring. Currently a shirtless, hairy 'barbarian'- that's what he looked like to Krillin, anyways- was grappling with a dog-man. It looked like the hairy man had the advantage before the dog man heaved and succeeded in falling forward, causing both of them to fall out of the ring- but the hairy man hit the ground first.

The tournament official quickly held up a card. 'Out of bounds! Bato moves on. Next up: Krillin and Zushin!'

 _Zushin? Here?_

Krillin turned and saw his former bully at the Orin temple, a sneer plastered to his face as he stepped into the ring. 'Back for more, whelp?' he taunted.

Krillin stepped into the ring, eyeing his opponent. _I really don't know what to expect. Guess it's time to find out whether I made a mistake by getting kicked out of the Orin temple…_

'Begin!'

Zushin stepped forward swinging his fist towards Krillin. Krillin effortlessly dodged it and then with the slightest adjustment, stuck out his foot as Zushin's forward momentum continued. Zushin immediately caught and tripped on Krillin's foot, tottered, and then began falling. His former bully landed in a crowd of his fellow Orin temple monks and knocked them all to the ground.

'Out of bounds! Krillin moves on.'

Krillin was shocked at how quickly it was over. _That was an effortless, automatic movement… have I really improved that much since then? Unreal..._

A couple meters away, Chi-Chi was staring down a large dragon in her ring. Giran stomped and snarled, plumes of fire sputtering from his mouth. _This guy could be tough- or a real pushover._

'Ready? Begin!'

Chi-Chi charged the dragon, landing a solid hit to his midsection that the dragon tanked, swinging his tail in a circular arc towards Chi-Chi. She jumped, spinning once in mid-air and delivering a kick towards the dragon's midsection, sending the dragon back an inch. _He's tough but not immovable!_ Snarling, the dragon continued trying to claw at Chi-Chi, but she proved too quick and kept out of range of his relatively slow strikes. Small hits continued to drive the dragon back until he was on the edge of the ring. 'I've got you now!' Chi-Chi yelled as she prepared to deliver the final blow.

Suddenly, Giran opened his mouth and fire shot out, sweeping over the entire ring. Chi-Chi was hurtling right towards the flame wall. _Crap! Focus!_

She vanished into the raging inferno for a few seconds, before emerging out the other side in a blaze and planting two feet into Giran, pushing him off the edge and out of bounds. She landed back on the ring, panting.

'Out of bounds! Chi-Chi moves on!'

Chi-Chi slowly let the _ki_ aura around her fade. _That was… really exhausting. Still, good to know I can deflect stuff like that with ki._

At two others ends of the hall, Rayne and Yamcha were cleaning up in their respective groups. Master Roshi, now disguised as 'Jackie Chun' wandered the grounds and marveled at his students. _They've come a long way._

0o0o0o0

'The preliminaries are over! Will the winners of the eight respective groups please step forward!'

Out of a press of defeated combatants emerged eight figures. Krillin, Rayne, Yamcha, and Chi-Chi, all dressed in their orange turtle _gis_ , quickly recognized each other and exchanged some thumbs up. A particularly attractive young woman stepped forward, a smirk on her face as she sized up her competition. Another person stepped forward- a gigantic, horribly smelly man who pushed the crowd away from him with his odor. A dark-skinned man with a turban and a shawl draped diagonally across his chest stepped forward, his face expressionless. The eighth person to emerge was an older man dressed in black robes with white trimmings. For some reason, he eyed the rest of the Turtle School students.

'If everyone could follow me,' an announcer said to the eight, 'we can walk out onto the main stage and announce the quarters. Just remember to smile and wave when you get out there.'

The announcer led the contestants through a wide corridor before emerging onto the main stage of the tournament, the crowd roaring with excitement as the eight fighters filed into the ring.

'Wooo! Go team go!' Bulma yelled above the noise, practically jumping up and down with Puar and Oolong.' Yamcha briefly made eye contact with Bulma before turning away, blushing.

'Ladies and Gentlemen,' the announcer boomed through a microphone, 'welcome to the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament!' He paused for a moment to let the ring rumble with anticipation before continuing. 'Preliminaries have concluded- before you now are your eight quarterfinalists! The matches for the quarters are as follows- Yamcha vs. Bacterian!' Yamcha waved to the crowd while the huge smelly man grinned stupidly. 'Chi-Chi vs. Rayne!' Chi-Chi and Rayne frowned at each other, before giving heart hearted smiles towards the crowd. 'Jackie Chun vs. Ranfan!' Ranfan basked in the crowd's attention while Jacking Chun pouted. _Why do I have to fight the cute one?_ 'And finally- Krillin vs. Nam!' Krillin glanced over at his opponent, who had his eyes closed in a gesture of respect towards the audience. _Figures. I got the scariest one…_ 'We're going to take a short five minute break and then the quarters will begin! Stretch your legs, go to the bathroom, because you're _not_ gonna want to miss this!'

The eight quarter finalists filed back into the corridor next to the ring. 'Bad luck, huh,' Chi-Chi said to Rayne when she entered. 'I was hoping none of us would meet until the semis…'

'There was a low chance of that happening anyway,' Rayne replied. 'And besides', she added, smiling, 'we're going to give the audience their best match of the tournament at the very start, right?'

Chi-Chi's bright eyes met Rayne's and nodded.

'Hey,' Yamcha said approaching with Krillin, 'we're sorry about that draw,'

'No big deal,' Chi-Chi said, dismissing his concern with a wave of her hand. 'I'll feel bad for you when I beat you in the semis.'

'Haha.'

'Guys,' Krillin questioned, 'have any of you ever met Jackie Chun before? He's staring at us right now.'

The four turtle students turned to Jackie Chun, who quickly looked away, arms folded behind his back. After a moment Chi-Chi said, 'I think he's familiar just because we've spent so much time with an old man recently... Speaking of Master Roshi, anyone see him in the crowd?'

'Nope,' Yamcha replied, 'but is that a surprise? He's probably off wrestling a sea monster… or something. He'll show up eventually.'

A few feet away, Jackie Chun was listening and let out a sigh of relief. _This disguise still gets the job done…_

'I think I overreacted earlier,' Rayne said after a few moments of silence, 'about Kakarot. I've talked to a few people and none of them have heard nor seen anyone matching his description in the past few months. And these people are from all over the world- they've been out there while we've been isolated at Kame House. I think we have nothing to worry about. And,' she added, 'I'm sorry for snapping earlier.'

'Nothing to apologize for,' Krillin replied, a gentle smile on his face.

0o0o0o0

As preparations were being made for the first match of the quarterfinals, a small silhouette ascended onto the roof of one of the ancillary buildings for the tournament. A full-length tail swooshed behind them, as they settled into a prone position with a perfect view of the ring. Not a single soul was around. _Perfect_. _No one to interrupt me._ _Now to enjoy the show._

0o0o0o0

Yamcha walked out side-by-side with Bacterian, pinching his nostrils as they assumed positions at opposite ends of the ring. 'The first match of the quarterfinals- Yamcha vs. Bacterian. Begin!' The announcer said before quickly running off the ring.

Bacterian flexed for the crowd before turning his massive bulk towards Yamcha. 'You're going to like this,' he said, before lifting his arms and letting a horribly noxious odor flood the ring. Yamcha immediately gagged and brought a hand to his mouth. 'That's- that's disgusting! When's the last time you washed?'

'Washed?' Bacterian cocked his head to the side. 'What does 'washed' mean?'

Sighing, Yamcha circled the massive man, waiting for his opponent to make the first move. Bacterian obliged and rushed Yamcha, trying to catch Yamcha between his massive hands. Yamcha slipped away, however, and moved closer to strike Bacterian before going white-faced and jumping back. 'Yuck! You smell even worse up close!' he yelled. 'How is it even _possible_ for you to smell this bad?'

'It's a talent!' he roared, amping up the crowd before setting himself on Yamcha again. Yamcha made sure to keep himself out of Bacterian's reach but he couldn't move close enough to the giant man to land any hits. They were trapped in an endless dance around the ring- Yamcha dodging and Bacterian pursuing. _I don't think my nose can take another full blast of that guy- I need to hurt him without getting near him. Which means…_

Bacterian drew his hands together into a fist, and tried to haymaker Yamcha in his side. Yamcha stepped out of its way, but at the moment it passed by him Yamcha swung, striking Bacterian's locked hands with his own haymaker, adding to the attack's momentum. Bacterian's haymaker massively sped up and whiplashed out and around, colliding with his own body with the full force of both his own strike and Yamcha's addition. The blow sunk into Bacterian's side, so strong that it rocked his body and catapulted him to the side of the ring. He tried to stand, but halfway up he collapsed and blacked out.

'...8, 9, 10! Yamcha is the winner by knockout!' Yamcha grinned and gave an exaggerated bow before leaving the ring. Bulma and Puar had whipped up a banner with the turtle school's symbol on it and were waving it enthusiastically in the crowd. Bacterian was carried away by a score of tournament organizers with clothespins pinching their nostrils.

From the entrance to the corridor, the other turtle students looked on in awe. 'I had no idea Yamcha had gotten so strong…' Krillin muttered.

'Hey!' Rayne said nudging Krillin, 'don't sell yourself short. You might just surprise yourself.'

Krillin glanced at Rayne, then back at Yamcha as he rejoined them. 'Pretty good, right?' he boasted.

The other turtle students rolled their eyes.

0o0o0o0

'Everyone, prepare yourself for the second match of the quarterfinals- Chi-Chi vs Rayne! From the looks of their _gis,_ it seems that they were taught by the same teacher- Let's hear it for some inter-school rivalry!' The crowd billowed with excitement, as Rayne and Chi-Chi fidgeted uncomfortably from the personal attention they were receiving. 'Might as well as show them what we can do, right?' Rayne joked, settling into a Turtle guard pose.

Chi-Chi nodded, settling into a guard almost identical to Rayne.

'And begin!'

Almost simultaneously Chi-Chi and Rayne charged at each other, meeting in the center of the ring with their forearms pressed against each other. From there they entered into a series of Turtle School forms, emphasizing defense and minimizing damage from each others' strikes. Rayne was slightly taller than Chi-Chi so she had more range, but Chi-Chi's shorter height gave her more maneuverability. Rayne brought her elbow down on Chi-Chi's head but she was able to dodge forward and barrel into Rayne's legs, knocking her over. Chi-Chi followed up with a downwards kick but Rayne rolled out of the way, only taking a glancing hit. She jumped to a standing position from the ground, swinging one leg out to strike Chi-Chi, but she moved back at the last second out of Rayne's reach. They both backed off from each other, panting from their tight exchange.

'Incredible!' the announcer rang out, 'it seemed like _everything_ was on display in that last exchange! And they seem evenly matched!'

Rayne shot a look to Rayne that said, _do you think anything he just said was true?_

Chi-Chi sent one back- _not even close._

They charged each other again, this time Rayne taking a slight advantage by seizing the middle of the ring. Chi-Chi weaved around Rayne's strikes, but they succeeded in keeping Chi-Chi out of range for any attacks of her own. Chi-Chi darted around Rayne, increasingly frustrated by her lack of success in finding a moment to step in and attack. Rayne continued to maneuver Chi-Chi around until finally crashing through one of Chi-Chi's blocks with a heavy fist and knocking her backwards. Chi-Chi's feet came dangerously close to the edge of the ring before she succeeded in stopping herself by digging her fingers into the tiles. Rayne straightened, moving ever so closer to Chi-Chi.

 _Damn! I can't get her out of the middle- but maybe I can make the middle a_ _ **liability**_ _…_

Chi-Chi stood, taking a moment to glance around the ring before she broke into a run straight towards Rayne. Instead of aiming a kick or punch, however, Chi-Chi simpled jumped and _hurtled_ her entire body towards Rayne. Bewildered, Rayne moved to the side, but at that moment Chi-Chi stuck out an arm and landed a solid-passing blow to Rayne's rushed block, knocking her to the ground before landing on the opposite side of the ring. _If she holds the middle her dodging suffers-_

Chi-Chi barely managed to whirl away from an errant kick that tried to knock her out of the ring. Rayne was on her almost immediately, forcing Chi-Chi around the edge of the ring. At one point Rayne grabbed Chi-Chi by her forearms and began pushing with all her strength against Chi-Chi. Realizing what Rayne was doing, Chi-Chi struggled before breaking free of Rayne's grip right before toppling backwards out of bounds. Chi-Chi ran over to the other side of the ring to put some distance between them and catch her breath. Rayne's eyes watched Chi-Chi attentively as she resumed her position in the center of the ring.

Chi-Chi took a moment to rub one of the bruises on her arm. _I'm getting tired trying to move around her_ … _and she still looks pretty fresh. Time for the kitchen sink, then._ Chi-Chi drew in her arms next to her body to rest at a parallel position from the ground and scrunched her face. She began to shimmer, as the wind kicked up around her in the ring. The crowd went silent as the air around them grew taut.

'No way…' Krillin muttered from the corridor.

Jackie Chun raised an eyebrow. _Six months of training and she's already figured out how to summon an aura_. _Impressive._ _Still, at her power level, that can't be sustainable._

Rayne gulped, seeing a faint white outline manifest itself around Chi-Chi. _Is she powering up like Master Roshi did? In that case, this could be over for me pretty quickly…_

The seconds dragged on. Chi-Chi never bulked up but still maintained an aura around her. Grimacing, she walking, then bounding towards Rayne, running at her head on.

Rayne braced herself. _What's she doing? I can easily step out of the way-_

Suddenly Rayne was buffeted by what felt like a literal wall of air. She was pushed back as Chi-Chi jumped and aimed herself like a missile, speeding up- _what's- what's this-_

Chi-Chi came a foot away from Rayne, and Rayne was instantaneously launched back as if she had collided with a concrete building. She spun madly through the air, moving out and over the grass, before she righted herself and charged a tiny _ki_ blast in her hands. Panicking, Rayne flung the blast away from her towards the sky, stopping her momentum and propelling her back towards the ring. The ki blast moved ten feet into the sky before dispersing. She landed in the center of the ring behind Chi-Chi, who turned, wind rippling around her. _Damnit! Wasn't moving fast enough. Just need to-_

Chi-Chi fell to the ground, a wave of exhaustion sweeping through her body. _Crap… I'm out of time…_ She looked up to see Rayne standing up, a few bruises here and there but still largely unscathed. Despite her lack of energy, Chi-Chi forced herself to stand up and bring her arms to guard position.

'So you went for the tactical approach? Tried to push me out of bounds?' Rayne asked, curious.

'Yep.'

'Any reason for that?'

'To test out my new technique, of course.'

'Makes sense. Sorry.'

Chi-Chi glared, stepping forward and throwing an elbow towards Rayne, 'It's not over yet!'

To Rayne, the strike was far too slow. She easily ducked to the side and then lurched forward, landing a solid punch to Chi-Chi's midsection and launching her from the ring.

 _Damn…_

Chi-Chi landed on the grass, wincing from the impact.

'Ring out! Rayne moves on.'

Rayne gave a small bow of respect towards Chi-Chi and then stepped out of the ring, helping her to get back on her feet. 'It was a good fight.'

'Yea.' Chi-Chi paused. 'Still, would have been nice to win…'

0o0o0o0

'Let's hope that this match is as exciting as the last! Everyone, give it up for Jackie Chun and Ranfan! Begin!'

Jackie Chun sized up his opponent as Ranfan enjoyed the cheering, mad enthusiasm of the spectators. _Judging from her ki… she's definitely above average, but there were definitely stronger fighters in the preliminaries- how did she get to the quarters?_

As if she was reading his mind, Ranfan turned, bracing her arms at her side. In the space of a second, she went from fully clothed to fully naked, save for her underwear. 'Take it in old man!' she taunted, as she charged deceptively fast towards Jackie Chun.

Jackie Chun was shocked, then distracted, as Ranfan landed a kick to Jackie Chun's rushed block, skidding him back a few feet in the ring. From behind his block, he started laughing.

'What's so funny?'

'Oh, it's just that I didn't expect a fight like this. You have an _unusual_ form of martial arts.' Jackie Chun lowered his arms, revealing that he had his eyes closed. 'Unfortunately for you, I've seen a lot of _unusual_ martial arts…' Jackie Chun flowed forward, moving faster than Ranfan could react, landing a kick to her midsection. The blow drove her skidding off the ring. She was knocked out before she rolled onto the grass.

Jackie Chun scratched his head, frowning. 'Err… I may have overdone it a little…'

'Jackie Chun is winner by ring out!' the announcer said once he had run over to confirm Ranfan's unconscious state. 'He moves on to the semifinals!'

'I swear,' Chi-Chi said, squinting at Jackie Chun shyly waving to the crowd, 'I've seen that man before. Or at least his moves. Do you think it's possible Master Roshi is part of a club made up of a bunch of really old martial artists?'

'How would that even work? What would be the age restriction? How old is Master Roshi anyway?' Krillin asked.

'Your guess is as good as mine…'

0o0o0o0

Ranfan was unceremoniously carried away. The announcer cleaned his shades before bringing his microphone back to his face.'It's time for the last match of the quarterfinals! Give a warm welcome to Nam and Krillin!'

Meekly, Krillin walked on onto the ring behind the adult Nam. He was awed by the size of the crowd. _Huge!_

'It seems that we have another disciple of this mysterious school!' the announcer said, drawing attention to Krillin's _gi_. 'Let's see what moves Krillin has to offer! Begin!'

Krillin assumed the Turtle guard, not wanting to underestimate his opponent. _He gives off the cold, serious vibe- I can't be too careful._

Nam brought one flattened hand to his head and held it there, his eyes closed. 'I will make this quick,' he spoke softly, 'for your sake.' He then drew back his hand and sped towards Krillin, aiming a chop at Krillin's head.

Krillin moved his head away at the last second, and then stopped Nam's second blow with a cross-block. A barrage of strikes began to rain down on Krillin, who was frantically blocking as they cascaded down onto him. Nam's face was a mixture of intense concentration as the pace of his attacks slowly increased, threatening to overwhelm Krillin. Krillin, however, took the first opportunity available to drop to the ground on his back, kicking out and up with his legs as he did so. HIs feet caught against one of Nam's strikes and forced Nam back, his offense disrupted by the jarring kick. Krillin spun his body around and pushed himself off the ground, chasing after the reeling Nam to deliver another blow. Nam, however, simply took a large step back and disengaged from Krillin.

Nam again raised one flattened hand in front of him, closing his eyes. After a moment his eyes shot open, and he fell upon Krillin again, a deluge of strikes landing on Krillin's guard. This time, however, Nam closed off every avenue of escape- blows were coming from every direction such that if Krillin tried to disengage, he would for certain be hit. Krillin could do nothing except for maintaining a furious defense, arching his body and rotating his forearms to block the next strike, whatever direction it came from. This seemed to go forever, until Nam, apparently finishing his series, brought his hands downwards on a rapid dual-chop. Krillin, amazingly, blocked these two, buckling for a second before pushing back and upwards against Nam's attacks. They held in that position for a few seconds, struggling against each other, before they both broke off.

'You surprise me,' Nam said after a moment. 'There are very few who can keep up with my thousand-strike barrage. You display great defensive skills.'

'I learned from the best,' Krillin said, glancing over to his teammates cheering him on from the entrance to the main building. 'And I had people who supported me.'

'So you too fight for others?'

Krillin thought for a time, then said, 'Yea, I guess I do.'

'Then I am sorry for this.'

This time Nam decided to press Krillin with a jumping kick, using his momentum to force Krillin to dodge the strike. At this moment, however, Nam twisted and slammed his other leg into Krillin, viciously knocking Krillin down to the ground as he landed a few feet away. Straightening, Nam spoke a silent prayer under his breath, before turning to face Krillin. He had expected him to be unconscious. Instead, Krillin was climbing to his feet, using his hand to wipe away a bloody gash that had opened on his forehead. 'It takes…' Krillin muttered, 'More than that to bring me down.'

Grimacing, Nam charged Krillin again, but this time the Turtle student used his stature to his advantage- he took advantage of Nam's offensiveness and snuck around his blows, landing a few jabs to Nam's body before being forced away by a passing sweeping kick. Nam then tried to elbow Krillin to the ground, but Krillin turned at the last second and then whiplashed his knee into Nam's side, knocking him sideways and causing him to gasp in pain. Nam paused for a second, steadying his breath, before he stepped in again to force back Krillin with a series of heavy blows delivered to Krillin's block.

The pace was relentless. Nam pounded into Krillin until the former monk could slip past Nam's assault and deliver a few strong blows before again being forced onto the defensive. Nam delivered a particularly strong hit to Krillin's shoulder, forcing an aching Krillin to his knees, but then he disengaged, stepping backwards. He was painfully out of breath. After taking a moment to recover, Nam said, 'It is obvious that we will wear each other down into nothing. So my hand is forced.' Nam planted one foot behind him, twisting his heel until his body was tensed into a spring. He yelled as he shot into the air, jumping at least fifty feet into the air, much higher than what should have been humanly possible. He twisted and spun as he reached the apex of his jump.

'Incredible!' the announcer cried. 'Nam has rocketed himself into the air! And it looks like he's coming back down fast!' Nam started to speed towards the ground, in the process straightening his body into a projectile. He crossed his arms in front of himself in a large X, his eyes intense and fully locked on Krillin.

It was far too fast for Krillin to avoid. _Here goes nothing!..._ Krillin raised his arms in a frantic block as Nam collided arm-to-arm with him. The impact immediately shot up a cloud of dirt and produced a shockwave loud enough to make the audience flinch.

'Incredible…' the announcer mumbled into his mic. As the smoke cleared Nam's silhouette appeared, huffing and hunched over from the effort. His body was of a mess of smeared dirt and bruises, yet his eyes were locked on something further into the cloud of dust. After another few seconds, the dust fully dissipated, revealing a still standing Krillin, sunk a few inches into the ring, but overall still upright with his block raised. Arms shaking, he slowly let his guard drop, before letting his arms fully flop down at his sides. _Shifting ki into my arms… really saved me there…_ Krillin struggled to catch his breath, feeling like he lost a lot of energy from his last-ditch block.

'You're… still standing,' Nam said hesitantly, as if trying to accept the truth of his own words. 'That was… my strongest attack… my village…'

Krillin welcomed a break from combat. 'You mentioned before- you fight for others. Do you mean your village?'

Frowning, Nam nodded. 'A terrible drought has fallen on my village. Five years without rain has ruined us. First we ran out of water for our crops, then our animals… soon there will be nothing left for ourselves. We will wither into nothing.'

'I don't understand. How does fighting in this tournament help your people?'

'Don't you know? The winner of this receives 500,000 zeni…'

 _Anything else you forgot to mention, Master Roshi?!_ 'So- you're going to use this money to save your village?'

'Yes.'

Krillin closed his eyes, sighing. _This isn't an easy decision. Then again, nothing_ _ **good**_ _is easy…_

He took a step back, away from Nam.

He took another, bringing himself closer to the end of the ring.

'Wait-,' Nam stuttered, '-what are you-'

Krillin took one more step, balancing his feet on the edge of the ring.

 _I was never big on fame or glory, anyway._ Krillin allowed his weariness to overcome him and fell backwards, comfortably landing on his back on the warm grass.

'Ri-ring out!' the announcer said flabbergasted, 'Nam moves on to the semifinals!'

Jackie Chun couldn't help but look on with pride.

* * *

A/N: Quarters are done! Next chapter: semis, the final, and the conclusion of the arc! See you then!

 **Reviews**

: Thank you! I'm trying to write what feels consistent with the characters- I feel that Master Roshi would mess with his students with his odd teaching style and his antics.

 **Elektralyte:** I plan on it :)

 **Belsareth32:** Thank you!


	14. The World's Strongest is Crowned!

The Coming Storm

Chapter 14: The World's Strongest is Crowned!

 _A/N: Heyo! This is a long chapter to end the arc. Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

'Guys,' Chi-Chi said, a hint of suppressed rage in her tone, 'Did Krillin just, under his own power, leave the ring?'

'Unfortunately, he did,' Rayne replied.

'I am going to _kill him_!' Chi-Chi yelled, fuming as Yamcha reflexively grabbed her to prevent her from running out and fighting Krillin herself.

0o0o0o0

In the crowd, Bulma, Puar, and Oolong gave a collective gasp of shock as Krillin fell out of the ring. They saw Nam become visibly stunned, before he frowned and gave a slight bow towards the crowd.

'Why…?' Bulma managed to murmur.

'He fully tanked that blow. He looked… fine.' Oolong said in disbelief. 'It was such a good fight too…'

0o0o0o0

From where he sat on the tiled roof, Kakarot narrowed his eyes, his tail flicking back and forth in interest. _Interesting. If I have this whole 'sensing' thing down, then from what I can tell_ _ **he**_ _was stronger than the other fighter. And yet, he gave up…_

0o0o0o0

After enjoying the sun shine down on him for a while, Krillin stood under his own power and waved away any help from the tournament officials. Nam was waiting for Krillin at just before the entrance back into the main corridor. 'Why did you do that?' he said when Krillin was close enough, 'aren't there people you care about that need you to win?'

'I weighed our respective motivations,' Krillin responded after collecting his thoughts, 'and it was pretty clear that you saving a village from drought is more important than me winning. I'm not here for the money- I'm here to get stronger to protect others. You tested me today.' Krillin brought his palms together and bowed his head towards Nam. 'For that I am grateful.'

Nam continued staring at Krillin held his head for a few seconds before straightening _He reminds me of my nephew..._ For what felt like the first time in years, Nam smiled, and returned Krillin's bow. He turned and walked into the corridor. Krillin followed a few seconds after him.

He was greeted by the sight of both Rayne and Yamcha grappling with Chi-Chi, who madly trying to worm her way out of their grip. 'You're in a winning position and you forfeit! Are you kidding me!? If I was in your position!... Oooh!' She nearly frothed.

Krillin's mouth quivered, stuck between a frown and a smile. 'Sorry…'

0o0o0o0

After a short five minute break (supposedly to let the fighters rest in between the quarterfinals and semifinals), the tournament announcer walked back onto the ring, his yellow hair and black sunglasses gleaming in the sun. 'Ladies and Gentlemen! You have watched the field winnow from eight to four! It's time to find out which two will compete in the final for the title of World's Strongest!' The crowd erupted into cheers.

'Geez,' Yamcha said peeking out of the corridor, 'this guy really knows how to work a crowd'.

'For our first seminal we have Yamcha vs. Rayne! Give them a warm welcome!'

On cue Yamcha and Rayne walked out onto the ring, waving towards the crowd as they went. They both briefly spoke to the announcer, then assumed opposite positions in the ring from each other.

'You ready?' Yamcha smirked.

'You know it.'

Out in the audience, Bulma sulked. 'This is a problem…'

'What's up Bulma?' Puar asked, one eye on the ring and one on her friend.

'I don't know who to root for…'

The announcer whipped the crowd into a frenzy, and then ran off to the side of the ring. 'Begin!'

Yamcha immediately sprung forward, breaking into a routine of attacks that Rayne easily batted and guided away from her body.'Yamcha,' she said as she easily twisted around a knee, 'you do remember we trained under the same person, right?'

Yamcha's black, spiky hair wavered as another one of his strikes was pushed aside. 'That's what I'm counting on.' At that moment Yamcha changed forms, launching into a pattern Rayne had never seen before. Where the Turtle style emphasized defense and heavy blows, Yamcha's current style was unmitigated aggression, sacrificing strength for volume. He palmed through one of her blocks and then spun on his back leg, kicking Rayne on the side of her right leg and knocking her sideways to the ground. She acrobatically fell into a roll which brought her upright again. Cocking her fist, she charged Yamcha, but he dodged underneath her leading punch and used Rayne's momentum against her, ramming his shoulder into her midsection and flipping her over to splash down on the ring on her back. Yamcha rolled and came to a stop facing away from her a few feet away. 'It occurs to me,' he practically shouted over the din of the crowd,' that you don't know what I did before I became a Turtle student.' He turned towards Rayne as she climbed to her feet. She was rubbing the fresh bruises on her front from where Yamcha barreled into her. 'I was a bandit,' he continued, 'and I was good at it.' _Err… good enough..._

Smiling, Rayne rocked on her feet. 'This is turning out to be a good workout!' she said cheerfully. She then launched herself towards Yamcha again, forcing him on the defensive while tanking some minor hits. On one of Yamcha's downwards elbow strikes, however, Rayne intentionally moved with the attack, causing Yamcha to swing farther than he expected and lose his balance. He started to fall forward before Rayne surged upwards and landed a succession of blows to his chest. Yamcha tried to move out of Rayne's range but she continued moving forward, placing her hands behind his back, then drove her knee straight into Yamcha's core. Yamcha gasped, but he succeeded in knocking Rayne away with his right fist.

'That wasn't Turtle style…' he rasped, catching his breath and wiping away a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

'Seems like you don't much about my background, either.' Rayne said mockingly. 'Do you know the martial arts style of elite Red Ribbon Army officers?' She smirked.

'No,' Yamcha groaned, 'but I think I'm about to find out.'

Rayne dived into the fight with new intensity, her precise, surgical strikes contrasted against Yamcha's quick, unconventional patterns. She ran around a diving haymaker from Yamcha and then planted her left hand on the ground, twisting off of it to quickly land a kick to Yamcha's side. As he reeled, she pushed herself off the ground after him and delivered a series of staggering blows to his body. He was a few feet from the edge of the ring when Yamcha suddenly smiled, and nimbly stepped into the space in between them. Yamcha grabbed Rayne by her waist and with a mighty heave lifted her over and backwards towards the grass. She panicked, clamping her hands down on Yamcha's arms, slowing herself and bringing Yamcha down to the ground with her with a yell. They both hit the ring, laid up on their backs in a line, heads next to each other.

 _Damn… that hurt a lot…_ Rayne rolled to the side, burning through energy to right herself quickly, before realizing Yamcha was taking his time getting off the ground. _How come?..._

Casually, Yamcha flattened his _gi,_ despite its tattered state. He grinned. 'I don't think you can keep this up,' he stated plainly. Despite his outwardly battered body, Yamcha acted like the fight had just started.

Rayne was panting. _He's right. He's not breathing hard at all… guess this is what Chi-Chi felt like._ 'You sound bored.' she remarked.

'Give it a minute.' Yamcha bounded forward and unexpectedly locked hands with Rayne. They began a devastating onslaught of knee strikes directed towards each other- blows cascaded down on Rayne even as she tried to retaliate with hits of her own. It became obvious, however, that her strikes were doing much less damage than his, and so she jumped back, breaking off from their grapple. At that juncture, however, Yamcha surged forward, and even after taking a strong side-kick from Rayne, drove his knee into Rayne's gut, sending her gasping onto the ground. Her vision swam as she propped herself up on one elbow, focusing her eyes on her opponent. Yamcha dove to knee Rayne while she was on the ground, but she rolled away and unsteadily clambered to her feet. Yamcha was standing a little haggard, but it seemed like none of her recent attacks had affected him at all. _Meanwhile_ …

Groaning, Rayne mentally checked-in on her body. _Pain here, there. Feels like he took a sledgehammer to my stomach… damn. I can't take another heavy hit like that. Can't let him get close again…_

Yamcha pounced on her again, but this time Rayne kept her distance, moving back even when it took her closer to the edge of the ring. _If this is going to work, I'll need him knocked down for at least a few seconds...C'mon…_

Rayne saw her chance. Yamcha made an impatient mistake and extended too far on a reaching punch- Rayne arched backwards and lashed a leg out, delivering a solid blow to Yamcha's diaphragm that knocked the breath out of him and drove him skidding across the ring. He stopped himself and fell to one knee, trying to catch his breath.

 _Now or never!..._ Rayne jumped back to the edge of the ring, putting as much distance between herself and Yamcha, and twisted her body, bringing her hands to her side. _If I remember correctly, you're going to have trouble replicating this Yamcha_. She molded her hands into a cup and bent her body downwards. 'Kaa...'

'She's going for it…' Chi-Chi muttered, feeling a twinge of pain from recalling her own _ki_ use earlier.

'There's no way… Master Roshi told us it took him _years_ to master it…' Krillin said in awe.

'Mee….' The smallest twinkle of blue light started to shine from Rayne's hands. _Not as much as Master Roshi… but it's gotta be enough!..._

Jackie Chun looked on with the smallest smile hidden under his mustache.

'Haa...Mee...'

Yamcha finished recovered from Rayne's earlier strike, looking across the ring as he climbed to his feet. Rayne was holding something very _blue_ in her hand… _Okay- OKAY!_ He forced himself to remain calm as Rayne tensed herself. _Not enough time to counter the blast with one of my own. Remember that feeling- just concentrate the ki-_

'HAAA!' Rayne boomed as she thrust her hands towards Yamcha, releasing a small but still sizable Kamehameha wave that loped its way across the ring. For a moment Yamcha balked at the attack, but then he bent to the ground to nearly stand on all fours, snarling.

A dark blue immediately enveloped Yamcha. 'WOLF FANG FIST!' Yamcha shouted as he leaped forward, clenching his hands. His fingertips glowed with blue _ki_ that extended from his hands like claws. As he neared the blast his aura intensified, as he his right claw-hand directly towards the Kamehameha. For a split second the _ki_ claw caught and struggled against the blast before overpowering the attack, tearing through the wave and scattering it into sparks to either side of him. From there he swiped with his left hand, then again with his right hand, until he was moving and mowing through the blast as if he was cutting grass. His swipes came faster and faster while Rayne could only look on in horror as her attack was systematically ripped apart. By the time Yamcha reached Rayne, to the trained eye his aura had taken the visage of a howling wolf, which closed its mouth and pushed past Rayne as Yamcha delivered a brutal series of strikes that hurled Rayne backwards. She sailed through the air unconscious before landing with a dull _thud_ onto the grass.

'You know what?' Bulma said to Puar as the crowd erupted into cheers, 'this was my preferred outcome.'

0o0o0o0

With a dull feeling of disappointment, Kakarot watched as the girl with blue-green hair landed out of the ring. The silly man with shiny yellow hair and shades ran around the ring and started talking excitedly into his microphone. _Her ki blast was impressive- but not strong. The other one's attack was stronger… but not by much._

 _It's what I thought. They're not ready. None of them could challenge me at their current strength._

When Kakarot came here, he hadn't expected to encounter the one group of people who had defeated him before. It was disappointing, however, that the gap in power between him and then had only grown with time. _Fighting them at this point would be a waste of my time..._ Kakarot observed with disinterest as the victor smiled like an idiot for the crowd, throwing his arms up in excitement. Kakarot's eyes drifted towards the old man standing just outside of the corridor to the ring. He was also watching the winner the of the match. _Him though… he'd be a challenge…_ silently, Kakarot flattened himself to the roof and began to climb down. _Time to get his attention._

0o0o0o0

Jackie Chun was, admittedly, a little disappointed in Yamcha. _No martial artist should be a glory hog… did he learn anything about what it means to be a Turtle student?_ He sighed.

As Rayne was woken and helped to her feet by the tournament officials, Jackie Chun felt… _is that?..._ The energy was malicious. _Kakarot. But where?..._

 _There. Looks like I'm going to be a bit late for my match… apologies, Nam._

Jackie Chun ran through the deserted halls of the tournament buildings- at this point, everyone was heading outside to see the imminent final of the tournament- and rounded a corner to emerge into a small, open-air courtyard enclosed on all sides by the building he had exited. Kakarot sat in the middle of the courtyard, cross-legged, beckoning Jackie Chun to come closer. 'I've had my eye on you,' he hissed much like how a predator would talk to their prey. 'You're the strongest person here. I intend to fight you, and kill you.'

Despite himself, Jackie Chun gulped. _The last time I saw him- the last time I_ _ **fought**_ _him- but there's so much I don't understand._ 'I'm confused,' he expressed, trying to stall for time as he steadied himself, 'as to why you want to fight me, Kakarot. Have you grown tired of killing the defenseless en masse?

'Hmm?' Kakarot tilted his head. 'How do you know my name?'

Jackie Chun laughed. 'This disguise is great! Haha!' His amusement died off, as he rubbed the side of his head. 'We've fought before. Don't you remember?'

Kakarot creased his face in thought. _We've fought? I would remember fighting someone as old as him. There was that one old man a while ago, but- wait…_ Kakarot studied Jackie Chun's face. The eyebrows. The same distinctive nose… _it's…_

'You're him!' Kakarot exclaimed, pointing. 'You're that old man I killed! How! How are you alive?! I killed you!'

Master Roshi grinned. 'I have a few tricks up my sleeve. You don't to my age without learning at least a _few_.' The Turtle Hermit settled into his guard, tensing every muscle in his body. _I'm prepared now, Kakarot. You lost the element of surprise._ 'But if it's a fight you want with the Turtle Hermit, it's a fight you'll get!' He waited for Kakarot's first move.

A move that never came. Kakarot still sat, his face consumed with consideration. 'You said you're the Turtle Hermit- does that make you… a master? Or whatever you call it? Of martial arts?'

Suspicious, Master Roshi kept his guard up. 'Yes, that's correct.'

'The 'Turtle Hermit' symbol… I saw that in the tournament… on them! The people who fought me! You're their teacher, aren't you!' Kakarot accused.

Master Roshi flinched, before falling back behind his guard. 'Those kids are not your concern! Your fight is with me!'

Now it was Kakarot turn to laugh. 'Oh, to think that I could _fight_ them instead of _annihilating them…_ that's funny. They're _nowhere_ close to me in power.'

'What are you talking about! They nearly killed you a few months ago!'

'And you think I've done nothing since then?' Kakarot closed his eyes and, like he practiced, very briefly raised his _ki_ , flaring it outwards from his body. A weak wind blew across the courtyard. Kakarot, despite his internal doubts gnawing at him, managed a contemptuous leer. _This power… these abilities… they come to me, but I don't know how..._

Master Roshi staggered back, buffeted by the pulse of raw _ki_ Kakarot emitted. _That's- that's impossible! How could he have become so strong in so short a time?!_

Kakarot relished the old man's fearful expression. 'Do you understand now, old man? They might have defeated me before but to even _suggest_ that could happen now- its lunacy. I'm in a league of my own now.'

Collecting himself, Master Roshi glared at the smug, frightening kid sitting across from him. 'So what do they have to do with this if they're beneath you?' he asked testily.

'Simple. They've challenged me before. While they might not be close to me _now_ , I think they have the capacity to do so again in the future.' Kakarot halted, mulling over something in his head. 'I think I'll come back here for the next tournament. I don't know when that is, but I'll find out and return. Or, I'll be able to tell when all of you converge here again.'

'How would you know?' Master Roshi pressed. _It can't be..._

'Well, I can't describe it, but trust me, I'll know. I'll… 'sense it', I guess.'

 _So he knows!..._ 'And then? You come back and then what?'

'I compete in the tournament. I kill who I defeat. I win and then kill everyone else anyway. Need to work towards the end goal. Kill everyone, that is.' Kakarot suppressed a flicker of frustration in his subconscious. _why why why why why is that a goal why why-_ Kakarot raggedly dragged his head to the right, before adjusting it forwards again.

Master Roshi was too lost in his own mind to notice. Emotions warred on his face as he came to terms with what Kakarot said.

'So,' Kakarot continued, 'you prepare them. Or, at the very least, tell them that they're on a deadline' Kakarot stood, brushing himself off. 'I think that's it. I'm going to leave now.' He smirked as he turned. 'Enjoy your championship.' With that, he jumped up and onto the roof the building around them, and ran off. _I'll need something to do during the interim… hmm… perhaps the Red Ribbon Army can challenge me… that_ _ **stronger**_ _guy that weakling mentioned a few months ago…_

 _And just maybe… I can understand more..._

Master Roshi watched Kakarot go, staring off in the direction he had left by. Progressively, Master Roshi body shook more and more, until he couldn't continue standing. He sank to the ground in a nervous fit, grabbing himself in an attempt to stop his trembling. _Was I really that scared?_ _I could have beat him, couldn't I?..._

 _I don't know._

 _It's been centuries since the future has looked this bleak..._

0o0o0o0

'Is he going to show up?...' the announcer mumbled to a nearby tournament official, covering his mic. The entire crowd was caught up in looking for Jackie Chun, who had disappeared right before he semifinal match with Nam. Nam himself was standing alone in the ring, injuries evident from the last fight, but regardless he respectfully awaited his opponent.

Rayne was standing just outside of the corridor, letting Krillin help keep herself upright. Chi-Chi had left to wander around the rest of the tournament grounds, joining the search for Jackie Chun. Yamcha was eyeing the solitary Nam waiting out on the ring. 'If I fought him… I wonder…' he thought out loud to himself.

'Yamcha,' Rayne interrupted with a tone of irritation in her voice, 'did you really have to hit me that hard out of the ring? Everything hurts…'

'Sorry...' Yamcha apologized, turning to Rayne and sheepishly scratching his head, 'I didn't mean for my strike to be _that_ strong… I've never had the best control over the Wolf Fang Fist. Just ask him,' Yamcha said, gesturing to Krillin.

Krillin grinned, recalling the memory. 'You should have seen him just a few months ago. When we first fought he actually knocked himself _unconscious_ from using that move…'

'What?' Rayne said incredulously, chuckling as best she could with her injuries, 'how? And you two fought?'

'Yep, we fought,' Krillin replied, as if recounting a fond memory. 'Yamcha took himself out of the fight from overusing his _ki_. It's like Master Roshi explained it. When you don't use your _ki_ according to your limits… bad things happen. You were lucky not to do any serious damage to yourself back then, Yamcha.'

'Well,' Yamcha protested, 'it worked out in the end. You 'defeated' me and we joined up… rest is history.'

'What's that I hear?' Krillin asked, amused. 'Why the strange emphasis around "defeated"?'

'Because you didn't really defeat me. Or at least not in the traditional sense. I technically defeated _myself_.'

Krillin snorted. 'Yea, okay, champ.'

'You want to go again after the tournament,' Yamcha challenged Krillin, a tone of friendly competitiveness in his voice, 'and settle who's stronger once and for all?'

'And end up like Rayne? No thank you.'

'Alright…' Yamcha shrugged, and turned his attention back towards Nam and the ring.

'Krillin,' Rayne whispered into Krillin's ear, 'surely you could beat him, right?'

'I don't want to admit it,' Krillin whispered back, 'but I think Yamcha is the strongest of us all right now. Don't you remember that you and I were pretty much even the last time we sparred?'

'Mmm, right.' Rayne glanced back over at Yamcha. 'Not bad for a former bandit,' Rayne mumbled.

A door opened and closed at the end of the hall, the three of them turned and saw Jackie Chun approach, expressionless, as he walked past them and out towards the ring.

'He seems…' Yamcha said, 'a little…'

'Serious?' Krillin finished.

'Yea.'

0o0o0o0

'Ah! Ladies and Gentlemen, Jackie Chun has returned!' the announcer said as he ran over to Jackie Chun, shoving a microphone up to his face. 'Jackie Chun, what was the cause of your mysterious disappearance?'

Jackie Chun leered at the microphone. 'Personal business,' he responded gruffly.

'Well... the important thing is that you're here now!' the announcer ran off the ring, facing the crowd once as he stepped out onto the grass. 'It's time for the second semifinal match! Nam vs. Jackie Chun!' He spun back towards the two fighters. 'Begin!'

Nam hesitantly bent into a combat pose, grimacing from his earlier injuries. _My endurance still hasn't recovered from the last fight. I'll need to end this_ _ **quickly**_ _, and-_

'I know why you're here,' Jackie Chun declared, breaking Nam's concentration.

'What? What are you talking about?'

'I overheard your conversation with your opponent last round. I know why you're here. I know that you're fighting to save your village.' Jackie Chun's serious gaze lightened. 'You're fighting for a good cause.'

Nam struggled to keep his composure as he let his guard drop. 'This tournament has been the most physically and emotionally exhausting experience of my life. Do you understand? The crippling responsibility, the fear of failing my village- it's all I can do to simply stand here without falling apart. If I do not succeed in my quest- my village will _perish_ …'

Nam seemed to waver for a second, before clenching his hands and locking his gaze with Jackie Chun's. 'If you understand why I'm here then you understand why I must win!' Abruptly Nam charged Jackie Chun, pivoting on his back foot once he closed to pummel him with a kick, but Jackie Chun seemed to flow past it, as if he simply _moved_ through it, coming up inches away from a startled Nam. He gave Nam a slight shove, and Nam fell backwards into a sitting position on the ring. 'How…' Nam stuttered, 'how did you move that fast?'

'This isn't a fight you can win,' Jackie Chun said openly. 'But it's not _this_ fight you need to win. You-'

'Quiet!' Nam surged upwards, trying to uppercut Jackie Chun, but his fist swung through the air. Jackie Chun had dexterously stepped back. Yelling, Nam pursued, launching into a pattern of strikes similar to what he employed against Krillin, but his attacks missed their mark as Jackie Chun coursed with the onslaught, dodging them effortlessly. Nam paused after a half-minute of this, gasping for breath as he slumped over from exhaustion. 'You're… but…' he choked out.

'It seems that Nam can't land a single hit on Jackie Chun!' the announcer bellowed from the sidelines. 'Is this the end of Nam's run?'

'I told you before. This isn't a fight you can win,' Jackie Chun repeated, this time a bit more irritated. 'And I have no desire to inflict more pain on you. So if you could just _listen_ -'

'Haaa!' Nam rocketed forward, using his _ki_ to propel him faster, leading with one arm outstretched, palm flattened, as he made contact with Jackie Chun. _That must have done_ _ **something**_ _! That-_

Nam peered around his hand- Jackie Chun has stopped his palm with one finger, glaring. 'I'm sorry for this,' he said, before stepping forward and delivering a palm-strike of his own to Nam's sternum, sending him barreling away out of the ring.

'Out of bounds!' the announcer affirmed as Nam landed ingloriously in the grass. Every part of his body hurt. That strike had done more damage than every hit from his last match combined. _So this is the true feeling of failure..._

A silhouette appeared over him. Soon enough Nam felt himself being lifted off the ground, being helped to his feet. 'I don't want the money-,' a voice said, 'and I know a way to save your village. Just listen for a second…'

'Who-' Nam's vision re-focused- and he recognized the black garb of Jackie Chun.

'No talking. Just listen.' Jackie Chun said softly. 'And I need you to do me a favor. My students are gullible but not dumb…'

0o0o0o0

Sometime during Jackie Chun and Nam's fight, Chi-Chi had returned to Krillin, Rayne, and Yamcha, grumbling when she realized she had missed most of the match. They awkwardly moved to the side to let Jackie Chun and Nam walk past, arms draped over each other's shoulders, as they spoke to each other in quiet tones.

'Wonder what they're talking about…' Chi-Chi asked.

'Maybe Jackie Chun is drilling Nam for information about fighting us Turtle students,' Krillin suggested. 'If so, devious!'

'...' Yamcha continued to stare at the pair as they walked down the corridor and rounded a corner. 'Something seems super familiar about Jackie Chun, but I can't place it…'

'He's an old man, remember? Old men are familiar to us,' Chi-Chi responded humorously.

Yamcha considered the topic for another instant, then shook his head, clearing his thoughts. 'Either way, it's not important. His _strength_ is much more relevant.'

'Yamcha,' Rayne said seriously, shifting her weight around for Krillin's sake, 'you're the last Turtle student left in the tournament. You have a real shot at winning this. Jackie Chun may be strong but you've trained under the greatest master in the world. You need to get out there and show the world what we can do. As long as you give it your all,' she weakly pressed her fist into her other hand, 'there's no shame in defeat.'

'You got this, dude!' Krillin chirped in.

'We'll be right behind you the entire time!' Chi-Chi added.

Yamcha eased into a smile and bowed his head in acknowledgment. He then extended his fist towards them. Everyone else did the same. 'I'll do my best.'

Jackie Chun reentered the corridor and quickly walked past them towards the ring outside.

'Do you mind if we head out to sit with Bulma, considering none of us are left in the tournament?' Krillin asked.

'Go ahead. Just make sure you can see the show!' Yamcha waved to them and then went outside.

'Alright,' Chi-Chi said, moving under the arm of Rayne's not currently being supported by Krillin, 'let's get you into the crowd'.

0o0o0o0

The sound was deafening. As Yamcha walked out onto the ring he noticed the stands were absolutely packed- there were even people climbing onto the walls of the surrounding tournament complex to get a better view of the fight. It seemed that every single person who lived on the island was cramming into the area to watch the fight. _That's probably accurate, actually_ , Yamcha reflected. For his part, Jackie Chun gave modest waves to the crowd, his eyes focused on Yamcha the entire time.

Out in section D, Krillin, Chi-Chi, and Rayne joined Bulma, Puar, and Oolong. While everyone was chatting, Chi-Chi suddenly drew their attention to the stand on the opposite side of the ring. 'Look! See that shell!'

Everyone turned. There was a faded orange turtle shell, exactly like the one Master Roshi had been wearing earlier, which was rising and falling with the movement of the crowd. For a moment there was a flash of orange fabric with the turtle symbol on it as the person under the shell was briefly exposed, but the crowd quickly re-hid them as the shell continued its seemingly random movement through the crowd.

'That's… odd… so it must be Master Roshi?' Krillin guessed.

'It would make sense he would finally show for the final… though I'm not going to waste any more energy trying to rationalize what's going on over there...' Chi-Chi said.

With everyone more or less satisfied with the explanation- and unwilling to spend any more time trying to understand one of Master Roshi's oddities- they turned their attention back towards the ring. The announcer was still in the process of hyping up the crowd.

'...and it all comes down to this moment, this fight, to decide who is the World's Strongest at the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament! Money, fame, glory- _everything_ is on the line!' He paused a moment, letting the crowd roar with anticipation, before turning towards the ring. 'The final of 21st World Martial Arts Tournament! Yamcha vs. Jackie Chun- begin!'

Jackie Chun reflexively blocked a punch from Yamcha, who had charged forward at the first possible moment. When he looked up, Yamcha was nowhere in sight. _Where-_ An elbow appeared on the right side of Jackie Chun's vision, and he hopped away while the elbow swung through the air. _I'm sorry Yamcha… but I'm going to push you…_ Jackie Chun caught the next strike, pulling in a surprised Yamcha and kneeing him, before punching him square across the face to the ground. Yamcha ungracefully landed on his hands and feet, looking like some sort of feral animal. A kick whipped out from the ground towards Jackie Chun that the old man turned and slid past. Yamcha wiped some blood away from a wound reopened by Jackie Chun's punch as he stood. 'You're in for hell!' Yamcha yelled as he rushed Jackie Chun again. Jackie Chun was surprised as Yamcha mixed in a few unconventional movements- at one point Yamcha tried to nail him with a backwards flip kick- but still, it was nothing he couldn't keep ahead of.

Just as Jackie Chun was thinking this, Yamcha opened his fist that had flown past Jackie Chun and gripped the old man's head, pulling it towards his own head to headbutt. A horribly jarring sensation ran through Jackie Chun's body on impact. He was momentarily stunned- but Yamcha had collapsed to the ground, obviously coming off worse from the headbutt.

'What is Yamcha doing!' Krillin yelled. 'Can't he see that he can't trade even with Jackie Chun?'

'Hey,' Rayne said, suppressing a smile, 'at least he's using his head.'

Krillin shot her a disgusted look and started rubbing his shaved head in stress.

When Jackie Chun's vision cleared, he watched Yamcha sway as he tried to get to his feet. _I taught you better than this Yamcha… Guess I need to push you more!..._ Jackie Chun sunk to the ground, and then burst into a run, clotheslining a half-standing Yamcha and knocking him to the ground like a domino. Yamcha groaned, twisting on the ground for a moment before but forcing his aching body to stand. Jackie Chun had one palm extended towards him, urging him to fight.

 _He's faster than me, stronger than me… probably smarter than me, too. So what do I have?_...

 _Maybe... will?_

Steeling himself, Yamcha ran towards Jackie Chun, unleashing a flurry of attacks that Jackie Chun either dodged or redirected, getting in a few small strikes of his own in the process. Yamcha didn't let up, however, and Jackie Chun soon found himself running out of room to pedal backwards with. As he attempted to dodge to the right, Yamcha anticipated this and pivoted, spinning his left leg into Jackie Chun's side. 'Hah!' Yamcha cheered. But when Yamcha tried to pull back his leg, he found it stuck- Jackie Chun had a manic look on his face as he held onto Yamcha's leg. _Let's see you get out of this!_ 'Aaah!' Yamcha cried as Jackie Chun yanked Yamcha off his feet, swinging him around in a circle, faster and faster. Jackie Chun was about to toss Yamcha out of bounds, but Yamcha shifted his weight upwards and knocked Jackie Chun off balanced. Jackie Chun's tight spin deteriorated and he was forced to release Yamcha in the direction of the ring. Yamcha crashed down the ground, on the verge of barfing from the motion sickness. Jackie Chun gingerly rubbed what felt like a pulled muscle in his back. _Never was a very effective move… too finicky. Pity._

Yamcha propped himself up on one elbow, his world spinning as he tried to focus his vision towards his opponent. His body burned- not to mention his multiple cuts, bruises, and injuries. _I feel like a dead man walking and he doesn't even look injured!_ Groaning, Yamcha pulled himself to his feet. _Come on brain, think… If you can't outpunch, outrun, or outsmart your opponent, what do you do?_ Yamcha observed the keen attention Jackie Chun fixed on him. _Don't give them time to react! Alright, let's try this…_

Yamcha brought his hands together and folded them in front of him. Between them, he focused on manifesting the physical _presence_ of _ki_ without any actual _ki_. Small particles of dust skidded away from Yamcha.

Jackie Chun hung back, curious. _I'm curious what my pupil has up his sleeve…_

After a few moments of concentration, Yamcha felt a ball of pure physical energy form in his hands. He held it both hands as he ran forward towards Jackie Chun. At the halfway point he threw the ball towards the floor of the ring- in that instant the ball detonated and a massive wind billowed out in a radius from that direction. It threw up Jackie Chun's and sped past him, bouncing off the small walls that enclosed the ring. As the wind returned it threw up dirt from the grass surrounding the ring into the air- in a matter of seconds the entire ring was obscured by dust.

'Incredible!' the announcer yelled through a hastily tied cloth around his mouth, 'Yamcha has totally obscured the ring! What could he be planning?'

Yamcha bolted towards the end where he had last seen Jackie Chun, preparing a punch. _There's no way he's going to see this coming-_

His right foot clamped down on the edge of the ring- he actually briefly touched the grass with his toes before recoiling in terror. He was lucky though- the dust obscured his minor disaster. _What a stroke of luc-_ the sound of rushing wind tipped Yamcha off at the last possible second as he ducked a punch aimed at the center of his back. He yelped as he rolled away from downwards stomp before disappearing into the dust. _That ought to lose him- oh come on!_ Yamcha spotted out of the corner of his eye that he was rolling straight towards a cocked kick by Jackie Chun. He stopped his movement midroll and scooted away from the kick on his butt. As he climbed to his feet Jackie Chun clapped his hands together- a blast of air erupted from his hands and dispersed the dirt in the air. The ring was visible once again. Yamcha stared dumbly at his opponent. _What the hell just happened? How did he know where I was in that dust cloud?! Okay… breathe. Maybe…_

In retrospect, Jackie Chun felt bad not teaching his students _ki_ sensing. Yamcha looked disturbed by the recent turn of events. Quickly, however, Yamcha regrouped and leveled his gaze towards Jackie Chun, who approached the center of the ring. Snarling, Yamcha drew back and closed his eyes, holding his hands out claw-like in front of him. Blue flickers of ki started to coalesce as claws on Yamcha's hands, making him look more animal than human.

'Looks like Yamcha isn't playing around anymore!' the announcer boomed through his microphone. 'It seems that he's using the same move he defeated Rayne with!'

'He doesn't _have_ to bring it up again…' Rayne stewed.

'Has to make the crowd feel smart for remembering things, right?' Krillin reckoned.

Across the ring, Jackie Chun sized up Yamcha's approaching strike. _He knows that I'll see whatever his attack is well before it reaches me… so what's his plan here?_

Growling, Yamcha crept low to the ground, digging his _ki_ claws into the ground. However, he continued sinking his claws into the ring, prying tiles loose from the floor. He then took one step, then another, until he was running in a low crouch to the ground, raking his claws through the floor of the ring the entire time. At the last moment before reaching Jackie Chun, he made a ninety-degree turn to his right and continued digging through the ring.

'Yamcha seems to be doing something… new!' the announcer said, audibly confused on how to narrate this strange turn of events.

When Yamcha reached the edge of the ring, he performed a tight oval loop, and came back parallel to the way he came, still raking his claws to the ring.

Jackie Chun stood, watching. _He's going back?... Wait…_ _ **wait…**_

When Jackie Chun took a step forward, Yamcha acted, halting himself and sinking his hands into the ground, then with a mighty heave, the section of the ring Jackie Chun was standing on started _rising_. Yamcha was going to flip Jackie Chun out of bounds! Scrambling up rapidly steepening tiles, Jackie Chun decided to break through a vertical section of the rising tile-wall to reach the other, level side of the ring. He quickly charged a ki blast and shoved it with two hands into the ring-wall, diving through the newly created hole as he did.

At the exact moment he went through the hole, a searing sensation raked across his body from his chest to his thighs. He cried, crashing down on the ring on his front. He rolled over and saw the deep cuts running vertically down his body. _Damn! How am I going to hide these wounds!..._ He looked up. Yamcha was standing next to where Jackie Chun had broken through the ring-wall, panting as his claws dissipated and he nearly fell to the ground from the energy depletion. _He took a big chunk out of me… but he's running on fumes._

'That was a smart move,' Chi-Chi commented, 'overwhelming Jackie Chun like that. There was no way he could have dealt with both threats at once- either Jackie Chun landed out of bounds or let Yamcha get a free hit in. In any other fight, the choice would have been simple, but here…'

'C'mon Yamcha…' Krillin mumbled, wrapping his arms around himself. Next to him, Bulma was waving the turtle banner frantically.

Yamcha swayed for a moment, then rushed Jackie Chun, extending forward with a lunging fist. Jackie Chun struggled to move out of the way and swept a kick out from under him, landing a solid blow to Yamcha's right ankle. He ignored the strike, however, and swung his other fist towards Jackie Chun, sinking into Jackie Chun's damaged midsection. The old man grimaced from the aggravation, but batted away Yamcha's arm and stepped in to toss Yamcha over shoulders. He found that the pain was too debilitating, however, and nearly collapsed into Yamcha. Taking advantage of his opponent's momentary lapse, Yamcha channeled his strength into a knee that drove into Jackie Chun, knocking him to the ground a few feet away. Yamcha felt dizzy again after this move, however, and nearly fell over backwards, losing a chance to follow up on his attack.

In the stands the Turtle School students were biting their fingernails.

Jackie Chun painfully rose to his feet, taking care to not agitate his wounds any further. He leaped towards Yamcha, landing a solid kick to Yamcha's right forearm before Yamcha brought his other hand to slam into the back of Jackie Chun's leg. Jackie Chun used his momentum to flip forwards into a handstand, bringing his other leg around to smash downwards on Yamcha's head, rocking him and staggering him back a couple feet. Yamcha, however, recovered quickly and tackled Jackie Chun mid-handstand, sending them both toppling to the ground. Jackie Chun slammed into the ground, landing directly on his previous wounds with the added weight of Yamcha above him. In excruciating pain, he wiggled free from under Yamcha and crept away. Yamcha himself looked unconscious.

'Start the count! 1, 2, 3…'

'Yamcha, get up!' Bulma yelled, rising from her seat.

'You can do it Yamcha!' Krillin said, joining her in standing.

'4, 5, 6…'

'Get up, you big oaf! You've taken bigger hits than that!' Puar said, buzzing through the air.

'Big dude! Come on!' Oolong cried, throwing a fist up.

'7, 8…'

Ignoring her protesting body, Rayne struggled to her feet. 'Get! Up!' she practically screamed before falling back down, completely spent.

'ni- Wait!'

Yamcha was the slightest distance off the ground. He had moved his arms underneath him, propping himself up. 'Get… up!' He howled as he shook from the effort. Disregarding every ache, every cut, wound, and bruise, Yamcha maneuvered himself into a sitting position, then into a kneel, before taking one brave move upwards to stand. His arms hung at his sides- his _gi_ had seen much better days- but in his eyes there was still fight left.

Jackie Chun breathed, trying to manage the piercing pain lancing through his body. _One more hit and he's not getting back up. Though the same could be said for me if he strikes me the right way…_

 _I just need to slam his front_ , Yamcha thought through a haze of pain and utter exhaustion, _and I win. Simple…_

The crowd had gone deathly silent, rapt in attention at the two heavily injured- yet still standing- finalists before them.

Yamcha took one heavy step forward, leading with his right arm out in front of him. At his side, his left hand was nearly closed into a fist, but it had the tiniest space open within it. Jackie Chun watched Yamcha approach, before turning sideways, his right hand extended with its palm up. _To bat away any sudden leap._ Yamcha continued his slow march towards Jackie Chun, looking like he would pass out at a few points, but he persisted and got himself about two feet away from his opponent. He began to take a loping, almost drunken step towards Jackie Chun, but instead of stopping his foot he let it continue to slide on the ground. Yamcha fell into a half split as his leg, too low for Jackie Chun to counter, clumsily slid into Jackie Chun's leading leg, knocking both of them to the ground. At that moment, however, Yamcha pushed himself off his back leg to fall forward instead of down. He brought his other hand around. His fist opened the slightest amount, and Jackie Chun could see the faintest amount of blue light filter out. 'POINT-BLANK,' Yamcha screamed, 'KAMEHAMEHA!' His hand chased the falling form of Jackie Chun, and plunged into his front.

A muted-explosion immediately sounded in the ring, as some tile fragments were kicked out of the center into the air above, accompanied by a heavy dust cloud.

Krillin watched in amazement. 'That was by no means a full-power Kamehameha…' he said, 'or even a half-one… but to detonate what he had that close… he might have knocked out _both_ of them. Insane…'

The announcer was hopping around the ring, trying to see into the cloud. 'Hold on, everyone!'

A wind came through the area, lifting the dust cloud from its spot. Yamcha was kneeling over a small crater. Within it there was… nothing. Yamcha was visibly confused as he leaned on his hands planted in the ground, trying to make sense of the empty space in front of him.

From the very edge of the dust cloud, Jackie Chun _appeared_ and twisted forward, delivering a chop to Yamcha's neck and knocking him unconscious. Yamcha ungraciously collapsed into the small crater he was bending over.

'...8, 9, 10! Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new champion! The World's Strongest of the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament is Jackie Chun!' The crowd exploded into cheers, as Jackie Chun allowed the announcer to hold up one of his hands in victory. Despite his injuries, he smiled and waved with his other. _Maybe I should have taught them the afterimage, too._ He glanced over towards Yamcha unconscious form. _Then again, maybe it was for the best. In the end, they found a will to surpass expectations._

 _They're going to need that will..._

0o0o0o0

After shaking hands with a few high-up tournament organizers and collecting his prize money, Jackie Chun walked around a corner in a deserted part of the complex and began changing out of his disguise. Halfway through the process Nam rounded the corner and joined him. 'Here I am, as agreed,' Nam said, skepticism clear in his voice.

'A deal's a deal,' Master Roshi assured him. Bending over his bag, Master Roshi pulled out a small, pill-like object. 'This is a capsule, and it can store virtually limitless amounts of anything,' he explained. 'There's a well near the entrance of this tournament. It's free and you can take as much water you want from it. Water is plentiful in this part of the world.'

Nam accepted the capsule gingerly, amazed that such a small thing could be the key to his village's salvation.

'There's more.' Master Roshi reached into his robes and pulled out his winnings of 500,000 zeni. He casually split the stack in two and handed one half to Nam.

'Please,' Nam protested, 'I can't take this. This is too much!'

'Do you want to keep coming here for water? Or do you want to use this money to develop a closer, more sustainable source?' Master Roshi asked, furrowing his brows.

Nam hesitated for a second, eyeing the money, before relenting and pocketing it. 'I fear I will never able to repay you.'

'Trust me- you lugging around that turtle shell during the final was worth more than 10 million zeni. Consider your debt paid.' Master Roshi paused. 'Where did you put the turtle shell, by the way?'

'I hid it under the seats, as per your instructions.'

'Good.' Master Roshi finished patting his face down with a cream that disguised his wounds, and then crouched down and hoisted his bag. 'Thanks for everything, Nam.' He put on his shades and smiled. 'I look forward to our next match!'

Nam bowed his head towards Master Roshi, a serene smile on his face. 'As do I.'

0o0o0o0

'So Yamcha, we all agreed- we have no idea what happened.'

Everyone was crowded around Yamcha's infirmary bed; he was the sole occupant in the room by the virtue of the fact he was the last to lose.

'Do you- well do you have any ideas about what happened?' Krillin continued.

Yamcha squirmed to sit up a bit straighter. 'I remember plunging my hand down towards his body. At first it felt like I didn't hit anything but then I came into contact with something solid- then the blast detonates and I can't see a thing. Dust clears and there's nothing in the crater. And then I woke up here.' Yamcha shifted again. 'I have no idea.'

'Do you think Master Roshi would know what happened?'

'Would I know about what?'

Everyone turned. Master Roshi was standing in the open doorway, turtle shell on his back and a bag slung over one shoulder. He ambled over to Yamcha's side, hands folded behind his back.

'The thing Jackie Chun did at the very end of the match,' Chi-Chi said,' where he almost… teleported.'

'Teleported? He didn't teleport.'

'So you know what he did?' Rayne asked.

'Of course.'

'So what did he do?' Krillin said.

'Not telling.'

The turtle students collectively groaned. 'What,' Yamcha asked a bit annoyed, 'is this a secret _only_ the teacher is allowed to know?'

'Of course not! But there's a slight hitch with your logic. As of now, I am no longer your teacher.'

'What?!' the turtle students collectively cried.

Bulma, Puar, and Oolong quietly backed into the corner- the tone in the room was getting… exasperated.

'We all qualified for the quarters!' Krillin responded angrily, 'we fought our hearts out! And you're saying that we can't be YOUR students anymore? Well f-'

Master Roshi cut him off, holding up one finger signaling him to stop. 'You are not my students _now_ , but I invite all of you to visit me in the future to finish your training. You are all about to enter a crucial period in your lives. As strong as all of you have become, none of you could win this tournament. I want that to change.' Master Roshi waited to see if anyone wanted to say anything- but they remained silent. 'I do not have to remind you that evil people walk this world. Evil people who have terrifying strength. If this tournament had been life or death- well, I don't need to be needlessly descriptive.I don't want to diminish your achievements. But what you all did wasn't _enough_.'

Master Roshi let the words hang in the air, glancing between his students' faces. They avoided his eyes.

'I'm… sorry,' Master Roshi said quietly, 'I didn't mean to be that harsh. This isn't meant to discourage you. Quite the opposite, in fact. I want all of you to explore the world- to grow _stronger_. I am not the only martial arts teacher in the world, nor am I am the only source of inspiration. In my own time, I wandered the world, learning secret techniques thought lost. I came to realize that my limitations weren't physical, but mental- as long as I pushed myself, barriers would topple before me one after another, until I had long surpassed my self-perceived 'limits'. This dedication, this _commitment_ , can't be taught, however; it can only be learned.'

He halted again, scanning the faces in the room. _A bit cheerier._ 'I may have told you this, but this tournament occurs every three years. Thus, in three years time, there will be another tournament here- the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. I am sure Jackie Chun will return to defend his title. So I want you to surpass him. I want every single one of you to train for that moment, for when you are face to face with him. What he represents- surpassing your limits- that is what you must train for.' _Among other things._

'When you visit me again, sometime before the next tournament, I will train you once more, this time to teach you everything you need to know. It's the least I can do for the most wonderful class of students I've ever had.' Master Roshi sighed, finishing. _And how did they take it?..._

For a few moments no one said or did anything- then, Krillin lifted his head, struggling to hold back tears, and wrapped himself around Master Roshi in a hug. 'I'm going-*sniff*- I'm going to miss you, Master Roshi Three years…'

Another body pressed against Master Roshi's back. 'Me too…' Chi-Chi added, her voice stifled.

Rayne attached to Roshi's side. 'You taught us a lot…' she said with an unsteady voice.

Even Yamcha found the will to lean in his bed and place a hand on Master Roshi's shoulder, his eyes gleaming as he stared up at Master Roshi.

Bulma, Puar, and Oolong, from their corner, wiped away some budding tears from their eyes.

 _How could I forget so easily?... They're all so young…_ Master Roshi let them linger for a while before gently prying them off. His wounds throbbed from the contact. _Though it's fitting that they would find comfort in my ruined body, I suppose…_

'I am going to depart for Kame House in about an hour. If any of you have anything you want to say, do- I'll be hanging around the boat we arrived in. Can everyone get to the mainland from here?'

His students nodded tersely.

'Good.' He hesitated, shifting his bag onto his other shoulder. 'I guess this is it.' He pushed his shades further up his nose and looked at everyone's faces one more time. 'Goodbye, everyone.' He walked towards the door, and half out of the room, he stopped with one hand on the door frame. Turning around, he said, 'I'm looking forward to meeting everyone again.'

They bowed.

He turned his head before they could see a tear roll down his cheeks. _The shades bought me some time for one last look..._

Master Roshi exited into the hall, walking for a few minutes before arriving outside, where the sun was close to setting as the day came to an end. He hoped he wasn't making a mistake.

 _I could have trained them, pushed them… but it wouldn't have been enough. Kakarot very well may be stronger than me now. They're not going to surpass him by learning from someone who's weaker than their goal… They're going to need to compete against themselves and what the world throws at them._

 _In the meantime, I can prepare._

 _Three years… then, if they can't finish this, I will._

0o0o0o0

'So,' Krillin asked as they lined up on the shore, having crossed on the ferry with everyone to the mainland, 'what are you all planning on doing?'

'I think me and Oolong are going to keep doing what we were doing before,' Puar replied. 'Try to track down any other shapeshifters and keep tabs on the Red Ribbon Army. The sooner we find out where their main base, is the better. They're a blight on the world.'

'Agreed. Bulma?'

'It sounds like we're all splitting up, so it looks like I'm going to need to make some more transmitters for us all… we'll need to be easily reachable if we're going to coordinate any future actions. So I'll probably go back to West city for a while. Though some people will probably need to come with me and wait in West City until I finish making enough devices. Are there-'

'I'll come, Bulma,' Yamcha replied, smiling.

Bulma turned _very_ quickly. 'Great! So assuming that Puar and Oolong stick together then we just need two more-

'Actually,' Rayne interrupted, 'Chi-Chi and I were planning on visiting her home at Fire Mountain. If you give us the coordinates of your house in West City, we can visit you when you finish making two, one for each of us.' She looked at Chi-Chi. 'It won't be a problem if I stick around for a while with you, will it?'

Chi-Chi shook her head, grinning. 'Not at all.'

'Your plan sounds good to me,' Bulma said.

'So that leaves me with the third device.' Krillin said. 'Is everyone okay with that?'

Everyone more or less nodded.

'Alright. Well, if that's everythi-'

'Wait,' Rayne said, 'you never said what _you_ were planning on doing, Krillin.'

'Me? I plan on training.' He smirked. 'In three years time I'm going to be stronger than all of you.'

'Is that a challenge?'

'Did it sound like one?' he responded sarcastically.

'I can't wait you see your face in three years.' Rayne flashed a smile. 'You're going to be pleasantly surprised by all of us.'

'I better be.' Krillin slung his pack over his shoulder and began walking away from the group. 'Bye, everyone!' He waved.

A few minutes of walking and Krillin was left alone with his thoughts. Bright, joyful thoughts. _Three whole years to train. I only made it to the quarters, so..._

 _I have so much room to improve!..._

* * *

 _A/N: And that's it! Hope you enjoyed the end of the 'The Coming Storm' Arc. Next time we'll be starting the next arc: Escalation. See you then!_

 _Also: typically I have mixed feelings about being posting power levels (mostly because I think it screws up people's headcanon), but I think this is actually a good point to introduce them as context for the tournament, especially considering there's a group of people who are close in strength, but as individuals are stronger/weaker compared to others within the group. Feel free to accept or ignore what I felt were the power levels of everyone during the tournament:_

 _Kakarot_ \- ?

 _Master Roshi- 145_

 _Krillin- 107_

 _Chi-Chi-99_

 _Rayne- 108_

 _Yamcha- 119_

 _Nam- 100_

 _Bacterian- 40_

 _Ranfan- 55_


	15. Port of Storm

Escalation

Chapter 15: Port of Storm

A/N: Hey everyone. I've been having some thoughts about the first arc of this story and I'd like your thoughts below. Other than that, read on!

* * *

Master Roshi arrived home at the end of summer. Kame House was as he left it- beautifully isolated from the world.

He had a week of peace before a boat crashed through his living room.

'Hey!' A yellow-haired woman climbed out the remains of the crash. 'Teach me!'

'What?' Master Roshi yelped, bolting up from a sitting position.

'I said,' she growled, producing two assault rifles out of nowhere, 'teach me!' Master Roshi ducked as the young woman starting spraying bullets all over his living room, ripping holes through his favorite and _only_ sofa set. _This is outrageous! The nerve on her!_ After he heard a sneeze, Master Roshi stood, fuming-

And saw an entirely different person. The assault rifles were on the ground- the blue-haired woman standing over them was horrified, recoiling away from the guns. She looked around, distressed. 'I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do this…'

'You- you're the same person from before? But your hair...'

She nodded, frowning. 'I'm so sorry… whenever I sneeze I go a bit crazy…'

'Mmm,' Master Roshi grunted, walking over to examine the boat-sized hole in his living room wall. 'So every time you sneeze, you turn into…'

'The woman with yellow hair. And when 'she' sneezes, I turn into… me.'

'But until you sneeze…'

'I'm so sorry! I'll do whatever you need me to do to repay you.'

'Hmm…'

And so it was in that way Master Roshi took in a guest called Launch to live with him. She suffered from the strangest affliction he had ever seen in a human person- she had two completely developed personalities. One was yellow-haired and brazen, the other blue-haired and timid. One remained dormant while the other was expressed until Launch sneezed and 'flipped' them. Needless to say, it could be very exhausting to live with Launch. One day Master Roshi would be enjoying a peaceful time sunbathing on the beach- the next day he would be training someone who was prone to shooting at him when frustrated by a difficult technique. It was lucky that he was immune to bullets. Master Roshi also appreciated what Launch offered as a student- a continual challenge for him to teach his best. It was something he hadn't felt for a _very_ long time.

Two months after Launch showed up, Master Roshi was greeted by a familiar face.

'Krillin! You're back sooner than I expected.'

'Didn't plan to come back so soon, but-' he climbed out of the boat he had rowed onto shore in, revealing a roughly 10-year-old year kid behind him, '-I had to drop someone off.'

Beaming, the kid behind Krillin hurried out of the boat to throw himself on the ground in front of Master Roshi's feet. 'Please, please, please, please, _please_ teach me!' he said.

Master Roshi arched an eyebrow at Krillin.

'Doesn't his clothes look familiar, Master Roshi?' Krillin said, half-grinning.

Master Roshi glanced back at the kid. _Those clothes do look familiar. Remarkably similar to what Nam wore actually…_

Krillin nudged the kid with his foot. 'You forgot to introduce yourself, Retu.'

Retu swung his head up from the ground. 'Oh! Sorry!' He stood, planting his fist into the palm of his other hand. 'My name is Retu, son of Ami. Do you know my uncle Nam? He competed at the last World Martial Arts Tournament.'

'Ye-' Master Roshi cut himself off, his 'proper' memory catching up with him. _Never actually met Nam as Master Roshi… right._ '-you know, I saw him compete, but I never met him. But he seemed like a good man.'

Retu nodded enthusiastically. 'He's amazing! He single-handedly saved our village from a horrible drought! We owe him everything. He's the strongest person I know, and I want to be just like him! One time…'

Krillin leaned in to whisper to Master Roshi as Retu continued to excitedly gush. 'Nam found me very soon after the tournament. He said his nephew wanted to be a martial artist and he could think of no one better to teach him than me. Mind you, I'm only 14 years old and I'm never taught someone, so I brought him to the best teacher _I_ know.' Krillin elbowed Master Roshi playfully. 'What do you say, Master Roshi? I've sparred with him a little bit- not only is he enthusiastic, but he's got a _lot_ of potential.'

Master Roshi looked like he had eaten something sour, but then he sighed. 'Fine, Krillin. I'll take him as my pupil. What's one more student, anyway? But you owe me.'

'Of course- but what did you say? Another student?'

An incredibly loud sneeze came from inside Kame House.

'You should get out of here,' Master Roshi deadpanned, 'now.'

0o0o0o0

Surprisingly, introducing Retu into the Turtle school normalized things at Kame House. Launch, even when in her yellow-haired rage, acted kindly towards Retu and went out of her way to help guide Retu through training. She became a bit more conversational. Master Roshi picked up bits and pieces of her background- she had been a drifter and a petty thief for as long as she could remember before she found herself locked up in jail in some city far to the west. She was going to go to prison for a long time before she was abruptly let go- apparently, there was some sort of management change that included amnesty for everyone imprisoned in the town jail. Launch thought nothing of it until later on when she heard what had actually happened- a group of people had deposed the town dictator Oolong! Interested, yellow-haired Launch made faltering progress tracking them down until she overheard in a bar a drunk Red Ribbon Army loudly gripe about a botched mission against a very similar sounding group of people. After some 'convincing', the man divulged their location- these people were far away on an island to the south-east. It took Launch a long time, but eventually, through sheer strength of will, she reached the island. While she was coasting towards it full-speed, she recognized the house as the legendary Kame House of the Turtle Hermit. At that moment she connected the dots- those people were able to do all those crazy things because they trained under the Turtle Hermit. She decided to make the best impression possible. So she throttled the engine and plunged the boat straight into Kame House. She didn't quite have all the facts straight, nor have the proper execution, Master Roshi reflected, but her heart was in the right place.

Retu's full story was, by comparison, wonderfully straightforward. He had grown up while his village suffered from drought- like his uncle, he was motivated by a righteous cause to fix it. He had continuously petitioned Nam to train him. Retu didn't realize he couldn't 'fight' a drought away. When Nam successfully came back from the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, Retu's passion to learn martial arts increased to the point of hysteria. Nam and Retu's father Ami felt they had no choice but to find him a fully willing master. Using _ki_ sensing, it was relatively easy for Nam to find Krillin again. From there, Krillin led Retu to Master Roshi. Retu didn't mind being passed around- he was just happy to learn. His form was a mess- he struck in exclusively ineffective ways- but he soaked up whatever Master Roshi taught him. For as young as he was, Retu was making exceptional progress. Though Master Roshi would never admit to toning down his regiment somewhat for Retu- the turtle shells still hadn't come out for either him or Launch when Chi-Chi unexpectedly showed up, a year and a couple months after Krillin had left Retu.

'Master Roshi? Are you in- oh. Hi.' Chi-Chi had slowly opened the door to Kame House to see Master Roshi, Retu, and (blue-haired) Launch sitting in meditation. She was clothed in the multi-colored ceramic plates she had worn before donning the Turtle _gi_ for the tournament. 'Didn't mean to interrupt…'

'No student of mine can interrupt my training,' Master Roshi joked as he stood, stretching his back as he did. 'It's been a while Chi-Chi.'

Chi-Chi had grown somewhat- she now stood roughly as tall as Master Roshi- and looked to be leaving her childhood behind her. She bent her head downwards in respect as she fully entered Kame House. 'I hope I didn't return too early- I know the tournament is still roughly a year and a half away. To be honest, I had meant to come earlier than this, but I got held up.'

'Oh? With what?'

Chi-Chi paused.

0o0o0o0

 _Home to Chi-Chi was comforting- it had been all she had ever known. Fire Mountain, however, was less than accommodating to Rayne. Fire raged around the Ox-King's castle, and had been raging unending for years. It was 'cursed', or something like that. Chi-Chi and her father had grown used to it- but Rayne had other ideas. She convinced Chi-Chi to try something crazy with her._

 _One morning Chi-Chi and Rayne stood side-by-side at the base of Fire Mountain, facing off against a whole landscape consumed by inferno. Focusing just as their master taught them, they both summoned their ki and brought two full strength Kamehamehas to bear down on the flames encasing the mountain. The flames wavered, then erupted in ferocity, before being pulled free from their fuel and forced away into the sky. The mountain began to clear. For the first time in ten years, Chi-Chi's home was free of fire._

 _After their success, Rayne spent a few more months with Chi-Chi, training together and meeting the people who lived under the Ox-King's rule. Rayne was fascinated with every person she talked to. Eventually, however, Rayne had to leave to attend to other tasks- though what tasks exactly, Rayne didn't specify. Around the six-month mark of staying with Chi-Chi, Rayne departed._

 _While Rayne was staying at Fire Mountain, Chi-Chi had told her father about their adventures. She was relieved when her father told her that there were no more attacks after she had left to pursue Kakarot. Chi-Chi described breaking into the Red Ribbon base, tracking down Kakarot, battling to secure the last dragonball, and their summoning of Shenron to resurrect Master Roshi. She regaled her father with how strange and demanding her training as a Turtle student was- and he assured her that his wasn't much different. Finally, Chi-Chi recounted her tight fight against Rayne in the World Martial Arts Tournament. The Ox-King couldn't have been happier to hear that his daughter was able to compete to be the World's Strongest- he himself had never had the chance to fight in the World Tournament._

 _Chi-Chi enjoyed being home again- but the world seemed a lot bigger than before. Chi-Chi had planned to leave as soon as possible but she had a responsibility to help her father protect their people. It was only after months of pleading, and a gradual realization from the Ox-King that his daughter was growing up, did he reluctantly let Chi-Chi leave again. She promised she would be safe, and return home whenever possible._

 _Coming here, to Chi-Chi, seemed to be another bright opportunity to progress…_

Chi-Chi realized she had zoned out. Master Roshi was passively awaiting a response.

'Nothing important,' Chi-Chi said after a moment, smiling.

Master Roshi nodded, then said, 'Let's get you settled in, then. There's an empty room upstairs for you to sleep in, if you don't mind the small size…'

0o0o0o0

Chi-Chi fell into step perfectly with Launch and Retu. She served as an older sister to them with her prior experience and familiarity with the frustrating pace of Master Roshi's teaching style. Chi-Chi would accompany them to train with Master Roshi during the day- Master Roshi called it 'brushing up on her knowledge'- while at night she would have private instruction from Master Roshi. She learned _a lot_ of useful skills- skills that would have been very useful at the World Martial Arts Tournament- but Master Roshi made her promise she wouldn't share any of what he had shown her with the others, unless he had already shown them these techniques. He stressed that last part especially. Chi-Chi didn't expect to see anyone else for a long while, so she doubted that she would break the promise anytime soon.

Overall Chi-Chi spent a month with Master Roshi at Kame House. It passed too quickly. She wished she could have spent more time, but she was out of excuses. She knew exactly where Kakarot was now. And she needed _answers_.

0o0o0o0

During Chi-Chi's stay, Master Roshi realized the disservice he was doing to his current students. They had both trained under him longer than his first class. Though, to be fair, he hadn't expected either of them to stay this long. Launch seemed continuously on the verge of angrily quitting, but every morning she dragged herself outside for whatever exercise Master Roshi decided for the day. Retu never left- he always said something along the lines of 'Nam wants me here', and so he remained.

They both steadily improved the more Master Roshi pushed them. Their introduction to the shells was rough, and getting them used to their weight took time, but in a few months time they were living and breathing with them as if they weren't there. Master Roshi was on the verge of teaching Launch and Retu the Kamehameha when Krillin and Yamcha arrived on the island. About a year had passed since Chi-Chi's stay. Yamcha had grown a bit taller- though by most accounts he seemed to be fully grown. Surprisingly, Krillin hadn't grown much at all- though he had become muscular. They both still wore their Turtle _gis_ \- though it was obvious Yamcha's _gi_ needed some adjustments. Yamcha introduced himself to Retu, and both of them were pleased to meet blue-haired Launch. They were both unaware of Launch's quirk until she sneezed halfway through their tea sitting with Master Roshi. 'Tea?! Hrauuugh!' she screamed as she pulled out an assault rifle and completely decimated Master Roshi's tea set. 'Why aren't you teaching me, old man!'

Yamcha and Krillin both gave horrified, confused looks to Master Roshi, who merely shrugged. 'It happens from time to time,' he stated matter-of-factly.

It took some time, but Yamcha and Krillin learned to live with Launch's chaotic behavior. It helped that they were stronger than her, of course.

A lot stronger, actually. 'You boys,' Master Roshi said one day during a training session, 'have gotten a lot stronger since the last time I've seen you. I'm impressed.'

Krillin scratched his head shyly. 'Well, I didn't want to waste a single moment out in the world when I could be getting stronger. I met a lot of interesting people on my travels. Did you know an old tournament winner by the name of King Chappa? He's set up a whole school for people to train under him. I don't think he's as talented as you but I actually learned a few interesting techniques while I was there-' Krillin stopped, considering whether to say something. '-Yamcha, though-' he ventured.

'Okay, okay! You don't have to rub it in.' Yamcha quickly replied.

'Rub what in?' Master Roshi asked, curious.

Yamcha frowned, then looked down at the ground. 'I haven't been _super_ productive with training…'

'West City, eh?' Krillin smirked, trying to elbow Yamcha. Yamcha swatted his arm away.

'Whatever…' Yamcha muttered, blushing.

Master Roshi smiled. _Ah, so they're not as young as they used to be._ 'Tell me,' Master Roshi said, changing topics, 'have either of you in your travels come across _ki_ sensing?'

Krillin and Yamcha exchanged blank looks. 'No, I don't think we have,' Yamcha said.'What… even is that?'

'As the name suggests, _ki_ sensing enables you to sense another person's _ki_ , i.e. determine where another person is based on feeling their _ki_ , though not in the way you would expect- It feels like a light sensation external to the body.'

'So, if, basically… it's like a sixth sense? Like sight, smell, whatever?' Yamcha asked skeptically.

'Yes- though stronger and more acute than the ones you've just named, given enough training.'

They had paused from their sparring to sit cross-legged on the beach. Krillin leaned forward, concern plain in his eyes. 'Master Roshi, if you're saying- if _ki_ sensing works as you've described it- then you do know we could have found-'

'Yes, yes, I know.' Master Roshi said, sighing. 'There was a reason I never taught you this. There's a reason why I didn't tell you a lot of things about Kakarot…'

Master Roshi removed his shades and rubbed them with his shirt. Yamcha opened his mouth to speak but Krillin elbowed him, urging Yamcha to wait. After several seconds, Master Roshi began speaking again. 'Let me start from the beginning. You two, and Rayne and Chi-Chi, deserve to know what when through my mind- _why_ I did what I did. I'm not trying to justify my decisions, nor excuse them. I only want to be honest.' For a moment Master Roshi stared beyond them towards the sea, gathering his thoughts.

'When I was revived, I was extremely concerned about Kakarot- his appetite for destruction seemed insatiable, as he wandered from village to village, slaughtering innocent people. It had seemed nothing had changed about his behavior before and after killing me- he remained the murderous lunatic he was before.' Master Roshi had his walking stick laid across his lap, his knuckles white from gripping it. 'It took every ounce of self-control I had to not immediately chase him down and kill him. To avenge his victims. However, the memory of my death was still fresh- while I was certain that I was stronger than him, in the heat of battle anything unlucky or unplanned could happen. These intangibles went against me in my first battle with Kakarot- who's to say they couldn't have done the same in a second? I decided that training a class of students to help me- possibly surpass me if they were talented and trained hard enough- would guarantee my success in ending Kakarot, once and for all. Thus, your class came into existence. I had not trained anyone in several decades. The act itself of taking on new students for me was an extraordinary event.'

Krillin seemed to internally debate whether to say something, then resumed listening.

Master Roshi relented in his grip, letting the stick loosen in his hands. 'Something changed, though. During your training, I noticed a shift in Kakarot's behavior. He became… less destructive. He wasn't killing as many people. Less senseless and random killings. Mind you, he still _killed_ people, but it was nothing compared to the scale that forced me to try and stop him the first time. Then, at the World Martial Arts Tournament, he confronted me-'

'Wait, what!' Yamcha shouted, sitting forward. 'Kakarot was at the tournament!'

Master Roshi nodded gravely. 'I don't know how long he was there. All I know for sure is that he flared his _ki_ to draw me towards him- which makes me think that Kakarot has somehow learned _ki_ sensing. Though that's something to ponder another time. Kakarot- the way he spoke- it seemed to confirm his behavior. He did not seem interested in aimless killings. It seemed that he was interested in fighters that could challenge him. So odd…' Master Roshi tailed off, muttering.

'Is that it?' Krillin asked. 'Is there anything else Kakarot said?'

Master Roshi thought on the ultimatum Kakarot had issued to him and by extension his students. _What good would it do for them to know? This is my burden… but still, a burden that I have failed in carrying._ 'He hinted that he would be at the next World Martial Arts Tournament.' he pronounced gravely.

'I- but-' Yamcha tried to speak, dumbfounded, '-why didn't you tell us sooner?' Yamcha looked over to Krillin, who looked profoundly hurt by this revelation. 'We could have found Kakarot, together, after the tournament. We could have _stopped_ him then, instead of… letting him do whatever he's doing now.'

Master Roshi stared down at the stick in his hands. He couldn't look up back at them- he shut his eyes. 'I had a change of heart. The more time I spent with you all, the more I saw all of you as my own pupils. It felt… _wrong_ to rope you all into a campaign of pure destruction- the destruction of Kakarot. The whole idea of training you all as allies was always against my ideals of the Turtle School, anyway. I believed and still believe every word I said about what it means to be a martial artist- defend the innocent and defenseless, use power judiciously. Fight for _good_. Premeditated killing, even against someone as vile as Kakarot… it's not right. So I decided that I wanted to handle Kakarot myself. I _still_ want to. I never taught you _ki_ sensing because I was worried you would all run off towards Kakarot at the first opportunity and get yourself killed.'

'I tried to take on too much. I didn't want to burden any of you- you all seemed so young…'

Master Roshi opened his eyes, looking up at Yamcha and Krillin. 'I see now that I was wrong. You two, Chi-Chi, and Rayne have all grown into fine warriors. And we cannot choose the times we live in. Every generation has its adversaries, those strong to the point of pushing everyone and everything beyond their limits. Kakarot is, for all intents and purposes, the challenge of your time. So I say to you now- when you are done here, redouble, then quadruple your efforts.'

Master Roshi chewed his lip, again considering whether to reveal a potentially unsettling detail. _Full honesty. I've committed to this._ 'There _is_ a reason why I didn't try to stop Kakarot when I encountered him at the tournament…'

Those last words hung in the air, heavy with meaning. Krillin and Yamcha grimaced, and understood. _Kakarot is at least as strong as Master Roshi_ , Krillin dreaded. _We have a lot of ground to make up in only six months..._

0o0o0o0

Yamcha and Krillin stayed with Master Roshi for a time. They were in no hurry to rush- _ki_ sensing and other techniques Master Roshi had shown them proved to be harder to master than they anticipated. It was nice to spend time at Kame House again. Retu was bright and cheery as always- wearing the turtle-shell in no way dampened his mood. Even Launch seemed to be growing fonder of them. Yellow-haired Launch had changed her attitude towards them; minor antagonism was slowly replaced by grudging respect. Krillin and Yamcha learned all that they could, then left Roshi and his students to continue their training. Launch and Retu increased their efforts- Master Roshi had described the World Martial Arts Tournament to them in detail, and at the very least, they knew that they were behind Roshi's earlier class. So it was in the middle of intensive training that Rayne showed up three months before the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament.

She was clothed as a Red Ribbon officer. 'Eh, Rayne?' Master Roshi asked, 'is there any reason why you're dressed like that?'

Rayne looked down at her clothes and reacted like she had just realized what she was wearing- something strange and weird. 'Sorry! I've been so busy recently, I forgot- I'm not undercover anymore. Do you mind if I go inside and change quickly?'

Roshi nodded. A few minutes later, Rayne emerged from Kame House wearing a tan, plain t-shirt, and a baggy pair of blue slacks that was tied around her ankles. Like Chi-Chi, she had also grown since the tournament. 'Much more comfortable,' she commented, stretching. She walked over to stand next to Master Roshi. They both watched Retu and Launch do a series of strenuous exercises with turtle shells on their backs.

'They'd normally say hi, but I think they're concentrating right now,' Master Roshi said. 'So, what was the reason for that getup?'

'In between training and traveling, I'm been trying to gather info on the Red Ribbon Army.' Rayne explained. 'They've done well keeping their headquarters hidden these past few years, but Puar, Oolong, and I think that we're closing in on a location. We agreed that _all_ of us would gather in West City in about a month's time and pool our resources for an attack on the Red Ribbon Army.'

'So you've talked to Krillin and Yamcha? And they've talked to everyone else?'

'Yep. Well, except for Chi-Chi. We haven't been able to get a hold of her for awhile.'

'So did Krillin and Yamcha tell you-'

'Mmm-hmm.'

'Right. They didn't show you any techniques, did they?'

'I haven't actually _seen_ them, so no,'

A few moments passed as they momentarily watched Launch struggle to do a push-up.

'Ah,' Rayne said dryly, 'the elephant in the room rears its head. He's a big part of why we're going after the Red Ribbon Army, you know,' Rayne said, observing Launch succeed in fully pushing off the ground, 'we think they might have information on Kakarot.'

Master Roshi turned his head towards Rayne. 'What kind of information?'

Rayne raised her hands like she was trying to grasp something. ' _Any_ information. Doesn't it seem weird that we've been in on-and-off, direct and indirect conflict with Kakarot for _years_ now and we know next to nothing about him? There are some aspects of him… that we should be able to explain. Why does he have a tail, for example? What, is he some kind of monkey-human hybrid? Is he a runaway lab experiment? The 'why' is important, too. Why does Kakarot cause so much destruction? How can he have such a low opinion of human life… it doesn't make any sense…' Rayne trailed off, letting a low-bubbling frustration release from her voice.

Images of a grave shrine flashed through Master Roshi's mind, in a desert wasteland far away. _What was Kakarot doing, before crashing into my life with that one foul act?_ Master Roshi gently pushed the thought away.

Rayne shook and cleared her head. 'So that's what we're aiming for. I suspect the Red Ribbon Army has had their run-ins with Kakarot- hell, while I was in the Red Ribbon Army, we had a run-in with him.

Master Roshi arched an eyebrow. 'You were in the Red Ribbon Army? Your infiltrating makes a bit more sense now.'

In the past, Rayne would have pushed away intrusive questions into her background. Now, armed with the memory of a dozen good things she had done despite her past, she smiled. 'Long story short, I was born into the Red Ribbon Army. I have no idea who my parents are. So there's also that side-goal to every information hunt within one of their bases. Kakarot, my parentage- just a lot of reasons to break into Red Ribbon Army bases, really,' she said, with a note of sad humor.

'Sorry about that.'

She waved away his concern. 'It's my past. It's made me who I am- for better and for worse. And,' she turned to glance at the rolling ocean behind her, taking in the view, 'it feels good to talk about it now.'

Master Roshi let Rayne gaze uninterrupted. It was a beautiful day, after all.

0o0o0o0

Rayne wished she could have stayed longer. Unfortunately, she was on a deadline. She tried to absorb what Master Roshi threw at her as quickly as possible. With a month's time, she didn't feel totally comfortable with ki _sensing_ , and she hadn't quite gotten the hang of that special combat dodge Roshi had shown her, but at least she had wrapped her head around them. Rayne couldn't shake a vague feeling of disappointment at her lack of progress, but at the same time, she realized she was distracted by the future. While saying farewell to Master Roshi, rowing back to the mainland, and climbing into her jeep to drive westwards, her mind was riddled with anxiety. She had no idea what the next few months before the tournament would hold. The possibility of confronting Kakarot was… unnerving, especially after learning that he, in all likelihood, was stronger than Master Roshi. _The hand we've been dealt, I guess…_ At least, for the moment, the sun shone overhead and the road ahead of her jeep was clear.

* * *

A/N: Time jump complete! The next tournament is in sight!

Also, as to what I alluded to in the beginning- recently I've started to consider how the first arc introduces the story. Sometimes I feel that I don't quite like it in its present state, but I also realize that I'm not in the best position to judge this. So instead, I ask all of you- what are your thoughts on the Pursual Arc? Does it need some tweaks, should it be left alone, or should it be totally revamped? Write a review with your thoughts. Thanks.

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe** : Glad you liked the last chapter! Writing fight scenes is the toughest part of this story for me, but I definitely feel that their overall quality is improving.


	16. A Gathering of the Minds

Escalation

Chapter 16: A Gathering of the Minds

* * *

'Bulma? She's having trouble at the gate.'

'How do you know that?'

Yamcha beckoned Bulma over to the window of the living room. It was perched in a corner of the 2nd floor of Capsule Corp Headquarters- which was, coincidentally, also Bulma's home. The building occupied a prime spot in the West City downtown area. Since the Capsule Corp's founding a few decades ago by Dr. Briefs, it's half-sphere shape had come to be permanently associated with the technological renaissance currently occurring in West City.

Bulma poked her head out of the window Yamcha guided her towards. Far below on the ground, she could see at the edge of her property a jeep parked in front of one of the building's guarded gates. Even from this distance, she could see an angry conversation brewing between the driver of the jeep and the posted guard. 'Uh oh. I better get down there, now.'

0o0o0

'...and I already told you, if you would simply _page_ Bulma Briefs, she would tell you that I'm expected five minutes ago!' Rayne growled, knuckling her steering wheel.

'Lady,' the security guard responded with an even tone, 'do you know how many people a day, of a similar age to you, come up to this gate and claim to know Bulma Briefs? I learned a _long_ time ago to not pester Ms. Brief with every adoring fan and imposter friend.'

'So what, I'm supposed to leave?' Rayne demanded.

Disinterested, the guard slid a glass panel down in Rayne's face and stood up. He disappeared into a back section of the small guard office.

'Where are you going?' Rayne called out.

'Bathroom,' a muffled response came.

 _This is… the worst._

Rayne stewed in her thoughts for a minute before a familiar face popped up through the iron-bar gate. Rayne's eyes widened. 'Bulma?'

'Yep! In the flesh.' She pressed a button on her side of the gate- gears started to turn and the gate began to winch open. 'So, _so_ sorry about this.'

'Bulma- that guard-'

'Yea, I know. I issued a pass for someone with the name Rayne. Clearly, this guard didn't get it. I'll fire him, or his manager, or the chief security officer- I'll fire someone, is what I'm saying. Acceptable?'

'Acceptable.'

Rayne pulled her jeep onto the property and parked in a guest lot Bulma directed her towards. Rayne exited her vehicle and together with Bulma walked down an asphalt driveway before hanging a right into a wonderfully well-loved garden. It seemed that every flower and shrub under the sun was blooming in the green, verdant space. A middle-aged woman was flying in between the plants, watering with a clinical efficiency. 'Bulma! Is this one of your friends?' She chirped when she sighted them.

'Yes, mom.'

'Wonderful! Remember to offer them some food!'

'Yes, mom.'

Satisfied, Bulma's mom turned back to watering. When Bulma and Rayne were past the garden, Rayne said, 'Uhh… was that your mom?'

'Yes.'

'Should I have said something? Introduced myself?'

'I don't really like my mom, so I don't really care.'

'Err… why?'

'We don't share a lot of hobbies.' she offered vaguely.

 _Bulma isn't a gardener, doesn't like her Mom… good to know._

They turned left and went through a side-door into the Capsule Corp building. After chatting with the receptionist, Bulma led Rayne in deeper, passing by a menagerie of offices, lab rooms, and storerooms. 'Bulma, do you live in an active research facility?' Rayne asked hesitantly. 'Just going off what I'm seeing.'

'Yep. How else am I going to keep an eye on what these bumbling scientists are doing on a daily basis? Capsule Corp demands the best.'

Somewhat intimidated, Rayne followed Bulma into an elevator, mulling over her thoughts as it ascended. _The Queen of Capsule Corp, ruling at home… a scary sight to behold, I'm sure..._

The elevator opened in a more residential section of the building. 'My family and I live on the upper floors of the building,' Bulma explained. 'Lots of soundproofing to make these rooms a refuge from work when needed.' Bulma led Rayne through a few more corridors, before opening a door to reveal a cozy living room. Yamcha sat at a table in the center of the room while Puar floated near the windows at the far-end. A moment later Krillin nearly walked into their backs while balancing a heavy tray of food. 'Sorry Bulma!' he exclaimed while balancing himself. 'I helped myself to some of the food you mentioned was in the fridge.'

'Not a problem. Take a seat, everyone.'

Krillin set down the tray tidily in the center of the table and then took the seat directly across from Yamcha. Bulma sat to Yamcha's right, exchanging a warm smile with him, while Rayne sat to Krillin's left. Puar floated over to hover around the end of the table pointed towards the windows. 'So,' Bulma began, 'now that we're all here-'

'This is all of us?' Rayne asked. 'What about Chi-Chi and Oolong?...'

'We never got in contact with Chi-Chi,' Krillin said. 'We have a rough idea where she is due to _ki_ sensing, but for whatever reason, she's been purposely on her own. I guess something more pressing came up.'

 _That's… not like her,_ Rayne thought, _or at least not like her to go off without telling us why. I hope she's not getting herself into any trouble…_

'Oolong,' Krillin continued, 'kinda lost interest- or something like that, Puar?'

Puar nodded. 'He was never as committed to chasing down the Red Ribbon Army and Kakarot as much as we were. One day, he told me he would leave, and so he did. That was about a year ago. No idea where he is now.'

'Not much of a loss, in my opinion,' Bulma clipped.

No one fought her on that point.

'Shame about Chi-Chi, though,' Rayne said, 'she's had the most time out of all of us to absorb Master Roshi's more advanced techniques.'

'I think Krillin and I,' Yamcha spoke up, 'have by this point a pretty good grasp of what Master Roshi showed us- though we haven't been able to figure out where Kakarot is through _ki_ sensing. Either he's out of our range, or maybe we're not adept enough- hell, maybe he's even dead!' Yamcha finished, excitedly discussing the possibilities as if it was the first time he had considered them.

'I don't think that last option is likely,' Krillin said, 'but the fact that we're speculating right now shows that we know basically nothing about Kakarot currently. He could have founded a charity, for all we know. We need more information.'

'Which is why,' Puar jumped in, 'we've been trying to track down the Red Ribbon Army. Rayne thinks that they might have more information on the whereabouts of Kakarot. So- Yamcha, could you?...'

Yamcha fumbled with a bag on the ground before pulling out a sizable map. He flattened it across the table. It was a sizable map covering the area around West City and the lands to the south and west of it. It was well known that those lands were some of the most sparsely populated in the world. A big 'X' was drawn towards the left side of the map.

'That's it? You're sure?' Bulma asked.

'More or less.' Puar responded. 'It's somewhere in that vicinity- though there's a big margin of error. All Red Ribbon Army logistic records point towards that spot, but it's not precise. Does this corroborate what you've found out, Rayne?'

'Roughly, yea,' Rayne agreed. 'It seems that you had more luck than me gathering information.'

'Well, It's easy when you can impersonate any officer, to be honest.'

'Right, right,' Rayne leaned back in her chair, folding her hands behind her head 'though, of course, you've heard of their _second_ base, right?'

Puar's face was blank. 'Second?'

'Yup. Something called Muscle Tower- it's far to the north though, in the frozen tundra north of East City. From what I heard it's as developed as their HQ.' Rayne let her chair rock back forwards. 'Which makes me wonder; why would they have two comparable HQs? Wouldn't it make sense to have just one?'

'Maybe there's a personality conflict between the top brass?' Yamcha speculated. 'Or maybe it just makes sense logistically. Hard to say. We should keep these questions in mind though if or when we strike at them.'

Through this conversation Krillin was sitting silently, his mind still turning over the previous topic. 'Guys,' he spoke up, 'I know we've moved on to another topic, but I just came up with a good idea. Why don't we use the dragonballs to ask for information about Kakarot?'

'Can… can the dragonballs do that?' Bulma asked uncertainty.

'Why not? If they can grant _any_ wish, how taxing can granting some information be?'

'Krillin,' Yamcha said, 'you do remember how long it took to gather the dragonballs before, right? We only have two months before the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. It took us almost _half a year_ last time.'

'Most of our time was spent traveling, remember? That's how I remember it, at least.' Yamcha thought for a second, then nodded back, agreeing. 'But now- with Bulma's helicopter- we can zip around in no time. I bet we could find all the dragonballs in two weeks, easy.'

Everyone thought on Krillin's proposition. It _would_ be a concrete way to learn more about Kakarot. 'Alright,' Bulma said, standing, 'before we get our hopes up, we should check the dragon radar first and see if it's logistically feasible- that a dragonball isn't at the bottom of the ocean, or something like that. Maybe we'll luck out and two or three will be grouped together. Give me a minute and I'll grab the radar.' She placed a hand on Yamcha's shoulder as she left, sliding it across him as she walked past and out of the room. Yamcha smiled dumbly as he watched her go.

Krillin felt a bit uncomfortable. 'So, uh, Yamcha,' he tried to talk through his awkwardness, 'are you and Bulma… uh… what's the world…'

'Dating?' Yamcha finished for him.

'Uh-huh.'

Yamcha folded his arms and gave the cockiest expression possible. 'What do you think?'

Puar rolled her eyes. 'You're a real stud, Yamcha.'

'Jealous.'

'Yea, sure...'

'Let me ask you something,' Krillin pressed on, repeatedly tapping a finger to his forehead, as if trying to figure something out, 'how much time do you think you've spent trying to _woo_ Bulma? Just give me a number.'

'Uhh…' Yamcha screwed his face, thinking. 'What... I dunno, we go on a few dates a week, have been for at least a year… I guess the number would be… a lot.' Hearing this, Krillin clapped, chuckling. 'What's so funny!?' Yamcha asked indignantly.

'You haven't trained at all in the past few months since we've left Kame House, have you?' Krillin said, still laughing to himself.

'How would you know? And so what?'

Krillin forced himself to stop laughing. 'Hah-woo-sorry. I didn't mean to come off as a jerk. It's just funny how things have changed.' Krillin's tone abruptly shifted, startlingly sincere. 'For a long time, I thought of you as a friendly rival- I was continuously striving to surpass you. You shot past me while we were training for the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament. You lit a fire under my ass- and-' his tone shifted again, as he struggled to hold a laugh in, 'I took the lead because you fell for a girl. I just- I didn't expect this.' Krillin finished, grinning.

'So you're Mr. Know-It-All, huh? Yamcha responded irritably. 'You think you're stronger than me?'

'We both learned _ki_ sensing from Master Roshi, remember?'

'Is that so? Learn one technique at the level of a _novice_ and you think you're omnipotent?' Yamcha raised a fist in Krillin's direction, threatening, 'you want to settle this right now?'

 _Dear Kami_ , Puar mouthed as she disinterested drifted away from their petty dispute, _them and their male egos_.

Krillin and Yamcha were on the verge of rising out of their chairs to duel when Bulma re-entered the room, dragon radar in hand. They both quickly settled back into their seats as if nothing had happened, though they continued to glare daggers at each other. 'Haven't used this in awhile. Wonder if the batteries still work,' Bulma mumbled to herself, brushing dust off the viewscreen and placing the radar in the center of the table on the still-unfurled map. She clicked a button on the top of the radar and hovered over it, waiting for the radar to start detecting the dragonballs. Gradually, Krillin, Yamcha, and Puar joined her in cramming over the radar. 'Bulma,' Krillin said as the radar took its time warming up, 'I just thought of something- how did you create a radar that detected magical artifacts of legend in the first place?'

'To be honest? Dumb luc- oh look! It's coming on!' Bulma pronounced. The radar brightened and scanned the surrounding few miles of West City, working its way outwards across the world. 'Nothing nearby- little farther- nothing- a bit further-oh…'

The radar had picked a group of dragonballs. Six, in fact.

'Bulma,' Puar said, her eyes glued to the screen, 'could you move the radar to the right somewhat?'

Bulma obliged, and moved the radar off and to the side of the map. The location of the six dragonballs was geographically identical to where the 'X' was drawn on the map.

'So… the logical conclusion is...' Krillin said hesitantly.

Bulma scowled down at the table. 'The Red Ribbon Army is collecting the dragonballs. And they're damn _close_ to finishing.'

0o0o0

'Murasaki, get in here!' General White bellowed down the hall, before walking back into his room. He stopped next to one of the large horizontal windows, gazing out at the snowy landscape around him. _Can't remember at this point whether Commander Red gave me the name 'white' because of my hair or because I work in a cold, harsh tundra. Either way, he's an idiot._

A blizzard was raging outside of Muscle Tower. From his position on the top floor, he couldn't even see Jingle Town- close as it was to the tower- through the storm. It was if the rest of the world didn't exist- save the base and men he controlled under his feet. _**My**_ _base,_ _ **my**_ _men. They never advertise that part of the job. The total control you're afforded over the lives of everyone around you. I control my men. My men, in turn, control the residents of Jingle Town. Such is the order of things- an order constructed and ruled by me._

An approaching pair of footsteps caused General White to turn. A purple-robed man dressed as a ninja entered the room, saluting General White as he did. 'General White, you called?'

'Damn right I did. I want some status updates. How did our delivery to HQ go? Were the goods delivered properly?'

'They were, sir. It seems that, while our ground convoys continue to be harassed, our air transports continue to be reliable. The 2-star dragonball is firmly locked away in a bunker in HQ. While I was there I learned that HQ had found two more- so, if those things work like we think they do, there's only one more ball to find. Understandably, Commander Red is _very_ impatient, sir.'

'Let the bastard stew,' General White replied gruffly. 'I'll not let a man with a height inferiority complex push me around.'

'Very good, general.'

General White stepped over to his desk, rifling through some files scattered haphazardly on it. 'And what about the village,' he asked as he turned over one paper before placing it back down, 'are they giving us any trouble recently?'

'None at all, sir. Our soldiers are living in their homes and eating their food, and there hasn't been an ounce of resistance. I think taking their village elder was the right call, if I do say so myself, sir.'

'All good news. And that elder? Tomorrow we execute him.'

Murasaki was visibly surprised, before saying, 'Sir? Aren't they cooperating only because we hold their leader hostage?'

'That's true- but I prefer more concrete means of obedience. Hostages only work as long people place a helpless, defeatist sort of faith in their imprisoned leaders to improve their situations. A leader in captivity can die, or worse, encourage their people to resist. I find fear to be a much more… _consistent_ motivator. So, we kill their village elder, and teach them that even helpless faith will not be tolerated by the Red Ribbon Army.'

'...very good, sir. Wise.'

General White ruffled the papers on his desk for a few more moments, before raising in his hand a single folder. 'Here it is.' He opened it and picked through its contents. 'I'm looking through the technical report for the A-Tech we received a week ago- though the report says we should refer to them by their new names of "androids". Murasaki, what are your opinions of these units?'

'They're… impressive sir. They obviously don't compare to my brothers and me, but they're tough. And the upgrades made to Eight have been astounding. He's strong enough now to stop a tank dead in its tracks.'

General White glanced up from his file, interested. 'Really? That strong?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Hmmm.' General White turned back to the folder and scanned its contents, before closing it and placing it on his desk. 'Good news all around. We must be having a good week.' General White glanced out at the blizzard outside before glancing back to Murasaki. 'That's all for now. You're dismissed.'

Murasaki saluted before leaving the room. General White was left alone in his command room, placidly watching the weather rage all around him. _This base is prepared for anything._ A creaking, disturbing smile manifested on General White's face. _It's good to be the king._

0o0o0

Everyone stood around listless for a few moments, processing what they were seeing on the dragon radar. 'How- how has the Red Ribbon Army collected so many dragonballs?' Krillin bumbled. 'Do you think they have a dragon radar, or something?'

'No, I don't think so,' Bulma reasoned, 'otherwise they would have gathered the dragonballs a long time ago. If summoning Shenron is anything like how it was last time, then we would have noticed an impossibly dark night suddenly existing for a few minutes in the past few years. I think they've been gathering the dragon balls the old fashioned way- slowly and methodically.'

'That's… wow. That's a lot of effort…' Yamcha commented.

'Well, they are magical wish-granting orbs. I can think of a few people who would spend a lifetime searching for them.'

'So, basically,' Puar said, 'since we used the dragonballs three years ago, the Red Ribbon Army has been continuously searching for them?'

Yamcha smacked a hand to his forehead. 'Of course! We're so oblivious. Why else would the Red Ribbon Army be holding the dragonballs in that base way back then? Even then they were searching for them. We just unintentionally pushed their plans back a few years.'

Krillin felt a wave of distress surge through him 'For _years_ \- the Red Ribbon Army has been terrorizing communities, harassing innocent people, and needlessly disrupting people's lives while pursuing the dragonballs. And we've done nothing. Is that- is that the truth of it, Rayne?'

Rayne met Krillin's troubled eyes. She wished she could have denied it. 'From what I learned, the Red Ribbon Army has been unceasing in its intimidation and suppression of anyone caught up in their operations. So yes, what you're saying is true.' A genuine pang of regret hit her. She held her gaze with Krillin. 'I'm- sorry, I-'

'There's nothing we could have done, Krillin.' Puar consoled, coming over to hover near Krillin. 'It was only just recently we found out where the Red Ribbon Army is operating from.'

'But we could have used Bulma's dragon radar!' Krillin stammered, 'we could have just, _looked-_ '

'Krillin,' Yamcha said, enunciating his words carefully, 'we all feel horrible about this- but we can't beat ourselves up about what-ifs in the past.'

'Yea,' Bulma agreed, taking Yamcha's hand in her own in support, 'there was no reason for us to check the dragon radar in the past few years. This is just the way things turned out. It was out of our control.'

Krillin drew into himself, teetering at the precipice for a second. Then, through summoning a feeling of calm, he collected himself. He lifted his head, anguish plain on his face- but there was an unmistakable focus in his eyes, too. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… _expose_ myself so much.'

Rayne wrapped a consoling arm around Krillin. 'It's alright, Krillin.'

Krillin passed a grateful look to Rayne before shrugging her arm off. 'We should focus,' he said with a tone of relief, 'on what we're going to do about this.'

Shifting gears almost insultingly fast, Yamcha said loudly, 'Great idea!', and slammed his fists to the table. 'We strike hard and we strike fast! Cut the head of the snake off! Who's with me?'

Bulma tried her best to groan unperceived.

Somewhat baffled, Rayne mouthed something, then said, '...what?'

'Don't you see! Not only do we need to take the Red Ribbon Army down, but we need the gather the dragonballs to get information on Kakarot- and the Red Ribbon Army did our work for us by collecting all but one! We can kill two birds with one stone!'

The idea… actually made a lot of sense. 'You think you guys can take the Red Ribbon Army on your own?' Puar asked skeptically, crossing her arms and leaning back in the air.

'Sure,' Yamcha replied, excitement clear in his voice. 'We learned a while ago that bullets don't work on us- remember when you were shot by that Red Ribbon thug at Kame House, Rayne?'

'Of course I remember,' Rayne answered, annoyed. 'How would I have forgotten that?'

Yamcha gestured apologetically. 'Sorry, sorry. Point is, you weren't harmed, and that was before we trained fully with Master Roshi for the tournament, not to mention the training we've done since then. This might seem a little cocky,' Yamcha smirked, 'but I don't think the Red Ribbon Army can even touch us if all they're using is traditional weapons.'

'So you're saying we should charge into the base, metaphorical guns blazing, and defeat them head on?' Rayne squinted her eyes, as if examining the suggestion as a physical object. 'Wouldn't it be smarter to take a more covert approach?'

'Is infiltration going to permanently stop their operations?' Yamcha aggressively pursued, confident in his own plan. 'Will it stop their needless attacks on the lives of defenseless people?'

'...No,' Rayne said after a quiet moment of reflection, 'I guess not.'

Krillin tossed the idea around in his head, aware of the eyes on him that were waiting for him to comment. 'I think,' he said once he fully considered the plan, 'we should do it. Act as soon as possible to stop the Red Ribbon Army dead in its tracks. It is,' he said louder, finding every face in the room, 'the very least we can do.'

'You know, I'm not sure if you've forgotten,' Puar skimmed in the air, 'but only you, Yamcha, and Rayne can survive being shot.'

Bulma agreed, 'Yea, where does that put us two? Do we just sit on the sidelines while you three do something incredibly dangerous and stupid on your own? We have a stake in this too, you know.'

'I think,' Rayne suggested, 'you two could sew chaos in the base before we attack. Really confuse the officers as to what is happening. That would go a long way towards helping us.'

'I don't like this. Surely there must be _something_ ,' Bulma frowned, throwing her arms up above her, 'we can do that's smarter than this. Why don't we brainstorm for a few days before committing? See if we can think of a better, more _thought-out_ plan?'

'Bulma, you have to remember,' Yamcha reminded her as he rested his hand on her shoulder, 'we don't have a lot of time. If we're planning to strike against the Red Ribbon Army _and_ gather the dragonballs before the tournament, we need to act _now_. I genuinely think this is both the quickest and most effective plan. Have a little faith.'

Bulma seemed to consider shaking Yamcha's arm off, but then relented and placed her hand on his. 'All right. This is okay with me. Puar, you?...'

Puar considered the plan once more, then assented with a nod. 'I'm in. I don't like it, but I guess I'm not going to be the one in harm's way, if the attack goes the way it's supposed to. As long as you three are comfortable with this, I'll help.'

Krillin, Yamcha, and Rayne exchanged nods. 'We're in agreement, then' Yamcha spoke as he scanned the room. He stood. 'I'm ready to go when you all are. Meet downstairs in a few minutes, take the helicopter?'

'Sounds good,' Krillin said. 'See you there.'

Yamcha exited the room, very quickly tailed by Bulma. When they were outside she slapped Yamcha on the arm. 'What were you doing in there, idiot?'

Terribly confused, Yamcha could only make an unintelligent facial expression before Bulma continued. 'What was with that brashness of launching into your plan, right after Krillin had nearly started _crying_ in front of us? Do you know anything about tone or timing?'

'I... ' Yamcha searched for something to say but he struggled to find anything.

'And one more thing,' Bulma whispered, quiet enough to not be heard by everyone else but loud enough to make clear her disapproval, 'don't treat me like your property. Don't do that macho 'ownership' thing with me!' Finished, Bulma stomped off out of sight. Yamcha was rooted in place, terrified. _Where did_ _ **that**_ _come from?..._

Puar exited the room to find Yamcha still like this, white-faced. They had lived together for years- they shared a bond that could broach the most difficult topics. This was one of them. 'Yamcha,' Puar offered as she prodded Yamcha to follow her down the hall,' I think you let your male posturing with Krillin earlier get to your head…'

Yamcha dumbly nodded, his eyes still distant, as he meekly accompanied Puar.

Inside the room, Krillin stretched as he stood, actually letting a laugh bubble out of him. Rayne gave him a weird look. 'What?' he asked.

She gave Krillin a funny smile. 'After all we just talked about- after what _you_ went through- you're laughing?' She shook her head, disbelieving. 'You're an interesting person, Krillin.'

'Oh? You're just discovering that?' he teased amicably. 'And here I thought you were all knowing. Tsk, tsk…'

'I'm smart, but I'm not _Kami_ ,' she explained, gesturing for them to exit. 'I can't know everything.'

'True. What do you know about this plan, though?'

'Well, I can't speak to how it's going to go, but with us two and that slacker Yamcha,' she said elbowing Krillin while saying the words "us two", 'what could go wrong?'

Krillin let loose a wonderfully liberating laugh. _In combat and in personal turmoil; my friends are there to help me get back on my feet. Why do I keep forgetting that?..._

0o0o0

Digging through a snow drift, a short red-haired girl dived through and shot out the other side, crawling to the edge of a ridge. The blizzard was raging all around her, obscuring what would usually be a very beautiful view across a flat section of the landscape. Her eyes weren't concentrated on the obscured vista, however; she was searching for a pair of footsteps that had winded through her village. She was certain she was the only person who had found the tracks- they disappeared in the space of minutes after she had found them- which only served to increase her curiosity. _It was a single pair of footsteps… so it couldn't have been those big red bullies who've hurt her mom and dad, they only travel in packs… and the footprints look barefoot- no one from her own village would be crazy enough to go out 'unbooted' in this weather. So it had to be a stranger. But how were they surviving in this weather? And where were they going?_ She kept her head to the ground like a bloodhound, scanning the precious few feet she could see around her until she sighted a small section of disturbed snow to her right. _There!_ She crawled over and picked up the trail once more. Arm blocking the snow from screaming into her eyes, she waded forward in snow piled higher than her waist. Still, she persisted, following a twisting path through the blizzard. She was on the verge of turning back out of fear of straying too far away from her village when she, quite abruptly, walked into a wall. 'Huh?...' she groaned, turning her gaze upwards. She wiped some snow away from the wall, revealing the red brick underneath. _Red brick. But that's- oh no, I've come far too close-_ Suno turned to run back the way she came but she bumped into another person. She flopped backwards into the snow, and when she tried to scream for help a hand closed over her mouth. Through stinging snow, the other person came into focus- it was a girl a few years older than her, dressed in strange, colorful clothing. She pressed one finger to Suno's mouth, shushing her, before speaking with a slow, careful tone. 'It is very important that you stay quiet. If I'm correct, and the person who I think is here, _is here_ , then-'

A deafening boom erupted from somewhere in the blizzard around them. The other girl instinctively ducked, taking her hands away from Suno's mouth, before scanning her surroundings and slowly righting herself. 'I don't think it's going to be safe enough for you to run back to your village…' the other girl chewed at her lip, staring off at something Suno couldn't see. 'I'm sorry, but it's safest if you stay with me.' she said, concerned, as she helped Suno to stand. Suno was baffled. 'Who… who are you?' she stammered, half terrified and half perplexed.

The other girl gave a warm, comforting smile. 'My name is Chi-Chi. And yours is?...'

'Suno.'

'Suno,' Chi-Chi repeated to herself, trying to force the name into her brain. Another explosion went off, more distant and higher up than before, startling them. 'Stay close to me,' Chi-Chi said after the sound tailed off. 'We need to keep ourselves hidden.'

'Why?' she cried. Too many things were happening at once for Suno. _Why is the tower exploding? What's happening?_

Chi-Chi kept an even tone to her voice. 'Because I am tracking a very dangerous man. And you _don't_ want to meet him.'

0o0o0

Krillin's earpiece crackled with sound. 'Everyone ready?' Rayne buzzed into his ear.

'Puar and I are in position,' Bulma replied.

'Same here,' Yamcha chimed in.

Krillin momentarily glanced at the sprawling Red Ribbon Army headquarters laid out before him. Soldiers, vehicles, and buildings were dotted around the base, creating a human equivalent of an ant colony. It was going to be a _long_ attack. He mentally prepared himself, then said, 'Ready.'

'All right everyone,' Rayne announced, 'it's showtime.'

* * *

A/N: Holy toledo batman! I feel like I'm writing decent stuff! Hope you guys feel the same! As always, waiting on bated breath for every review- positive or negative- that comes my way.

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe** : Thanks for the input. Good to know people dig the Pursual Arc, hah!


	17. Two-Pronged Assault

Escalation

Chapter 17: Two-Pronged Assault

* * *

General White sprinted over to his wooden desk, nearly toppling over from the last shockwave that shook the building. He pressed a button on its side and the desk swiveled into the floor- revealing a fully outfitted crisis center beneath. General White hurriedly climbed down, and then strapped on a headset, eyes scanning the status of the tower. There was a breach on floor two of the tower. _The villagers wouldn't have this kind of firepower- no, this has to be someone else._ He tried the long-range communicator- nothing. The blizzard outside had knocked out the relay. He frowned, his muscular body illuminated by the eerie green glow of the monitors before him. _Looks like I'm on my own. What the hell are we up against?..._

0o0o0

Commander Red repeatedly slammed his fists into his desk. 'General Blue! GENERAL BLUE! WHERE ARE YOU?'

Someone ran down the hallway outside and then burst into Commander Red's office. 'Sorry Commander,' a plainclothes officer replied, 'General Blue is predisposed right now.'

'Predisposed, at a time like this? We're under attack!' Commander Red screeched, gesturing to a group of CCTV screens behind him. Most showed static- but _some_ portrayed a battleground, bullets flying and explosions going off throughout the Red Ribbon Army HQ. 'Officer Black, I want you to find General Blue _this instant_ and deliver him here. We need to coordinate our defense!'

'Err, sir, I would do that, if not for the fact that General Blue has already started coordinating our defense…'

'Oh? He's started then?' Commander Red asked, a bit surprised.

'Yes, sir.'

Commander Red adjusted his eyepatch. 'Good. Umm… good.' Commander Red seemed to lose interest in the conversation.

Officer Black weighed his options: should he ask his boss if wanted to help plan the defense with General Blue, or should he offer Commander Red coffee? He chose the latter.

'Coffee, sir?'

'Of course! I _always_ want my coffee, Officer Black.'

'Very good sir, I'll get right on that.' Officer Black saluted and briskly walked out of the room. Commander Red swung around in his chair to watch the battle unfold. _General Blue better not mess this up, or I'm going to fire him out of a howitzer, or maybe a tank. Whatever hurts more. We'll see how strong he feels after_ _ **that**_ _… hehe._

Stepping outside of the room, Officer Black broke into a shaking rage before steadying himself with some labored breathing. He collected himself and nodded to a pair of soldiers walking past. _No, not yet. I need to wait a bit longer for the area to clear out. Then- I'll have all the time in the world._

0o0o0

Krillin plowed through a small squad of Red Ribbon Army soldiers, drop kicking the last soldier to the ground. He was, admittedly, somewhat lost within the maze-like base, running into and dispatching patrols as he tried to get a sense of direction. He was on his own- once everyone had entered the grounds of the headquarters their means of communication between each other was broken. Maybe there was some sort of jamming going on, or too much interfering radio chatter among the Red Ribbon Army. Of course, through _ki_ sensing, Krillin had a vague idea where everyone was. Pinpointing exactly where they were, however, would take a couple minutes of concentration. _And right now, I can't afford to stay in one spot for too long. Either way, I need to find a landmark._ Krillin got a running start and jumped onto the roof of a nearby one-story concrete building. Glancing around him, he saw to his right the forest he entered from. To his front and behind the base stretched on, more unremarkable buildings and half-silo garages. However, Krillin saw to his left a larger than usual building, centrally located within the base. Soldiers patrolled and ran along the building's perimeter. _Looks promising. That's where I'd hide a dragonball, anywa-_

All at once the ground underneath Kakarot's feet started falling. He leaped off the collapsing roof to land awkwardly on the concrete ground. Out of the building's rubble emerged a pale-skinned Red Ribbon Army soldier, oddly janky with her movements. There was a familiar pair of shades that almost seemed to wrap around her face. 'You,' she strangely croaked, 'are one of them.'

 _This is… odd._ Krillin straightened and started circling the mystery woman, tensing his body to strike. The woman tracked him strangely; there was a distinct lag between any of Krillin's movements and her accompanying response. _Very odd. Here goes nothing…_ Krillin plunged forwards, closing the gap between them and swinging an elbow into the woman's chest. Instead of pushing into her body, however, his elbow hitched, halted at the point of contact. A hollow _dumm_ rang from the woman. _This is… just like!-_

The woman responded by swinging her right arm like a bat across her body, but Krillin dodged and spun, whipping a kick to the woman's side. This time his strike actually pushed, or more accurately, _crumpled_ into the woman _._ She was driven back a few feet, her shades flying off as she skidded to a stop. She lifted her head and two eerily red eyes bore down on Krillin.

 _Like that thing I fought in Ladoya._ Krillin grinned. _Poor thing._

Krillin sprinted forward and launched into a flying kick- he plunged straight through the center of the android, exiting the other side and spraying out wires and oil. Landing, he heard the tell-tale sound of a body collapsing to the ground behind him. Grimacing at the splatters of oil on his newly-fitted Turtle _gi,_ Krillin regarded the android for a moment. _If I'm remembering right, that one would have given me some serious trouble back then. Poor thing…_

After scanning his surroundings momentarily, Krillin broke into a run towards the prominent building to his left.

0o0o0

Two dull grey eyes watched as the image of a withdrawing orange-clad person faded into static. Mechanically, Dr. Gero tapped a button on his keyboard and another feed popped onto the viewscreen, again filling his vision with an unbroken landscape of live video. He settled back into his chair, folding his hands onto his lap. His long graying hair waved down onto his shoulders, bristled and splintered at the ends. In the darkness of his lab, he was more ghost than human. _They're strong. But how will that strength fare, I wonder, when they are confronted by my legion?_

He sat forward and tapped a command into his keyboard. Slowly, the images in front of him started to shift and move, as a hundred transmitters started to buzz with activity. _Yes, let's see how they handle this._

Like a surgeon excising a tumor, Dr. Gero sat in his chair in his dim, dusty lab, and clinically observed his tools go to work.

0o0o0

A cloud of dust and debris rocketed outwards from Kakarot's blow to the wall, as a hole big enough to fit a car opened up in front of him. He smirked as he climbed over what was left of the concrete barrier. _So far, this base hasn't impressed_. His enemies were as numerous as they were fragile- so, _very_ numerous and _very_ fragile. _The first floor, and so far this floor, has been filled with cannon fodder. So who's this now?..._

Kakarot watched through the clearing dust a vague shape become more defined. A giant of a man stepped out of the cloud, shaking the ground with the weight of his steps. He had short, trimmed hair, a jawline cut from stone, and a chest so barrelled and wide it alone could have fit Kakarot five times over. Other than the black gloves and the relatively tiny pair of shades covering his eyes, he was indistinct. 'Intruder,' the man grinded, 'are not supposed to be here. Leave or die.'

Kakarot arched an eyebrow. Someone attempting to intimidate him was… new. He wondered if the hulking man facing him would have enough time to regret his mistake. When his opponent began to move forward in response to Kakarot's silence, Kakarot struck first, running and jumping towards him and curling himself into a ball. He pounded against the man like a cannonball, sinking into the man's chest. _So if he has a heart, it's gone now-_

Two massive arms strapped themselves around Kakarot, pinning him against the man's sunken chest. Startled, he forced his head to look up- and found the giant grimacing down at him. 'That was unwise,' he snarled. The arms around Kakarot tightened, then began clamping down on him, one inch at a time. Struggling with the increasing pressure and the man's seemingly unbreakable grip, Kakarot thrashed in futile frustration. He saw that the giant's arms were gripping the edges of his own collapsed chest, almost _locking… Not even-_

Everything clicked. Kakarot wriggled a hand free. He collected _ki_ into a point at the tip of his fingers, then plunged his hand through the chest of the man. It slid through what felt like metal and wires before coming to stop in the center of the giant's chest. Smoke puffed out of the man's joints and the grip on Kakarot loosened, then slackened entirely. The man fell backwards, Kakarot jumping off his falling form just before a reverberating _clannng_ rang through the room. Back on the ground, Kakarot briefly looked up and down his fallen opponent. A small puddle of oil was pooling underneath the body. _Metal? A... robot? Is that the word? Couldn't use ki though… so unlikely that he's the person I'm looking for._ Kakarot turned to face a stairwell at the far end of the room and walked.

0o0o0

As Major Metallitron's visual feed faded out into nothing, General White willed his fingers to unclasp the edge of his desk. Rage and indignation flashed through every part of his body. _This is!... this is unacceptable!_ Releasing one hand, he reached over and tapped a button on a receiver to his left. 'Murasaki, you copy?' he said through gritted teeth.

'Loud and clear, general. Got an update for me?'

'I want you to take one of the snowmobiles on the ground floor. But don't go through the tower. Climb down the side.

For a moment Murasaki didn't respond. 'Sir? If this is about the intruder, I _assure_ you-'

'No.'

More silence. 'What did you say, sir?'

'Whoever is attacking our base, you nor anyone else will be prepared to handle him. He dispatched Major Metallitron _easily_. Get up to me _now_. I need you to get back-up.'

'Uhh… if you say so, sir… what about my brothers, though? Should they stay here?'

'They can do whatever they want-just make sure _you_ get up here. You need to get out of this storm and get a damn signal out. The HQ, hell, even the _merc_ if you can reach him.' General White paused for a second, chewing his lip in thought. 'Take one of my snowmobiles. You should be able to get far enough out on that. And grab some blizzard gear on your way up.'

'Will do. I'll be up there in a minute.'

General White clicked off the receiver and sighed. He never liked waiting. _Especially if what awaits me at the end is a_ _ **slaughter**_ _…_ He crouched down and pulled a small lever close to the ground. Beneath him, he heard a rumbling of movement and a low-pitched snarl. _If Buyon, 8, and Murasaki's brothers can't stop that kid on the 5th floor- well, let's hope we can get help by then._

0o0o0

A succession of bodies hit the ground. Yamcha rose, counting how many people he had just barreled through. _Twelve. Not bad, considering I wasn't really planning on doing that…_ Altogether Yamcha was surprised- the closer he had approached what he assumed was the headquarters of the base, the less resistance he faced. As he ran down concrete avenues, squat bunkers and tents to his left and right, he was again amazed by the size of the Red Ribbon Army Headquarters. _I can't even begin how expensive this base is… uhh- oh yea, from what I saw earlier, I need to make a right_ _heeerrreee…_

He slowed to a stop as he saw a wall of bodies standing shoulder to shoulder across the path, physically blocking Yamcha's path. He ignored an impulse to run straight through like he had done before- he was feeling a vague sense of trouble.

Though, he could tell something was wrong just using his eyes. Everyone blocking his path looked identical to each other. They were all women, dressed in dark brown Red Ribbon Army fatigues, with red hair, shades, and pale skin. And- they were- _identical? What the hell is going on?_

As soon as the thought went through Yamcha's head, the line of women in front of him advanced one step, then another, entirely synchronized, until they formed a moving mass closing in on his position. Their movements were abrupt, stilted, almost as if they didn't know how to use their legs. _Yea… time to back away_. Yamcha took a step backwards and turned around to see another mass of bodies encroaching on him. Quick glances to his left and right confirmed his suspicions; he was trapped.

Spinning, he realized _everyone_ around him was the same red-haired, pale-skinned woman. _Alright, enough! Too freaky!_ _Time to leave!._ Sprinting towards the first wall, he charged _ki_ into his fist and then plunged through the mass, leading with his right arm. A dull concussive blast rang out as Yamcha broke through the wall, his fist forcing its way clear of the mob. He continued his mad dash forward, pulling back his arm and dreading the sight of blood on him-

There was oil on his arm. Just… oil. Ignoring his sense of danger, he stopped and spun around to where he had broken through. A swarm of people was chasing him, running at a brisk, deceptively fast jog. He could see that some of them had totally gone arms, legs, even heads- with wires tumbling out where organs should have. Having seen enough, Yamcha broke into a run again, trying to process what he had just seen. He was quickly speeding to the central, distinctive building in the base. _I really,_ _ **really**_ _hope the others have a contingency plan for robots!_

0o0o0

Rifling through some papers Rayne spotted what she was looking for. 'Got it!' she exclaimed as she pulled out a piece of paper and walked over to Bulma. 'I think this is it,' she said, handing it over.

Bulma studied the piece of paper, turning it over a few times, before nodding and pocketing it in a knapsack at her side. 'I think that's all we need from here. Let's move.'

Rayne had entered with Bulma and Puar as part of the infiltration mission. They had a reason to believe that if the assault was successful, the Red Ribbon Army would go underground if possible; some sort of final directive from the headquarters to all its smaller outposts. Rayne had remembered her own small cell, and so had proposed that they head for the administrative complex and find a current list of all active Red Ribbon sites. It would make any future pursuals of the Red Ribbon Army, by them or anyone else, that much easier.

'This was a good idea Rayne- no one was here once the base's alarm went off.' Bulma said as they descended a flight of stairs.

'The thought occurred to me...' she said, tailing off, not knowing what else to say. They came to the entrance of their building and were saluted by a smiling Red Ribbon Army officer. A second and a _pop_ later, Puar Puar was floating up to them. 'So we're good for logistic information?'

'Yep,' Bulma said, 'now we just need to find some more sensitiv-'

A very dull, long-off explosion sounded off outside, stopping their conversation. 'What was that?' Bulma asked. After making sure no one was in the immediate area outside, they walked out and tried to determine the direction of the blast. 'Wait here,' Rayne commanded, as she ran and jumped onto a drain pipe. She shimmied and climbed up on to the roof of the building. It was one of the taller buildings in the base- she possessed a good view of the surrounding expanse. Far to her right, but steadily approaching, Rayne could make out a lone figure in orange, sprinting at full speed parallel to her position, right to left. The indistinct black stuff on his head- _so that's Yamcha, running. Running from?..._ She looked beyond Yamcha, and saw a literal wave of people, galloping almost like mechanical horses as they charged after Yamcha in alarming synchronicity. _Running from… a horde. Alright. I guess I need to prepare something for that._

A brief twitch of sensation passed through her body. _Was that ki?_ She turned in its originating direction- to her left, she saw Krillin gesturing for her to approach. He was positioned to confront the fast approaching stampede of people head on.

Sighing, Rayne swung her legs over the edge of the roof and began descending back down the drain pipe. _I really hope Krillin has a plan more than just "we stand and fight"..._

Minutes later, Krillin said, '... so after that, we stand and fight the rest of them.'

'You know,' Rayne commented, 'I don't like the last part of that plan, but the beginning- shooting two Kamehameha blasts toward them- I like that part. Did I ever tell you what Chi-Chi and I got up to after the tournament?'

'Don't think so, no.'

'It's-' she hesitated. _It's actually the exact same idea that I suggested to Chi-Chi. Two big Kamehameha blasts to extinguish a mountain. Except here we're extinguishing a mob of weird enemies._ _Funny that…_ She shook her head. 'It was pretty similar to what we're about to do. Any idea how we're going to get Yamcha out of the way? And- won't shooting two full strength Kamehamehas _kill a lot of people?_ '

'One,' Krillin said, sticking out one finger from his hand, 'Yamcha is being chased by… androids? robots? Whatever they are, I've fought them before when coming head-to-head with the Red Ribbon Army. So it's probably a good thing that we utterly destroy them.'

Rayne raised an eyebrow skeptically. 'Robots? Are you serious? DId you hit your head or something? You remember that I was actually _in_ the Red Ribbon Army, right?'

Krillin held up his oil-stained hands for Rayne. 'Trust me on this.'

She eyed his hands, then relented, nodding, 'Okay. And Yamcha?'

'Well, if our attack is going to hit, we need someone to distract them...'

'So we shoot our blasts at Yamcha, and hope he moves out of the way in time?'

'Pretty much.'

'That's… uh...' Rayne considered their physical location, glancing over her shoulder to see a hazy group of people hastily moving towards them. 'So as long as they're focused on Yamcha, they won't see the attack coming from beyond… yea, this might work.' She took up a position next to Krillin, facing down the long path. 'Though,' she said, 'if Yamcha gets dinged up, this is on you.'

'Not the first time.'

'True.'

Two pairs of feet dug into the ground.

0o0o0

Yamcha risked another glance over his shoulder. He was nearing his limit of continuous running, but behind him his pursuers ran on seemingly unfazed by their exertion. _How are they still running!_

…

 _Robots. Yep. Crap._ Scanning his field of vision, he noticed for the first time two figures standing side-by-side on the road in front of him. _Have they always been there-_ _one orange, one tan and blue-_ _Oh! Thank Kami-_

All at once two blue waves sprouted from them, shooting straight towards Yamcha. _Aaah!_ He madly swerved to his right, inadvertently tripping and tumbling forwards. His hair was singed as a massive wave of Kamehameha energy passed over him. He bumped into a concrete road barrier as a horrible crunching came from behind him. Rolling from his back onto his front, he pushed himself off the ground and looked back at his pursuers.

What was left of them, at least. The blast had carved through the mass like a knife, burning a hole straight through and past the robots. Most of the women were in bits and pieces- a leg part there, a fragment of internal circuitry there- but some were still staggering forwards, even though they were missing massive chunks of themselves, and in some cases even their upper bodies. Yamcha rose to meet them before two bodies rushed past him, launching into the fray of the remaining robots. In half a minute, it was over.

Rayne wiped oil from her hands onto her pants as she approached. 'You okay, Yamcha?'

He briefly considered yelling. Then he thought some more. 'I'm guessing you had a good reason to shoot two kamehamehas at me, right?'

'We needed to make sure they didn't see them coming,' Krillin said, joining them. 'I'm sorry.'

'So it was your idea, then?'

'Yea…'

Yamcha glared at Krillin, then released the tension from his face. 'Thank you for helping me, Rayne.' Then he resumed stared at Krillin, now smirking.

He continued to do this for roughly ten seconds. 'Alright,' Krillin finally said, 'I get it. No civilness for me. Let's just go,' he pointed to a prominent building in the direction Rayne and Krillin had come from, 'over there.'

'Krillin,' Yamcha said, slapping an arm down on Krillin's shoulder, 'It's not like,'- he put on a purposefully condescending air- 'you could have _actually_ hurt me with that blast…'

'Oh, quiet, you.'

0o0o0

Dr. Gero watched with waning interest as the last feed from his self-dubbed 'Android 5' model fizzled into static. _I never had much hope in a mass-produced android, anyhow. Requires too much group networking- too much collective action, predictability. Every single one of them sealed their fates the moment they uniformly and equitably pursued that pest… what's that man name, anyway?_ He brought up a few pictures he had captured from his feeds. They presented numerous angles of the tall, spiky-haired human man. _I should try to gather more information on him… all of them. it seems that they are becoming a continuous thorn in my side._ Dr. Gero produced a notepad and wrote something down. _Something to note for later._

He then swiveled in his chair, turning towards another distinct setup of monitors and keyboards, and disinterestedly checked the status of the two models at Muscle Tower. Nothing. _I swear I told General White to invest in a better long-range transmitter. Now I have to suffer from his stupidity…_

Sighing, Dr. Gero rose from his chair. _Still, there are other things I can do._ He grabbed an oft-used legal pad from the desk next to him, multiple pages ripped out from the top. _Obvious limitations of the Android 5 model- group processing, limited martial arts programming, slow reaction speeds-_ he paused in his pacing, stopping dead center in his spacious lab. _Vulnerability to energy blasts… hmm_ …

A mind afire, a pencil dancing across a page- the lab resonated with the scrivenings of a genius.

0o0o0

Kakarot briskly ascended a spiral staircase, rising into yet another empty floor. Spaciously luxurious but irritatingly empty. _Where is everyone? This is, what, the 3rd floor? 4th? Aren't soldiers supposed to live in a base, or something like that?_

 _Well, I guess I_ _ **did**_ _kill a lot of them when I first came in…_

He walked further into the room- this one was darker than the previous one. It wasn't like the strange temperate forest below him, either- it was just a normal, metal room. He noticed in the gathering gloom that lightbulbs had been unscrewed from their sockets. It looked as if this floor wasn't even finished, let alone used. _Weird._

He felt something- he ducked and a fist flew over him, a muffled gasp of surprise escaping from someone behind him. As Kakarot pivoted to sweep his leg backwards, the other lights on the floor turned off. His leg swung through the air as his surroundings went pitch-black. Rising, he squinted into the darkness.

'That,' a voice spoke out somewhat frustrated, 'was unexpected.' _Somewhere behind me, still,_ Kakarot thought.

A grunt, lower, grainier, came from somewhere to Kakarot's right. _A bit farther away. Coincidence?_

'Hehe…' a throaty voice chuckled, booming in its strength, bounding off of every nearby wall. _Much, much closer. Sounds large-_

A bulging mass slammed into Kakarot, pushing Kakarot to the right. A retaliatory fist swung into the mass- but it bounced off and nearly collided back into him. 'Haha!' another deep laugh as the mass surged again into him, knocking Kakarot to the ground. Angered, Kakarot pressed his arms into the mass and stood, rising with such force and speed that he launched whatever was attacking him flying away with a grunt. The mass vibrated as its body flapped noisily in the air. Kakarot prepared to pursue but felt another tingle- this time he shifted back to avoid something shiny flashing in a diagonal arc in front of him. It glittered and hissed as it disappeared and then reappeared, in a point speeding towards his abdomen. Kakarot laughed as he welled _ki_ into his hands and gripped the blade, gripping it and stopping its forward motion. As he pulled the blade and the startled attacker towards him, suddenly two hands placed themselves on Kakarot's back and violently thrust him forwards, slamming his midsection into the blade. It entered a few inches into Kakarot's skin before he raged, planting his feet in the ground and yanking the blade out of him and the hands of his armed attacker. He turned and drove the blade into the attacker who had pushed him- which broke upon contact and disintegrated in Kakarot's hand. Feeling another person coming from his right, Kakarot weaved out of the strike and backpedaled to his left, gaining some distance from- _by my counts, what, four enemies? Talk about fear…_

'Gotta say, these are some pretty cowardly tactics,' he taunted after he had withdrawn a fair distance.

'Says the one retreating,' one vaguely annoying voice commented.

'Are you the one I disarmed?' he sneered, 'because that's what your voice is telling me- "I'm weak, oh no! I've lost my weapon! What will I do!".

'You should pay more attention in a fight,' the deep, grainy voice said, almost in an advisory manner.

Kakarot felt the vibration of something large move behind him. _Hah, the one I knocked over here-_ Jaws clamped down where Kakarot had been a moment before, spinning as he drew back his fist and planted it into his assailant. He compensated for the recoil and continued to press his hand into the bulk. He smiled, opening his hand and letting a small ball of _ki_ burst from it.

Surprisingly, the entity in front of him did not explode, but a startled 'Waaarghh!' accompanied an obscured outline vibrating madly and careening backwards, groans of discomfort trailing away. In the brief illumination of the blast, Kakarot saw that the attacker was, weirdly, pink and _massive_. Kakarot had no time to process what he had glimpsed before he felt two people approach from his right and left simultaneously- he stepped backwards and amusingly squinted through the dark to see the two collide with each other, falling together in a tangled mass to the ground. Kakarot lifted one ki-charged hand to deliver a killing blow before someone grabbed and lifted his arm, taking him off the ground. Kakarot kicked and clawed at the figure futilely. He was twisted around- his hand illuminated a dark clothed, absolute _monster_ of the man, who had dark stitches crisscrossing his forehead and a permanent frown affixed to his face. Kakarot saw the man half-turn, as if readying a fist just beyond Kakarot's sight. At the limit of his tolerance for surprise attacks, Kakarot screamed and impulsively _shoved_ his _ki_ outwards, breaking the man's grip on him.

His surroundings shuddered and shifted- suddenly a series of walls collapsed around him, letting the raging blizzard inside, dropping the temperature immensely. Kakarot landed on his feet as he marveled at the now illuminated- and definitively ruined- space. _Did I really just do that with my own power?_

Involuntarily shuddering from the sudden cold, Kakarot studied his now visible opponents. The man who was holding him was on his butt about ten strides away from him, an expression of shock on his face and a rippling of broken skin- _no, metal, like before_ \- sticking out in tiny prickles on his front section. The android's eyes were locked on Kakarot in rapt fear.

Kakarot looked over his shoulder. Close to him, there were two identically dressed men supine on top of each other on the floor. Neither stirred. _So dead, if not unconscious, then. Just from one attack..._ Eyes narrowing, Kakarot looked beyond the two figures on the floor. What can only be described as a giant, rotund blob was frozen in an enraged pose, arms reaching out as if to strangle him. Beneath the ice-blue opacity of the ice, a distinct pink hue shone through. _The fourth then. Everyone accounted for._ He returned his attention to the knocked down figure in front of him. _Only one left. Pity._ Kakarot permitted a malicious smiled to crease his face as he contemplated what was going through the robot's mind. _Abject terror, I hope._

As he began to walk over, the android called out in a strange, pleading voice, 'stop, please. I don't want to fight. I _didn't_ want to fight.' The android unsteadily climbed to his feet, showing the full toll of Kakarot's attack on his chassis. Oil dripped at innumerable openings, falling to the ground and adding to an ever-larger puddle. 'My name is Eighter, _please_ , I don't-'

Eighter gasped as much as a fully mechanical android could, and dropped his head to his chest. An arm was firmly speared through his chest, the dullest sensation reaching his receptors that said, yes, it came out the other side. This sensory fact accompanied the last moments of his consciousness, repeating in his failing circuitry, over and over, as Kakarot heaved and wrenched his arm free, brushing through his chest like it was paper. Eighter crumpled backwards, expiring movement growing slower and ceasing.

Looking down, Kakarot coldly whipped his hand to shake off a few drops of oil. He regarded the fallen android. He had heard his victims beg before, of course. But the way this one did it- it was almost like he purposefully lowered his guard. Killing him, Kakarot realized, was much easier than it should have been. _Did he… did he believe I wouldn't kill him?_

Kakarot turned and walked thoughtlessly to the ascending stairwell.

0o0o0

'Bulma, check the radar one more time, please.'

Bulma tapped a button on the device in her hands. After a moment she nodded. 'This is it.'

'Imposing,' Krillin continued.

The five of them were standing outside of a large, squat concrete building, which dominated the center of the Red Ribbon Army Headquarters. The grounds of the base were deserted- it seemed that they drove off or defeated most of the soldiers stationed here. 'I think we have it from here,' Krillin said, turning to Bulma and Puar. 'We know what we need to do. The base looks pretty safe at this point. I'm more worried,' he jabbed a thumb behind him towards the building, 'of what's inside there.'

'We get it,' Puar said, 'more dangerous in there than out there. I'm sure Bulma and I can find some more info to dig up while you guys are busy. RIght Bulma?'

'Right,' Bulma agreed. Puar and Bulma wished them good luck, and then headed off to another cluster of administrative buildings.

'Well, what are we waiting for?' Rayne ran forward and crashed through the main door to the building, knocking it off its hinges and planting it into the floor with her foot. She rubbed her leg as she rose from her landing. 'I think I'm getting the hang of _ki_ augmentation our physical strikes,' she said as she shifted her weight to her other leg, 'but damn, it doesn't make kicking a solid metal door hurt any less.'

'You never know,' Krillin mused as he walked past her into a broad, high-ceiling hallway,' maybe we'll get strong enough one day to be able to kick _planets_.'

'You never know…'

Yamcha drew up behind Krillin, Rayne falling in behind him, as they walked single file down the hallway. Oddly, there were no doors on its sides that they could see. The walls were entirely featureless as they noiselessly strode forward. Awaiting them at the far end of the hall was a solitary double-door. 'Why do I get the feeling,' Yamcha complained, 'that there's going to be something unpleasant beyond there.'

'Probably because there _is_ something unpleasant beyond.' Rayne replied.

Yamcha sighed, rubbing his hand through his hair. 'C'mon,' he prodding everyone to walk a bit faster, 'let's get this over with.'

They reached the double-doors and pushed them outwards, entering into a concrete auditorium. Again, the walls were wholly nondescript- the entire room, floors, ceilings, and walls had a stone gray hue, as bland as imaginatively possible. In the middle of the room, a shirtless man with short, tidy blonde hair sat cross-legged as if meditating. Upon their entrance he opened his eyes and stood, bowing as he did. 'Welcome,' he said, his voice echoing in the vast space of the chamber, 'to my home.'

'This,' Yamcha amusedly responded, 'is your home?'

'You may not see it's value,' he crooned, 'but there is comfort in a room devoid of all ornamentation. For one such as I, it is… replenishing.' He brought his hands together into a fist. 'Excuse me, I've forgotten my manners. My name is General Blue of the Red Ribbon Army. I've been looking forward to meeting you all. I am ready to avenge my soldiers' honor- the honor you have all rudely dirtied.

Rayne suppressed a flinch. _**The**_ _General Blue? Dear Kami, I hope we know what we're doing here._

'So, if you're a general…' Yamcha reasoned, 'were you the one who trained all those soldiers out there? They- they didn't do that well.'

'Hardly. If you haven't noticed,' he gestured to his weaponless body, 'I'm not carrying around anything you would see on a normal soldier. I assure you, however, that I am _well_ prepared for the unique challenge you all face.' he hinted. 'Normal soldiers can only do so much against people such as us. Best to get them out of the way…'

Krillin leaned over to whisper to Yamcha. 'Hey, do you think that if he wasn't in charge of the normal grunts, that he was responsible for all those robot women?'

'Nah, he doesn't look like the brainy type. I bet he spends a lot of time looking at himself in the mirror, admiring his,' Yamcha chortled, 'his muscles, or something stup-'

Both Yamcha and Krillin's head was lightly thumped by a palm. 'Focus!' Rayne chastised them. 'We're about to fight against the single-strongest member of the Red Ribbon Army. You can't afford to be distracted! Honestly…'

Krillin and Yamcha gently touched the spots on their heads where Rayne had hit them. 'Point made,' they groaned.

General Blue patiently waited for them to return their attention to him before continuing. 'Right then. As I was going to say; you three will fight and lose to me. Maybe die, maybe be imprisoned, maybe even be let go! The choice is, admittedly, out of my hands. What I can guarantee, however,' his tone deepened, as he brought up his arms in a combat pose, 'that all of you will be unconscious, on this ground, before this is done.'

Warily, Rayne, Chi-Chi, and Krillin raised their guards in turn. 'Okay,' Rayne said, as they spaced out slightly, 'I think the plan is-'

A ground-shaking lurch interrupted Rayne, as everyone within the room struggled to remain upright. In the far corner of the room, a section of the concrete wall exploded outwards as an enormous, gleaming mech stepped through the newly-made opening. Bizarrely, the pilot was dressed as an office secretary.

'Staff Officer Black?' General Blue exclaimed, 'what the hell are you doing here? And in that mech?'

The mech stomped to General Blue's side. Staff Officer Black held a manic, almost deranged expression on his face. 'Sorry,' he apologized once he was close enough, 'but I'm here on Commander Red's orders. He didn't fully trust you to handle this. He's uh… he's a very insecure man.'

'You don't have to tell me,' General Blue said sourly as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'You know how to use that thing, right?'

'Of course! What do you think I do in between the three tasks a day Commander Red asks me to do?'

'Fine, fine. Divide and conquer?'

Staff Officer Black brought up a mech hand and closed it into a fist. 'Affirmative.'

'Okay,' Rayne said dumbly, 'this is worse. The plan then-'

'Get out of the way!' Krillin tackled Rayne to the side as a rocket shot from Black's mech impacted where she had just been standing. Krillin rapidly decoupled himself from Rayne on the ground. 'No time!' he practically screamed as he ran off.

Rayne rushed off the ground. To her left, Yamcha had engaged General Blue- they alternated the ebb and flow of attack and defend, their movements blending together into two beautiful dances. _General Blue's the real deal, all right…_

She sighted the mech's back and ran off towards it. Black wrenched his controls around and raised one arm, firing a barrage of energy blasts directly at Rayne. She yelped and bent her path to the right, running ahead of the blasts by a matter of seconds.

As this was happening, Krillin charged from Black's behind and jumped, landing two legs to the back of the mech. Black's energy assault on Rayne was interrupted as the suit whined and nearly toppled forwards. He righted, however, and brought his right hand to bear and swatted Krillin away like a bug, sending him flying a good twenty feet or so. Rayne saw her chance and sprinted forwards, delivering a solid blow to the mech's arm that caused the outer end- where the laser firing apparatus was- to decouple and fall to the ground. 'Hah!' she cheered.

'Do you really think,' Black's voice droned as it was pumped through an outside speaker of the mech, 'that was my _only_ weapon?' From the other arm of the mech, a ring of smoke propulsed circularly, detaching the fist from the arm. It sped forwards, propelled by a gang of propulsive rockets on it's back, to head straight towards Rayne. The giant fist smashed into her and lifted her off the ground, ramming her into the far wall, where she cratered and flopped to the ground.

'Rayne!' Yamcha called out after seeing what had happened over General Blue's shoulder, dodging a palm strike. He growled, cupping his fists into claws and delivering a double blow to General Blue's guard. General Blue was staggered back, jolted by the dual hit. Yamcha slowly hammered through his opponent's guard until General Blue was battered backwards, nearly falling over from the onslaught. Preparing a heavy double-fist, Yamcha raised his hands above his head- but then he felt a pressure descend on his body. Yamcha tried, futilely, to move. His eyes battled to flit down at General Blue- he saw that the general was panting, though had one arm outstretched towards Yamcha. 'Better,' General Blue said relieved, He then quickly slammed his shoulder into Yamcha, knocking him away still statue-like, until he hit the ground and felt his limbs be released. Stinging from the last blow, Yamcha glared across at General Blue. _Should have known he would have some garbage-cheap-trick…What am I supposed to do against telekinesis?_

Steadying himself to lessen his nausea, Krillin quickly scanned the battlefield. Rayne was, for the moment, struggling to her feet, obviously damaged by the mech's fist. Yamcha had rejoined General Blue in close combat, but was now trading worse blow-to-blow than before. Yamcha seemed to freeze every so often, correlated with General Blue raising an arm or hand. _Telekinesis, then? Overall, not going well. Hmm…_ As an idea sprung into his head, Black's mech stepped into view, jogging towards him. Krillin could see a panel on the front of the mech opening, revealing a silver, gleaming rocket. _This… could work!_ Krillin broke into a mad run across the room as he saw the rocket shoot out from the mech's chest, glancing over his shoulder to confirm it was tracking him. _Heat seeking! Perfect!_ He changed direction and then ran directly at General Blue.

Yamcha was driven to the ground again by his inability to defend from General Blue's blows. Bruises and cuts raced up and down his body. _I really forgot how much damage a weaker opponent can do when you can't raise a block…_ That fact was infuriating. _He's weaker than me! If I could only finish a full movement, he'd be toast!…_

From the ground Yamcha saw General Blue smirk, before turning towards the fast approaching Krillin. General Blue placed a finger on his forehead and concentrated, freezing Krillin in place- until, inexplicably, Krillin's image shimmered and vanished, leaving no trace of him. General Blue had a moment to move his mouth speechlessly until a rocket shot through the spot where Krillin had just been, speeding precisely towards General Blue. The general had a moment to cross his arms in panic before the rocket hit him and an explosion seared the nearby Yamcha.

Officer Black. in the mech, looked on in abject confusion until, out of nowhere, Krillin reappeared and _dove_ into the mech, spinning and speeding through it like a bullet and exiting the other side. The mech stomped and sparked, as Officer Black wobbled and nearly fell over in the pilot's seat.

Rayne, having climbed to her feet, looked on in awe. _So that's what the afterimage can do… wow._

Krillin landed with a _tmpp_ , turning back to his opponents.

As the smoke cleared, Krillin could see General Blue still standing- but heavily injured, his placid complexion ruined by smoke and distress, as he held still held up his shaking arms in a block. Shock gave way to anger, as he locked eyes with Krillin. 'What- what was that!' He demanded.

'Oh,' Krillin responded, 'a trick. Nothing more.'

Snarling, General Blue padded over to Officer Black, who still careened within the mech, struggling to keep it upright. It was clear Krillin had damaged some sort of stabilization unit for the mech.

'Officer Black, what we need to do-'

'Aaaah!' Black abruptly yelled, as the bottom of the mech started to glow. Suddenly, rockets erupted from the mech's feet, flying the mech haphazardly towards the ceiling. The mech twisted and spun in mid-air, before colliding with the ceiling and detonating, exploding in a mess of machinery and metal that rained down within the room. General Blue stared upwards with a half-unbelieving, half-despairing look.

Yamcha stood and limped to Krillin's side. 'I feel bad about this now.' he admitted.

Rayne joined them. 'You guys see his face, right?...'

General Blue continued to gaze upwards, lost.

 _Geez…_ Krillin glanced at his companions again, then shouted at General Blue, 'Uhh… are you okay?'

Sluggishly, General Blue pulled his gaze from the ceiling and faced them. He seemed to stare through them for a moment, then turned and slunk out of the room via a small side-door to the outside. No one moved to stop him.

'Do you- do you think he just gave up?' Yamcha asked when the sound of the closing door stopped reverberating. 'I mean, he didn't say anything…'

'I... think he did- give up, that is,' Rayne answered. 'That was really weird,' she said, more so to herself than to anyone else.

'Should we go after him?' Yamcha said, scratching his neck.

'Judging from how he just left- no, I don't think so,' Krillin observed. 'His spirit seemed pretty crushed.'

As they began to walk towards the central door leading further in the building. Rayne reflected on the type of man General Blue was. She knew a lot of self-serving, selfish assholes within the Red Ribbon Army, _especially_ among the officers, but from what she heard General Blue was never one of them. He seemed to _care_ about his soldiers, from what she heard. Her mind thought back to the soldiers she and the others had dispatched. Most were dispatched nonlethally, but she couldn't guarantee that was the case for every _single_ one...

She willed her eyes shut, shoving the thought away. _Thinking about that will drive me mad. Regardless, either his pride for his training was hurt, or his compassion for his soldiers was broken- he lost the will to fight._

They went through the door and entered a more cozy section of the building. It looked somewhat like an office, except for all the obnoxious red paint on the walls. As they proceeded, they noticed the hallway became smaller, until reaching a final door, embellished with ornamentation at the edges. On the door there was a placard that read, 'COMMANDER RED'.

'Rayne,' Krillin pointed to the door, 'is this _the_ guy? The leader of the Red Ribbon Army?'

'Probably. They were never very clear about the chain of command while I was in it. Though, considering it _is_ called the Red Ribbon Army, and this door says Commander Red…'

Yamcha turned the doorknob and swung the door open. The lights were off and the shades were drawn up, making the room abnormally dark. In a desk near the center of the room, they could glimpse an outline slumped forwards on the desk. They approached silently until Yamcha gasped and quickly stepped back, pulling Krillin and Rayne back. He caught his breath and bent down, running a finger along the front of his shoes, before sniffing his finger.

'Yamcha,' Rayne whispered, 'what are you doing.'

'Its blood,' Yamcha announced, pointing solemnly towards a dark puddle at the foot of the desk. 'He's dead.'

0o0o0

Kakarot scaled what felt like the twentieth staircase in this damn building. _Couldn't you weaklings have made this quicker and built a base on one floor? Honestly..._ The floor he emerged onto was smaller than the previous ones, hemmed in by sloping walls and large slanted glass windows that illuminated the room well. At the far end of the floor, in front of a desk, were two men. A muscular man with white hair held a pistol to the man in front of him. The hostage appeared to be an elderly man, clothed in heavy winter pants and a parka. He was held around his neck by the man in the back. 'Not one more step!' The man with the pistol yelled, 'or your precious village elder dies!' Sweating bullets, General White struggled to keep the grip on his pistol steady. _Murasaki, I sent you out half an hour ago! Where's my damn backup?_

Confused, Kakarot craned his head to get a better look at the hostage. The village elder shrunk under his gaze, struggling harder- albeit still feebly- against General White. After a moment, Kakarot narrowed his eyes in sweet recognition. 'You think that man means anything to me?' he snickered. Casually, Kakarot raised his right hand, palm outwards towards General White and the village elder. The storm outside wavered for a moment as a thin blast of _ki_ shot out of Kakarot's outstretched arm, barreling towards the two men. General White's eyes widened before he dived wildly to the side, as the village elder received the full brunt of the blow. A deafening _phoom_ went off in the room that broke all the windows outwards, scattering thousands of glass shards into the blizzard outside. Snow suddenly piled into the room, wind whipping in and out, as visibility dropped enormously. The village elder was entirely disintegrated. Kakarot walked through the storm, using his _ki_ sense to locate General White. _Grrr... he's so weak that his ki is almost imperceptible… but, there-_

General White surfaced from the white maelstrom behind Kakarot, yowling and looking like a bear as he clasped both hands on Kakarot's tail. 'This- this is it- isn't it?' he stammered through shivers. 'The source of your power! Your weakness! Something! No human has a tail!'

Deliciously amused, Kakarot turned deliberately, evincing not one expression of discomfort. General's White facial expression darkened- the storm and the scene taking its toll. 'Did you honestly think,' Kakarot almost chided, 'someone like _me_ would have a weakness? I am a _god_.' Kakarot wrenched his tail out of General White's grip and slammed a terribly powerful punch into General White's chest. Bones audibly cracked as General White's body flew backwards and out of a window, flipping head over heels to disappear in the storm beyond.

Kakarot drew his arm back, satisfied. _Never again will I have a weakness._ He felt ever hair, every nerve on his tail, flicking it back and forth with willful control. He clenched his fist. _Never again will I be defeated by a dirty trick. I've made sure of that._

Releasing the tension in his hand, Kakarot strode over to end of the room with the desk, expecting to find a stairwell. Instead, he found… nothing. _That… was it? An entire base, what was supposed to be a_ _ **challenge**_ _\- and it's done. Where was that man? The talented energy user within the Red Ribbon Army?_ Kakarot found himself sighing, as if... _disappointed. I dominated them all. None of them could stand up to me. Killing them… it was child's play._

For three years, Kakarot had drifted from place to place, sometimes living off the land, sometimes decimating a village here and there, looking for something to challenge him. Everything seemed… like he was passing time, waiting for something or someone to come along and set his blood afire. _Because I still know the end, the goal, of all this. Everyone on this planet must die. It is… something I just_ _ **know**_ _needs to be done. Day by day, I come closer to that. Right?_

Deep down, Kakarot let himself feel a twinge of disbelief.

0o0o0

Wiping his hands of blood, a tall, thin man dressed in a pink long coat scowled down at the dead man facedown in the snow. Blood leaked in drips from the corpse, turning the snowfall red. A _fool, for thinking I would work for free. He should at least brought an advance. The Red Ribbon Army should know that I am not one of their charlatan amateurs. Far from it._ Adjusting his black ponytail behind his head, the man took a moment to find his bearings at the edge of the snowstorm. His _ki_ sense extended outwards, until latching onto a noticeable signature deep within the blizzard. _Ahh, so he's still near the tower. Good. I hate having to take multiple trips this way._ Ambling over to an out-of-place tree trunk that was sticking out of a nearby snowbank, the man gracefully lifted the massive piece of wood and threw it into the air, jumping onto it a moment later. He sailed away into the sky, leaving a face-down, purple-clothed corpse to be slowly buried by the snow.

* * *

A/N: I would have cut this chapter in two if I could, but alas, I couldn't find a natural halfway point. Thus- hope you enjoyed the long chapter!

And write reviews! I love to hear what you guys think.

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** I agree; with Goku out of the mix, stuff like this gets a little more interesting.


	18. Ill-Fortune

Escalation

Chapter 18: Ill-Fortune

* * *

The Red Ribbon Army Headquarters was now… uncomfortably desolate. From a small balcony cut into the side of the base's main building, Krillin looked out on the abandoned rows of tents, trucks, and tarps that now stood as a tombstone to the existence of the Red Ribbon Army. _Evil that terrorized the world. Manipulated millions. Yet, it never feels good to bring something to an utter, total end. Doing that… it can stain the soul for a long time._ He sighed. He was supposed to be looking for the dragonballs- Bulma assured them that they were _somewhere_ in this building- but at the moment, all Krillin wanted to do was lean on this railing and reflect. Or, more accurately, agonize. _Though I shouldn't do that. I can't shut down after every consequential decision I take. Things are different now. My life isn't like how it was before. People_ _ **rely**_ _on me. If, because of my inaction or self-doubt, any of them got hurt, or_ _ **died**_ _\- I'd never forgive myself. I have to remain focused, for Yamcha, Rayne, Chi-Chi… all of them._

 _...still, I did cause Commander Red's death, didn't I? I didn't shoot the gun, sure, but I gave whoever did the opportunity._

That was, at least, how Rayne described it. _Classic example of a targeted assassination,_ she had said. _Not a single thing was moved or changed in the room. The death was recent, which meant the perpetrator struck only after the base had mostly cleared out._

Krillin heard the door click behind him. He turned to see Yamcha walking out onto the balcony, a strained smile on his face. 'Taking a breather too, I see.' he nervously joked.

'Come on,' Krillin said gesturing, 'lay on the railing with me.'

Yamcha leaned on the railing next to Krillin, taking a moment to scan the base, then the sun setting on the horizon, before speaking. 'Krillin, about earlier-'

'I know. I shouldn't have shot that Kamehameha at you.' he said, embarrassed, 'I'll apologize as many times as you need me to-'

'No, no. Not that. I want to talk about that fight with General Blue and the mech.'

Krillin clammed up.

'You may not recognize it,' Yamcha said, solemnity piercing his voice, 'but you really saved us back there. I was struggling against General Blue- he was smacking me around by the end. And I don't think Rayne was doing much better against the mech. You… you, in that moment, thought of a plan that essentially took both of them out in one go. I don't think neither Rayne nor I could have done that, in that situation.' He gripped the scuffed fabric of his Turtle _gi_. 'We could have gotten off much worse than with a bunch of scratched and torn clothes. We didn't get seriously hurt because of _you_.'

Krillin avoided Yamcha's eyes, staring out towards the far-flung forests. 'What do you want me to say?' he whispered.

'You don't have to say anything,' Yamcha said, pushing himself off the railing. 'I just need to say that, for myself and Rayne. I know what self-doubt can be like; it can eat away at you if you aren't careful. So, thank you. Because of you, we're okay.' With that Yamcha turned and a moment later Krillin was, once again, alone on the balcony.

He strained his eyes towards the horizon- the sun now having set- and wagged his head back and forth in wonder. _That happened_ , Krillin thought, suppressing a smile from forming on his face.

0o0o0

Krillin rejoined the hunt soon after that- to find the hunt over. His four companions had found the dragonballs hidden in some dusty, dank room in the basement of the building. Fitting, that. They were gathered around the six balls when he stumbled upon them in one of the smaller side-rooms.

'All this time,' Bulma murmured, 'and they still look the same… very odd.'

'They're magical wish-granting orbs; "odd" seems appropriate.' Puar said.

'So these are all six then? Right here?' Krillin asked, drawing himself to the circle.

'Yep,' Puar responded, 'all six. Only one we don't have is the three-star dragonball. Which, according to Bulma's radar, is very close nearby, funnily enough.' Puar stopped, remembering something. 'You know that old saying? Hide something from your enemies by keeping it right under their noses, or something?'

'Pretty sure the saying is more concise than that,' Yamcha teased.

'You know what I'm saying, jerk.'

Rayne walked to Bulma's side and glimpsed at the dragon radar. Then she started using her fingers to count. 'If I've been keeping the dates straight, we have a little under two months until the World Tournament. This dragonball is about… maybe a week away on the ground, faster by air. A few people could go there and- '

'Why,' Krillin interrupted, 'are you talking like we're _all_ not going for the last dragonball?'

'Well, it's probably a waste of time if _everyone_ went,' Rayne reasoned. 'we took out the biggest threat in our search for the dragonballs- this base- but we know there's still a second Red Ribbon base, Muscle Tower, where the Red Ribbon Army could regroup. At the same time, it's probable there's going to be _some_ sort of challenge, or difficulty, _whatever_ , in getting the last dragonball. So, I think it's better for us to split into two groups- or even three, depending on whether we want to keep anyone here to keep digging through Red Ribbon secrets.

From the edge of the circle, Bulma grinned mischievously. 'I believe,' she said, wrapping an arm around Rayne's shoulder in suspicious camaraderie, 'that is a fantastic idea.' _I certainly don't want to spend more time crouching through some forest undergrowth, anyway._ 'I bet the Red Ribbon army has a bunch of nasty secrets hanging around here. Those strange robots you guys fought earlier, that's what you said, right? I bet we can find information on them. too.'

'Wait, wait, wait,' Yamcha said, 'if you stick around here, aren't you worried that the Red Ribbon Army won't come back, try to reclaim their base, _attack you_?' Worry danced around the edges of his words.

Bulma scowled in response, much like a parent would to a child. 'Have you forgotten who I am, Yamcha? I am _the_ Bulma Briefs. With a snap of my finger, I can bring down an entire scientific staff- complete with a full security detail- to this site for research. I can even pull a few strings and get the sanctioning of the world government to set up a scientific research site here- which would _include_ a military company to safeguard any state-sponsored research. Are you seeing the big picture, Yamcha-' she finished, jabbing a finger into his chest with a bit too much force to be called friendly, '-I can protect myself.'

Too stunned for words, Yamcha, along with everyone else, stood in slight shock from Bulma's response. 'Well, it's agreed then,' Puar said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence, 'Bulma stays here and… "sciences".' _She wasn't really being specific_ _ **what**_ _she wants to do here… best to get out her way, though._

Yamcha slunk back, a man defeated, retreating to the edge of the group in sullen silence. Pitying him, Rayne gave him a quick, unseen pat on the back before speaking. 'So, if Bulma stays here, there's four of us left. Makes sense that we should split up into two teams of two. One team heads to Muscle Tower, one team heads for the dragonball. Anyone have any preferences?'

'To be honest,' Puar chirped up, 'I want to see this Red Ribbon Army matter to the end. I'll go to Muscle Tower. One dragonball hunt was enough for me-' then she muttered to herself, unheard by anyone else, 'though I wouldn't mind seeing the dragon be summoned again…'

Rayne nodded. 'In that case, we should split the three of us- she gestured to herself, Yamcha, and Krillin- by power. Yamcha and I are pretty evenly matched- I saw we go to the last dragonball, while you accompany Puar to Muscle Tower, Krillin.'

Recognizing the admission in Rayne's statement, Krillin fidgeted with shyness.

'What?' Rayne said, somewhat annoyed by Krillin response. 'Don't be humble. We all know you're the strongest of us here.' _I'll be blunt when needed. Or when_ _ **not**_ _being blunt would waste time,_ Rayne thought.

Yamcha nodded. Bulma and Puar, not being fighters, vaguely agreed with Rayne's comment.

Rayne glared at Krillin. 'No complaining out of you. You'll take the lead and you'll like it.'

'If you say so…' Krillin managed to force out.

'Good.' Rayne turned to the rest of them. 'And we're all in agreement about what we're wishing for? Information on Kakarot?'

Everyone nodded in agreement. 'Though,' Krillin said, 'we should agree on the wording on the question beforehand, considering not all of us will be there to summon the dragon.'

'Why?'

'Because the wording of the question matters, remember? The dragon grants the request to the T- no more, no less than what was said. If we ask a vague question, we'll get a vague answer that won't help us.'

'Alright, then,' Rayne relented, 'what specific question should we ask, then?'

Everyone began to brainstorm. 'What if,' Bulma said, 'we ask, "What are the reasons for which Kakarot kills people?", or something like that?'

'Honestly,' Rayne said, 'I care much more about finding out his weaknesses- so I'd ask, "What is Kakarot's weakness?"'

Krillin was about to speak up about Kakarot's tail, but then he realized- _I never told them about how I actually beat Kakarot. How I stumbled upon the only thing that could have saved my life in that scenario._ Oddly, he felt that sharing this fact was a bad idea. _Why- what's the reason…_ He searched his feelings. _Ahh. There. It does seem likely that Kakarot wouldn't let a weakness stand, wouldn't it? That he'd correct it in some way. Then again, I don't really know whether the tail was a fluke, or part of a pattern. For all I know- perhaps a wish would be useful in confirming…_

'Maybe we can phrase the question in a certain way,' Krillin broke his thoughtful silence, 'that gets us both; Information about his background and his weakness, that is. Who knows, maybe the two are intimately linked.'

'Yea, I think we can do that,' Yamcha agreed. 'We could say, "Shenron, tell us Kakarot's history and his weaknesses".'

'I think we've gone too vague again,' Puar said. 'That seems like two wishes, not one. We need to integrate them into the same statement more.'

'Hmm…' Krillin muttered, 'how about, "Shenron, reveal to us Kakarot's weaknesses and all relevant information." I think if we phrase it like that then we get to know Kakarot's weakness and the _reason_ why that weakness exists.' _So, maybe, we learn Kakarot's tail is a weakness- and why his tail is a weakness…_

'It'll do, I guess,' Rayne said. 'Yamcha and I can think of ways to shorten it while we're traveling to the last dragonball. But I think the core of the question is sound. Anyone else have any better suggestions?'

Everyone thought for a bit more, then shrugged over the space of several seconds. 'I think that's the best we'll think of, at least for the moment,' Yamcha decided. 'We should head off pretty soon then, right?'

'I think you guys can wait a day,' Bulma said. 'Sleep the night and I can double-check everything is working with the vehicles; considering the distance everyone had to travel it wouldn't be good if any of them broke on you mid-trip. I think it makes sense for Krillin and Puar fly to Muscle Tower in my helicopter, and Yamcha and Rayne travel by jeep. Muscle Tower is pretty far away.' She turned to Yamcha and Rayne. 'Sorry- if I had known this situation could have come up, I would have built a second chopper.'

'Not an issue.' Rayne said. 'Did anyone see a suitable place to bunk down for the night while we walking around earlier?'

'Yea,' Yamcha replied, 'A small dormitory on the second floor has a bunch of bunk beds. I think it's this way…'

0o0o0

It was much later at night, with nearly everyone asleep, when Yamcha was startled while he was sitting outside and gazing up at the stars. He twisted around to see Bulma skulking through the dark, a mess of metal spanners and tools in her hands. 'Bulma! What are you doing?' Yamcha exclaimed, his voice bolstered by his momentary spook.

'I couldn't sleep,' she said, as a tool slipped through her straining arms. 'I- I don't want to ask-'

'Let me help you carry that,' Yamcha said, rising and picking the tool off the ground.

Bulma agreed wordlessly, handing off most of the tools to Yamcha, and then led him inside to an impromptu workbench set up in one of the larger rooms. 'I was too excited by all the possibilities,' she said, directing Yamcha to a spot to gingerly lie down the pile of tools, 'so I snuck out of the dormitory to work through the night.'

'Work on what, exactly?' Yamcha asked, his eyes adjusting to the brighter light level inside.

'All the schematics I found! The Red Ribbon Army was, for some reason, lousy with mechanical blueprints for all types of things- vehicles, tools, weapons, even some _really_ complex mechanical/ electrical stuff, though I'm not quite sure exactly what on that last one. Some of this stuff is really cutting edge. I couldn't wait to work on this stuff- I _had_ to try and build some of it as soon as possible. Did you know that they were producing advanced _robotics?_ And not the simple turn-and-pivot type of stuff- they were producing whole kinesthetic systems, recoil dampeners...

Yamcha glanced down at his watch- a small, simple one he had taken to wearing during his training to time himself over the past few years- noting it was 3:30 AM. It dawned on Yamcha that he knew much less about his girlfriend than he had thought. He watched Bulma gleefully obsess over one blueprint, rotating it in a full circle, conceptualizing the final shape of the design. It was… really sweet to watch. _C'mon Yamcha, just say it…_ He squirmed, feeling like he was going to burst from the self-imposed pressure. Then, he successfully forced out his words, his mouth dry, moving like lead, as he said, 'I'm sorry, Bulma.'

Pausing, she turned to him, arching one eyebrow.

Nearly panicking, Yamcha steadied himself and held his gaze on her. _I've committed now…_ 'I'm sorry about how I acted back at Capsule Corp, and how I acted earlier. I was… I shouldn't have forced my own personal insecurities on you.'

Bulma's face tightened for a moment, as if she was going to lash out at him from remembering those incidents. Then, it softened, as a faint impression of sadness lined her face. 'Oh, Yamcha…' she said, the slightest bit of emotion warbling her voice.

Yamcha blinked- _water? Water in my eyes-_ and continued. 'I don't want to feel like I'm excusing my actions, but- I'm just so worried that we'll lose the good things we have now. The thought of losing you, no matter how small- it drives me _crazy_ -'

Bulma placed a hand on Yamcha's chest, stopping him. 'Yamcha- I'll be honest- I'm not very good at this.' Despite her words, sincerity was shining in her eyes. 'I'm not sure I can help you sort through what's going on in your head.' She faltered, as if hearing for the first time what she said. 'I- I don't mean to come off like-'

'It's okay,' Yamcha cut in. 'I think-' he took her hand in his, squeezing it in his own before dropping it- 'I think… could I stay here, and watch you work? Is that okay? I think… I would really enjoy that.'

Bulma furrowed her eyebrows and nodded. 'Okay then. Come over here- I want to show you this design. It's a variation of a mechanical arm- yea, you know what I'm talking about, right? It's interesting, though, because the internal frame is shortened but it has an external set-up… yes, hand me that piece… you can twist it _just_ like this…'

Before either of them knew it, the sun cleared the tops of the nearby trees, delivering bright, beautiful light to the world outside.

0o0o0

A blast of _ki_ flooded over Chi-Chi, triggering every survival instinct in her. 'Get down!' she yelled to Suno, pushing her into the snow as the top of Muscle Tower exploded outwards, throwing bricks and debris into the sky to catch in the wind and rain down like a meteor storm. Chi-Chi rolled to her right as one sizable piece approached- a moment later, a chunk of brick as big as a horse landed right where she had been. Flattened on her belly on the ice-cold snow, Chi-Chi replayed the last few moments in her head. _That_ _tree came out of nowhere and skewered the tower. A small explosion reverberated across the landscape. Then a_ _ **large explosion…**_

When the rain of debris stopped, she prodded Suno upright, who, all things considered, was taking the new developments well. Her face was drawn tight, as if bracing against any and all bad events to come. _And come they shall._ Chi-Chi had felt that small _ki_ flicker out not a few minutes ago- what was, most likely, the hostage village elder Suno had described to her. Suno was sick with worry over the state of the man. _She would cry, most likely, when she learned what happened. If I was in her position, I would, too._

The storm was unceasing- the blast had, amazingly, seemed to intensify the onslaught of snow and bitter wind, causing Chi-Chi to draw her clothes tighter around her. _Even using a little of my ki to warm my body, I'm still freezing._ She glanced over to Suno, who seemed unaffected by the worsening weather. _How does she do it?_

Sensing another outwelling of _ki_ , Chi-Chi turned her head upwards towards the blasted out top of Muscle Tower. Briefly, she saw a tall, thin figure standing near the edge, crouched into a guard, before she saw the figure disappear into the storm. Then, someone shot from the tower towards the snowfield to her left, landing in a soft _phoom_ that threw snow up in the air to be swallowed by the wind. Glancing back to confirm Suno was still on her heels- she had a quiet look of determination on her face, gazing past Chi-Chi towards the impact- Chi-Chi motioned to her and led them closer to the battle. _Storm, keep us hidden, please..._

0o0o0

Kakarot's world spun as his vision slowly focused on the buzzing clumps of snow sailing through the air above him. Shaking the snow off of him, he stood, still smarting from the blow to his block that launched him from the tower. _About time… for a real challenge!_

He lifted his head to see an outline emerge from the storm. The man in the pink long coat approached, keeping his back impossibly straight and a hand held vertical in front of him. His eyes betrayed no emotion, no feeling- nothing except deadly intent. 'A professional knows when to be candid,' he said, 'when confronted by something they did not expect. Let me demonstrate. I did not expect you would survive that blow,' he hissed, 'though, I imagine, it stings quite a lot.'

Ignoring the man's comment- and the horrible pain in his forearms he referenced- Kakarot spread his arms in front of him, bending into a guard. 'Do professionals- a professional of what, by the way?- give their names? Or is that,' he chuckled, 'unprofessional?'

'I am not amused by your sordid attempts at comedy. Especially considering that you are rapidly running out of words to speak while still alive. My name is Tao. I am an assassin. That is all you need to know of me.'

'And what about me? Do you have no interest in knowing your opponent?'

'You? An opponent? Hardly. You are a target. And I was not contracted to write your biography.' With that he rushed Kakarot almost impossibly fast, using one hand to guide away Kakarot's defensive punch while pushing two fingers into Kakarot's neck. Almost instantaneously, Kakarot lost control of his left arm and right leg, as they flopped slack. Kakarot nearly tumbled but bent his right leg back at the knee and planted it into the ground. He then surged forward and headbutted a surprised Tao, knocking the assassin backwards into a snowbank. Kakarot lifted his fist and savagely drove it into his own neck, eliciting a yelp of pain but jostling loose whatever Tao had done- he regained control of his leg and arm. _Lucky guess on my part… I need to keep him away from my neck!_

Nearby, Chi-Chi watched with avid interest. _That was… interesting. That man must have hit a pressure point, but it was more than that- he stopped all ki from flowing to Kakarot's afflicted limbs. Did he hit a_ _ **ki**_ _pressure point? Does that even exist? The precision that man must possess..._

Tao removed himself from the snowbank, brushing loose snow from his clothes as he did. He dabbed a blotch of blood from his forehead with a cloth he pulled from his pocket. _His durability so far is unexpected, but not impressive. I will have him writhing on the ground in front of me in minutes._

Kakarot finished stretching his recovering limbs, then charged his opponent. Right before he reached Tao, he dove into the snow, throwing it into the air, before launching from the solid ground beneath to uppercut Tao underneath the chin. Tao simply smiled, however, and twisted away before gripping Kakarot's outstretched arm. He pulled and kneed Kakarot in the gut, before delivering a chop to the crook between Kakarot's neck and right shoulder. Kakarot howled in pain as his arm spasmed, then nearly exploded as a halo of _ki_ rushed out from where Tao had hit him. The ki began detonating uncontrollably, surprising Tao, who was knocked back by the uncontrolled explosion, blinded by its sudden production of light. Kakarot dropped to the ground, being buffeted by additional explosions from his arm before regaining control over his _ki_ use and stopping its wild flood out of his body. Nearby, Tao glared on unbelieving, the front of his surcoat singed and charred. _The amount of raw ki he must possess to do that… it's unfathomable!... True, he looks tired- but for any other person, using that much ki would have knocked them unconscious, if not dead!_

It occurred to Tao he couldn't rely on traditional methods to incapacitate his enemy in this fight. So far his target has shown an uncanny resilience or reactionary power to any move Tao attempted. _Very well, then. I will revert to the long way._ Unclasping his pink long-coat, he threw off his clothes onto the snow behind him, revealing his bare chest and using a small part of his _ki_ to compensate for his slight loss in warmth. He called out across the snow-ridden field, 'I know I disregarded it earlier,' he yelled over the screeching wind, 'but I am now curious as to what your name is.'

Snarling, Kakarot bared his fists. 'Kakarot! Your end!' he screamed as he charged Tao once more.

0o0o0

Chi-Chi watched as the tall man and Kakarot traded a series of savage blows, all precision lost, as heavy strikes sunk deep and were traded between them. Kakarot was like a rolling ball of destruction, lashing out in each and every direction, while Tao resembled an old, tempered weapon- a well-honed tool that when used with technique and skill could obliterate any enemy. They danced with damage, moving ever so slightly this way or that in an attempt to land crushing hits on each other. It became obvious that Tao was, at the very least, more accurate and more pressing on offense, but Kakarot continued to tank blows that would have staggered normal fighters, taking hits to ensure some form of retaliation. Fists and legs would fly, disappear and reappear, in the whirling storm of snow. It began to dawn on Chi-Chi how stupid her whole plan was. _There was no way I would have been stronger than Kakarot- and now I know the gap between us has widened even more- to interrogate him for answers_ _ **and**_ _prevent him from killing me. How was I going to accomplish this if this maniac wasn't seriously weakened or incapacitated in some way?_ Her thoughts rocked back to the move Tao had used earlier on Kakarot's neck. _Hmm…_

Next to Chi-Chi, Suno watched with awe and terror. _People this strong exist?_

A deafening blow snapped both Suno and Chi-Chi out of their thoughts- Tao, with a straining look on his face, had caught Kakarot's right arm at an angle- he had placed his left hand in the crook of Kakarot's elbow and brought his right hand down in a chop near the end of his forearm. A _crunnchh_ followed the shockwave as Kakarot's arm broke, sending Kakarot whirling back, stunned.

Chi-Chi gaped, and instinctively used one hand to cover Suno's eyes.

Kakarot righted himself, however, and blocked the next one of Tao's blow with his left arm, now leading with that side of his body. Tao furiously dodged a new onslaught of Kakarot's blows- and then amazingly, Kakarot surprised Tao by hooking the fist of his broken right arm right into Tao's face. Kakarot's fracture worsened- Kakarot himself screeched in pain- as his arm assumed an even more garish appearance. Once Tao recovered, sensing blood, he redoubled his attack on Kakarot.

Blow after blow fell down until Kakarot could barely keep his left arm out in front of him. Reeling back in pain, Kakarot's guard was broken as Tao pummeled into him, turning his body into a punching bag as crushing strikes rippled through Kakarot's body. Tao finished his onslaught with a jumping kick that Kakarot barely brought up his arm in time to block with. Without another arm to cushion the blow, the tell-tale sound of bones cracking filled the air. Kakarot's left arm bent back slightly in the middle of the forearm, far farther than it should have. This time, his second arm broken, Kakarot fell backwards into the snow, squirming in horrible pain on the ground.

Chi-Chi nearly gasped. _There's going to be nothing left of him at this rate!..._

Panting, Tao, shoulders drooping, planted one foot on Kakarot's chest. 'I will give you this one blessing,' he practically spat, 'that I will only cripple you as much as it is necessary to prevent you from getting up again. Then, you shall be granted a quick, merciful death.' Tao then pressed his full, _ki_ enhanced weight down, bending and then breaking Kakarot's chest inwards. Kakarot voiced an utterly despairing mix of pain and choking, as it sounded like his own lungs were being crushed by the weight of the attack.

Before she knew what she was doing, Chi-Chi found herself standing, charging Mercenary Tao. _This- he's dying but-_

Mercenary Tao, half-surprised, calmly regarded her for a moment before he raised one hand and extended a finger. A thin gold beam shot out of it, moving faster than Chi-Chi could see. Then she felt her right shoulder burst into agony as she collapsed to her knees. Her right arm flopped uselessly at her side- the beam had skewered her and had severed a tendon. _How… how?_ She mentally stuttered, as Mercenary Tao sized up his new opponent and approached. He stopped in front of her, looming over her, his face dominated by disgust. 'I hate cowardice,' he said, his voice dripping venom, 'and I hate interlopers even more. Unfortunately for you,' he raised one hand, serrating the edge of it with _ki_ , his eyes focusing on Chi-Chi's neck, 'I have come to expect these things.'

The hand swung down- and missed Chi-Chi's body as Tao was thrown forwards, colliding with Chi-Chi and rolling over her. Kakarot, enraged, bloodied, his body barely functioning, had slammed into Tao's backside like a rocket, every edge of his body sparking and buzzing with energy- he charged himself like a human bolt of lighting. His screams, Chi-Chi dully noted as she was pushed into the snow, pierced through the cacophony of the storm around them. Her vision swam, as bright yellow, pink, and white exploded around the sailing mass of Kakarot and Tao's bodies, sending them convulsing a few feet further to plunge into a snowbank. Kakarot's supercharged body released its energy at that moment, shooting arcs of _ki_ in random directions and exploding the surrounding snow outwards. For a brief moment Chi-Chi felt the air of the storm push past her, then slowly return to the scene as the force of Kakarot's attack subsided. Still gripping her torturous shoulder, she rose to her knees, then her feet, as she staggered over to Tao and Kakarot. She belatedly realized that Suno had come to her side, stabilizing her as she walked. They cleared a high drift of snow, and looked upon the scene before them. Kakarot's body was piled atop of Tao's. Neither moved.

Fearing the worst, Chi-Chi diverted precious _ki_ from her body to reach out and sense their life energy. From Tao… nothing. She turned it towards Kakarot, finding… something. I _mpossible._ Both arms broken, his ribcage nearly caved in- but Kakarot still breathed, shuddering from every burning breath that snuck in and out of his body.

Chi-Chi stared down blankly at Kakarot, a single thought threading through her mind. _My chance. Our chance._ Grabbing one of Kakarot's legs, and motioning Suno to do the same, they began pulling Kakarot body through the piling snow. Fortune shined on them- the blizzard, at last, began to die.

0o0o0

Dr. Gero's eyes lingered over his console, waiting to see if a relay was broken, or if something had gone wrong with his receiver.

Minutes passed, then hours. Nothing changed in the slightest. The Red Ribbon Army was _gone_.

He breathed a sigh of relief, running his hands through his long gray hair. _If this had happened even a few months ago, the loss of support would have been catastrophic…_ Dr. Gero moved away from the console to a nearby door, and walked through it. Another short walk and he entered a larger, much more impressive chamber than the one he was previously in. A generator hummed in one corner, drawing geothermal energy deep from the Earth's core. In the other corner, a small extractor was buzzing with activity, unearthing all sorts of useful metal and material from the surrounding mountain.

In the center of the room there rested a single workstation, surrounded by a maze of mechanical struts and harnesses, all designed to be oriented facing the center of the room.

 _Yes, it would have been disastrous… but_ _ **now…**_ He walked to the central workstation, and ran a hand over the newly-constructed surface of it. _I have all the time in the world._

0o0o0

Everyone bid their farewells a few hours after dawn. A few more hours after that, and Krillin very nearly crashed the helicopter.

'Krillin!' Puar screamed, buzzing around in the helicopter's cockpit, 'watch where you're going!'

'Don't you think I was!' Krillin yelled back, as he pulled hard to bring the helicopter to a mid-air stop. 'You saw it too; this tower came out of nowhere!'

Puar pressed her cat-face to the glass front of the cockpit. Her eyes tracked upwards. 'I wouldn't really describe this as a tower… more like a pillar. And I can't see an end in sight.'

'That's it, I'm landing.'

'What? Why?'

'Call it curiosity. Or anger that someone nearly caused an aerial collision by building this stupid tower in the middle of nowhere. Or… I don't know, I feel the need to investigate this, I guess.

Puar squinted at Krillin, then turned to look out of the windshield again towards the tower. 'I guess Kakarot isn't going anywhere anytime soon,' she said, a note of wryness and hesitation in her voice.

'Hold on- I'm bringing the helicopter down.'

'I float, remember?'

'Oh. Right.'

* * *

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** Yep. Kakarot's looking for the challenge Colonel Silver had mentioned to him. He had to do something to fill his time before the tournament.

 **Belsareth32:** Thank you for the review! And I'm glad you like it!


	19. Specters of the Past

Escalation

Chapter 19: Specters of the Past

A/N: Hey! Sorry for the minor delay of a few odd days. I'll be traveling a lot over the next month, so expect updates at a somewhat slower pace.

* * *

'Well,' Krillin said to Puar as he returned to the landed helicopter, 'that was a big waste of time. The locals who live at the base of this,' he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder towards the strange, thin landmark, 'didn't build it- they just live here and guard it against intruders. It's some sort of sacred thing to them. Odd though, that pillar; I walked up to its base and tried to see the top of it- I _swear_ , it went past the clouds…'

'If it's some sort of sacred monument,' Puar said, 'why did they let you walk around it so casually?'

Krillin shrugged. 'I think their chief said, 'you have a pure heart', or something like that. Because of that, he explained, I could interact with the tower as much as I want.' Krillin paused, running the last statement through his head again. 'How would he even know that?' Krillin asked, frowning from confusion. 'Can he really tell that just by looking at me?... Either way, that's kind of creepy…'

'Hmph,' an unsure Puar vocalized. She glanced towards the village behind Krillin, then said, 'Krillin, I have some news. Bulma sent us a message- a distress call was triggered from Muscle Tower, then all communication from the base ceased. She thinks the base was destroyed.'

'That's… odd,' Krillin said, his mind switching gears from the previous topic. 'There's not many people who would take on the Red Ribbon Army head on- unless-' Krillin's eyes widened. 'Could it be him? Kakarot?'

'No way to know for sure unless we check. Though… to be honest… going there, knowing he could be there, makes me nervous...' Puar floated unsteadily in the air, consternation plain in her eyes.

'Don't worry Puar,' Krillin reassured her, 'I agree. It'd be a bad idea for the two of us to go after him alone. I guess we're lucky that Kakarot did our job for us- and that we learned this _before_ we showed up. He's given us more time to prepare for the tournament.'

'For you to prepare, you mean,' Puar reminded.

'Yes, yes,' Krillin said as he gestured, agreeing.

Puar went silent, thinking. _So if the Red Ribbon Army is gone… where does that leave me? I'm still no closer to finding my fellow shapeshifters. I can't- and I won't face down Kakarot again. For the first time in a_ _ **long**_ _time, I actually feel… useless._ She glanced at the former monk- he seemed preoccupied with a thought. _A part of me wants to stay next to these guys, fighting with them against whatever comes next- but, at this point, I'd just be getting in the way. Even way back when, in that first battle with Kakarot… that was beyond me, even then. It was a miracle that I survived that unharmed._

She coughed, snapping Krillin back to reality. 'Krillin, if we're not flying to Muscle Tower… then I think I'll part ways, at least until the tournament. I don't think Rayne and Yamcha will need any more help to find the last dragon ball- though, just to be safe, I'll check in with Bulma. Sound good?'

Nodding, Krillin furrowed his brows, seemingly returning to his previous thought. He made no move to leave.

'Uhh… Krillin? Are you coming with me?'

Krillin, still scrunching his features, glanced over his shoulder, his eyes landing on the mysterious landmark that dominated the sky above them. 'I don't know how to explain it; something deep down tells me I need to investigate that tower a bit more. Do you mind heading back to Bulma by yourself?'

'Not a problem,' Puar responded, shapeshifting from her natural cat form to a young human woman. She climbed into the cockpit. 'You're not going to have a problem getting to the tournament if I deprive you of this helicopter, will you?' she asked.

'We're, what, two days away from the RR Headquarters from here by foot? I can manage. Thanks for the offer, though.'

Puar smiled and saluted. She started the engine and in the space of several seconds, the helicopter was ascending upwards.

Krillin waved her goodbye until the helicopter crested out of sight over a nearby ridge of trees. _Alright. Time to do some 'sleuthin'._

0o0o0

Languidly, at the pace of a trickling stream, sensation flowed back to Kakarot. He first became aware of the tactile surface he was laying on- soft, not hard like the ground or wet like snow. It was… cloth, yes. A few seconds later, Kakarot felt waves of pain batter at his mind, nearly causing him to black-out, before gritting and grinding his teeth until the worst of it had passed. Exhausted after only a few moments of consciousness, he nonetheless found the will to open his eyes. Through adjusting eyes, Kakarot saw a dark, dim room around him. Before he could even begin to think, a voice slid out of the darkness, cutting through the still scene. 'You're awake,' the voice stated. Kakarot thought he could hear a tinge of surprise, but he wasn't sure. He began to rise from the bed- _yes, that's what I'm on, a bed-_ before another wave of pain swept over him, coursing through him as he collapsed back down. Dimly, he felt his arms burn- he looked down and saw that each one was heavily wrapped and tied to its own long wooden plank running down the lengths of his forearms. _This- I- I remember now. The battle, that man-_

'I wouldn't recommend moving,' the voice commanded, moving closer to Kakarot. His eyes focused on an older girl, her right arm in a sling. She approached with one hand extended threateningly. _She's… wait…_

Chi-Chi pressed her hand to the crevice between Kakarot's head and neck- _just like Tao did,_ she thought. Kakarot's vision swam after a few moments until she released her grip and stepped back. 'You, Kakarot, are at my mercy. If you want to live, you'll answer my questions, immediately and fully. Understand?'

Internally, Chi-Chi was trembling. _Why would he cooperate with me, anyway? He'll refuse, and I'll be forced- forced to do what I promised to my dad. I find out_ _ **why**_ _Kakarot attacked us, or he dies-_

'Okay,' he said, grimacing as he settled the aching muscles in his body. _I can't do anything in my current state. Best I bide my time… like in that village, with those soldiers, way back when…_

Chi-Chi blinked, then motioned with her good arm. Someone exited the room behind her and closed the door. Kakarot hadn't even known someone else was in the room. Chi-Chi then dragged a chair to face Kakarot's bedside. While this was happening, Kakarot realized that he was tied to the bed. _Lovely_.

She paused after sitting, studying him. 'I want to know,' she began, ' _why_.'

'Why?' Kakarot said, 'Why what?'

'Why everything. Why you kill without consideration. Why you annihilate innocent lives,' she said evenly.

'Because I want to,' he stated cooly.

'Why,' Chi-Chi repeated.

'Because,' he replied slowly out of irritation, 'I like to kill.' _But that's not true, is it? A lie dressed up as fact, both to myself and others._ Registering his internal conflict, Kakarot added, 'in some cases.'

Chi-Chi rose from her chair and ran her fingers through her hair, glaring down at Kakarot. 'So human life means nothing to you? Nothing at all. You see no consequences to killing. You don't see… the lives you destroy.' Images of that first wretched scene played through her mind- when her father had led her to a farmhouse that was utterly devastated by an attack. _His attack._ Thoughtless, random, nothing taken save for the human lives that lived there. _Because of_ _ **you**_ _, Kakarot…_

'Why should I care about the lives of a few humans? I'm not-' but Kakarot stonewalled himself, nearly dipping into a plunging trench of his identity. _I'm… of course I'm not human. How would I think them as worthless if I myself was one? It can't be…_ Kakarot strained to think- his earliest memories were dragged forward- and remembered nothing before the years he spent with that old man in the forest. _I was… content? Was I or was I not? Even that memory feels colored by an impulse just out of sight…_

Chi-Chi watched as Kakarot seemed to drop out of the present. _He didn't give me a straight answer. Could he have given me a straight answer? Does he… does he not know who he is? What he is?_ Circling, she said, 'You said before that you like to kill people- but only in some cases. What do you mean?'

Attentiveness returning, Kakarot narrowed his eyes on his captor. 'I enjoy killing people who have challenged me. I do not enjoy slaughtering pathetic weaklings,' Kakarot stated bluntly. Subtly, Kakarot tried to move his left hand out of the rope binding- but the pain radiating from his forearm prevented him from maintaining the movement. Cursing under his breath, he relaxed his arm.

'That,' Chi-Chi uttered, 'is odd. If that's the case, then why do you still attack and kill innocent people?'

Kakarot briefly considered telling her the first and eminent reason that came to mind- _to eradicate all life from this planet_ \- but immediately the thought felt foreign, like his mind would have never thought of it in a million years. _I- but I don't want to think about- Err!…_ Kakarot willed through every mental and psychological wall that rose in opposition to his will, determined to finish his thought. _I… there is nothing in my life that explain this urge; my desire to harm humanity. I was never grievously wronged by a human. No feud, no grudges. That old man, and that soldier... they both showed kindness in their own way._ His mind delved deeper and deeper into questions long suppressed, hidden from his day-to-day consciousness. Confronted by a wave of building confusion, Kakarot could do no more than state how he felt. 'I don't know,' he whispered into the dull echo of the room.

It occurred to Kakarot that this was new. He had never discussed his past, his proclivities, his torturous, untraceable knowledge to anyone. Never had he felt… the urge to. Or had the opportunity to do so. It was exhilarating and frightening all at the same time.

He braced himself for more questions, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth to hold himself together. Seconds passed and none came. A soft sound of rubbing drew his attention back towards Chi-Chi. She shook her head softly, almost reverently, as her eyes bored down on the floor before lifting to his own. _Was that… pity?_ Kakarot thought he saw a trickle of liquid amble down Chi-Chi's right cheek, a faint smudge in the dim room. _You… you can't pity me._ He turned his head away, trying desperately to block out this time, this place, this _girl_. _You're not allowed to pity me..._

0o0o0

'This,' Rayne proclaimed as she swept her arms over a dark, mawing cave, 'is it. Try not to leap from fright.'

Yamcha looked at her quizzically. 'Leap? What's gotten into you?'

'Oh, I'm just trying to make this a little exciting. This is basically the climax of our dragonball hunt- over before it began. I just don't want this iteration to be a lame one.'

'You do remember the Red Ribbon Army base we single-handedly defeated not less than a day ago, right?'

Rayne bristled. 'Yes, I remember quite clearly how the two of us were next to useless, while Krillin single-handedly decimated the leadership of the Red Ribbon Army.' She paused a moment, then shook her head. 'Just get in the damn cave.'

'Fine, fine,' Yamcha acquiesced, throwing his hands up in defeat. 'You're _sure_ the dragonball is in this cave? Doesn't make much sense how it would get here, of all places…'

'Why do you think I said: "leap from fright"? I think,' she proposed, as she climbed over an upturned shelf of rock, following Yamcha inside, 'that someone took the dragonball and brought it in here, and then set up a bunch of challenges for whoever wanted to claim it. Something to prove they're worthy of the wish.'

'Jeez, really? Where'd you get that from?' Yamcha's voice reverberated strangely in the uneven chambers of the cave. 'It's… hmm…' _How_ _ **would**_ _a dragonball get inside a cave?_ 'Alright, fair enough. We'll keep our eyes peele…'. Yamcha disappeared around a corner, swallowed by the black of the cave. Rayne groped her way after him before rounding the corner. She bumped into the back of Yamcha. 'Hey! What's-' she trailed off as her eyes adjusted to the low level of light of the chamber. They were in a gigantic atrium, walls cleanly hewn and tapered from a half-sphere ceiling to run vertical down to the ground. Two braziers burned softly on top of a raised entrance in front of them. A small, decrepit woman, dressed like a witch, sat on top of a floating, cloudy crystal ball.

'This looks promising,' Rayne whispered into Yamcha's neck.

'Welcome!' the old woman greeted them, swinging her arms exaggeratingly. 'Welcome to my home. It's been so long since I've had any visitors!'

'This is your home?' Yamcha asked, his eyes skeptically swiveling from either side of the cave.

'Of course! Who do you think keeps it so clean? Look around you; it's spotless!'

Yamcha, admittedly, could barely see. 'It looks…' he said hesitantly, '...good.'

'Fantastic!' the old woman clapped. 'It always feels nice when others notice your hard work! Enough pleasantries though- it's time you two came inside. The dragonball is waiting; as well as _other_ important matters.'

'Wait,' Rayne said, edging out from behind Yamcha, 'How do you know we're here for the dragonball? And is there a- a test?'

'No test!' Then the old woman gave them a look that was strikingly familiar. 'Today I repay a great debt; though not on my behalf.' She turned on her crystal ball, and then floated towards the doorway behind her. 'You know my brother,' she said, not looking back, 'the Turtle Hermit, of course…'

She exited the chamber, leaving behind her the stunned expressions of Rayne and Yamcha. The former bandit gulped, before turning to Rayne. 'Karma, right?' he said uncertainly.

'Come on,' Rayne uttered, dragging Yamcha by his arm further into the cave.

0o0o0

'You should know that it has been many, many years since someone has succeeded in climbing this tower. It is an incredibly taxing climb that offers no chance to rest; If you run out of energy, there is nowhere for you to go except down.'

A tall, immensely muscled man with the color of darkly roasted chestnut faced Krillin with his arms folded. At his feet a young child clung to his leg. 'Additionally, no one from our village has ever, in our entire history, climbed the Sacred Tower of Korin,' he said. 'You will truly be fighting precedent while you ascend.'

Krillin eyed the tribal chief, who was easily four times his side. 'So, that means you've never climbed the tower, correct?'

The man nodded. 'Yes, that is correct.'

A determined look spread across Krillin's face. He hopped backward, raising his arms in a guard. 'I want you to punch me,' he said.

The man looked amused, but then his expression slowly soured as he realized Krillin wasn't joking. 'You,' he said slowly, one eyebrow raised, 'wish to challenge Bora, the chief of the sacred tribe of Korin?'

'I'm not challenging you. I just want you to punch me; if you do that, and I can take it, then that means I at least have a shot at climbing the tower.'

Bora processed this, then shrugged. He cocked back one of his meaty fists.. 'Remember,' he warned, 'you asked for this.' He flung his arm forward, muscles rippling as the kinetic energy collided with Krillin's block with immense force. The former monk's body was driven a few inches into the dirt from the strength of the attack. Bora drew his arm back, expecting to see the stranger splayed out. Instead, he saw Krillin still holding his guard up, unharmed, and smiling through his arms. '

I think,' Krillin said as he lowered his arms, noticing the shocked expression on Bora's face, 'I have a chance.' With that, he walked past the man to come to the base of the tower. As he readied himself, he heard Bora say behind him, 'Good luck, stranger.'

Without turning, Krillin nodded and began his ascent.

0o0o0

Suno was scared, but she didn't show it. Helping Chi-Chi to drag a mangled body back to an abandoned dwelling on the edge of town- that was frightening. It was even more frightening that they had saved the boy who had single-handedly destroyed Muscle Tower. And- the most frightening thing of all- they were now helping that boy to regain his strength. This boy, who could destroy an entire base like _that_.

She trusted Chi-Chi's instincts, though. So, every morning Suno carried food and water to the house where Kakarot rested, exchanged curt greetings with Chi-Chi at the door, and spent the rest of her day trying to ignore the massive threat present in her village. She couldn't share in the celebratory mood felt by her family and friends in Jingle Village. With Kakarot here, she could only sit and hope.

0o0o0

Kakarot turned in his bunk, having heard an unclasping of the door to his right. In the gloom, he heard an exchange of plates, a few whispers, and then the closing of the door. _Without fail, for days and days, they've fed me and tended to my wounds. Why?_

The girl- who he had learned was called Chi-Chi- approached him, stepping into the light on his end of the room. In her hands, she carried a plate of food and a glass of water. She stopped five feet from him, staring at him, then placed the plate at her feet. Chi-Chi drew close to him, bringing the glass of water to his mouth, letting him drink. While he did, Chi-Chi said, 'Half now, half later.'

Drinking thirstily, Kakarot felt no ill will. _Knowledge for survival is a fair trade, after all. And I don't think she realizes how quickly I heal…_ Even now, after a few days, Kakarot felt the flesh in his arms knitting back together- soon he would be able to escape easily. _Until that point, then…_

She withdrew the glass, placing it next to the plate on the ground. As Chi-Chi had done repeatedly over the past few days, she sat down in a chair next to Kakarot, eyeing him. 'Kakarot,' she finally began, 'I think I understand.'

'Understand what?' he asked, tersely.

'Understand why you are who you are. _Everything_.'

Kakarot made no attempt to disguise his snort of disbelief. 'You must be stupid _and_ insane to think that you know me.' But this statement wasn't as vitriolic as it should have been- instead, it was quiet, vulnerable, a weak defense against a coming reckoning. Internally, Kakarot railed against his own storm of emotions. _This girl and her leading, probing questions!..._

'You,' Chi-Chi broke through his haze, 'don't even know who you are, do you? You kill, destroy, fight- but you don't know why.' Her gaze held on him, unflinching. 'You feel like a slave to desires you don't know or don't possess.' Her voice glided across the room, buoyed by the blunt reality of her words.

Kakarot would never agree to such bold claims. Yet, he couldn't force himself to say no. He turned his head away, afraid of showing whatever emotion was bubbling onto his face.

'Even in your greatest moments of achievement,' she continued, 'you feel hollow. Failure haunts you more than anything else.' She leaned forward, imposing over Kakarot. 'I still see the fear we put in you from all those years ago. You remember what we did, yes?'

Kakarot wrenched his gaze away from the wall, studying her- and his memory bloomed. _She doesn't look the same- but it's her! How did I miss it before? She was one of those..._ _ **those!...**_ Rage and anger flitted across his features, as he contemplated- contemplated was too weak of a word- exploding this entire house with his _ki_. 'Your words are puny and weak, just like you,' he snapped. 'If you think you know me, then you're wrong. I have killed countless people- I have defeated enemies you could only dream of fighting. I decide what lives and what dies on this planet, me alone! I am a PROUD SAIYAN WARRIOR, ABOVE CREATURES SUCH AS YOU!' His yell savaged the room, shaking freestanding pots and furnishings, staggering Chi-Chi out of her chair, her features a mass of fright- no, it was discovery, _what did- what did I just say?_ \- Kakarot shrank beneath his rage, coiling around himself as best as he could, withdrawing his head beneath the covers.

'Please,' he pleaded, like someone dying of hunger begging for bread, 'leave me.'

From beneath the sheets, he heard nothing for a moment. Then, the tell-tale sound of a pair of feet retreating skimmed across the room. Within seconds the door to the house closed, and he was alone. Alone with his thoughts. Tears trickled in runnels down his face, staining his sheets and clothes. _"Saiyan?" The word that has eluded him for so long?_ He forced his mouth to repeat the word, enunciating every syllable silently. _Saiyan. I can never forget what that is- who_ I _am..._

 _Saiyan…_

0o0o0

Every inch of Krillin _ached_. Five minutes into his climb, his euphoria and bravado had been superseded by a dawning realization of the difficulty of this climb. Thirty minutes into his climb, he slowed his pace to best conserve his energy. Six hours after that, he waded into the cloud line.

That was… he didn't even know how many hours ago now. A whole day might have passed, for all he knew. _How is this even possible?!_ Krillin thought in righteous rage, as the succession of arms and legs rising upwards became mechanical, inhuman, as if their sole purpose was to grasp and push. He sucked in air; he suspected he was out of breath partly due to the height, but mostly because of his exhaustion. Bora was right- there was no chance to rest while climbing. The brief breaks he had chanced had done no more than give him a fleeting moment of pause, useful for steadying his bouncing head but not much else. His arms felt like stretched coils of rope, sticking together through sheer will alone; his legs burned with every thin purchase he found in the thin tower. Of course, all these pains were amplified by the zero-visibility setting he found himself in. A massive cloud had dogged the tower for hours, obscuring Krillin's sight to a handful of feet in every direction.

He was truly losing his mind. Climbing blind for hours on end, his body screaming, his eyes straining to see _anything_ beyond the tower pressed against his body- a tower, mind you, that was infuriatingly uniform and repetitive. Krillin's mind was stuck- he repeated a single question in his exhausted mind, over and over, as his body continued pressing forward; _Why bother building a tower if every damn part is going to look the same!?_

Then, as if answering his prayers, a dim light started to shine above Krillin. He wearily lifted his eyes skyward, saw the light- _that must be the sun!_ \- and his eyes widened in shock. In a moment he was speeding up the tower, burning through whatever energy he had left, to- _oh please, please let me see the sun again before I die!..._

Arm after arm, leg after leg, he pulled himself upwards, the cloud dissipating in spurts around him, granting the scene around him blessed light. He felt the sun start to shine weakly on his shaved head. Its warmth empowered him- his strides become stronger, faster, as he accelerated, virtually sliding up the tower, as all pretenses of weakness were discarded. He bolted out of the last remains of the cloud, greeted by a warm, sunny day. And- an end. Fifty feet above Krillin, there was a circular platform, no more than maybe 30 feet across. It curved upwards- it seemed to be taller than it was wider.

With a goal in sight, Krillin easily finished his climb, drawing out every ounce of energy left from his body as he pulled himself over the edge of the tower. He collapsed onto the platform, panting as the tension in his muscles fled his body.

He laid there, his eyes closed, until something wooden tapped the center of his forehead. Krillin opened his eyes and standing above him, silhouetted by the sun, was a short, white cat, with a small staff in its hand. The cat tapped Krillin again, a bit more forcefully this time, after Krillin had stared silently at the strange sight for a few moments. 'Hey!' Krillin barked, swatting the stick away, 'stop that!'

'Ah,' the cat spoke, 'so he talks!'

Krillin gaped, before manually using his hand to close his mouth. _Oh- so it talks._ 'You're… speaking?'

The cat huffed _._ 'Well, that's a rude thing to say.'

'But- but you're a cat!'

'So? Haven't you met other talking "animals"? I swear, some people are so narrow-minded…'

Krillin suddenly realized that, actually, he _had_ talked to many other "animals"- not least a certain floating cat. _I… well, this was pretty ignorant of me._ Blushing from embarrassment and shame, Krillin stuttered, 'I'm so- I didn't mean to-'

The cat brought his staff down one final time, hitting Krillin painfully on the forehead. 'Ow!' he exclaimed, pouting.

'That's what you get for being rude to me in my own home,' the cat said sternly, grumbling.

Rubbing his forehead, where a small bruise was welling up, Krillin glanced around his surroundings. It was… very modest and austere. This floor was entirely flat, featureless. A stairwell led downstairs, presumably to where this strange cat person lived. A sigh drew Krillin's attention back to the occupant.

'Regardless, welcome to my home. Korin's Tower. _My_ tower.'

'So you're Korin?' Krillin asked, trying to size up the cat as politely as possible without coming off as dismissive.

'The one and only,' Korin said, smiling. 'You,' he lowered his staff, pointing his staff towards Krillin, 'have done something that hasn't been done in centuries. You have successfully climbed this tower.' Korin angled his staff vertical again to lean on it. 'Tell me- sorry, what is your name?'

'Krillin.'

'Krillin, tell me; why have you sought out the famous Korin? Do you desire fame? Power? Wealth?'

'Fame? For myself?'

Yes! You'll receive fame for being associated with me!'

'You're famous? Really?''

A vein bulged on Korin's forehead. 'Yes, the famous Korin! The immortal cat, the patron of all honorable martial artists. Surely you've heard of me!'

Krillin shrugged. 'If I'm the only person in centuries to climb this tower,' Krillin speculated, 'and if you stay up here a lot, how would anyone know about you?'

'What about the tribe at the foot of the tower!' Korin said exasperatedly. 'They must have told you about the illustrious Korin!'

'Well, actually, they just seem to worship the tower… I don't think they know, or remember you…' Krillin finished awkwardly, fiddling with his hands.

Korin turned away from Krillin and put his head into his free hand. _My own lifestyle has betrayed me!..._ He shook his head, sighed, and swung back to Krillin. 'Your logic is sound, as _sad_ as it is. I guess that punk centuries ago wasn't much of a talker…' He shook his head again. 'Shame. Anyway; my original question. Krillin, tell me- what is it you desire from me?'

Krillin thought for a moment, scratching his head. 'To be honest, I just wanted to climb this tower. I was curious. Well, that, and a little indignant. I didn't expect to meet a talking cat…' Krillin frowned, then said, 'I don't know what I desire.'

'Don't know what you desire? You're a curious one,' Korin commented. 'I can help with that.' Korin approached Krillin and motioned him to lean his head forward. Krillin hesitated, then acquiesced, tilting his head.

Korin extended one cat paw and placed it on Krillin's head. All at once Krillin felt a thousand images and thoughts of his mind be upturned, examined, rifled through, as if his own memory was being emptied and refilled. Time passed- how long, Krillin had no idea- and then he found himself falling backward, flopping down on his butt, panting. He found his bearings, and looked up at Korin. The cat had a grave look in his eyes. 'I'm sorry for that,' he said, 'for what just happened. It usually isn't that stunning- but the grief, the burdens you carry… I'm sorry for _everything_.' The way he said it, Krillin immediately sensed, was genuine and sincere, as if Korin had lived through every gut-wrenching moment Krillin had experienced.

'Did you- did you' the former monk sputtered.

'I read your mind, yes. I saw… _everything_.' Korin seemed to lean on his staff heavier than before. 'Your past three years- your fights, your triumphs, your losses. I saw a great shadow looming over you, blotting the sun with its sheer size. I think- I think I saw him. Kakarot.'

Krillin continued to stare at Korin, hollowed-eyed and knowing.

'I understand what lies behind you- and what lies in front of you. You have a great many challenges to overcome. So I will train you to overcome them. You have.. less than two months before the World Tournament, yes?'

Krillin nodded, sluggishly.

'Then I will teach you all that I possibly can in that time.' A small grin fluttered onto Korin's face. 'It's the least I can do for a pupil of my pupil.'

The last statement fully shook Krillin out of his stupor, realization dawning on him. 'Wait, so that means?...'

'I taught the legendary Turtle Hermit himself.'

0o0o0

Rayne and Yamcha followed the old woman single-file down a narrow rock corridor. The paths twisted and turned, fluctuating in height up and down, making the journey more disorienting than it already was. The only light was the dull glow that emanated from the old woman's crystal ball. 'Is there any reason,' Rayne said after a time, 'why this path is so disorienting?'

'This route is essentially the shortcut to my inner chamber,' the old woman explained. 'The other route is filled with nasty booby traps and arenas- best to avoid those for the sake of time.'

Yamcha gulped behind Rayne. 'Yep,' he muttered, 'for the sake of time…'

A few more minutes and they arrived at a simple wooden door, wholly brown save for a dull bronze doorknob. The old woman gestured for them to go forward. Rayne gripped the handle and pushed the door open.

They found themselves in a homely room, furnished with a tea table, couches, chairs, carpets, even a fully complemented tea set. Somewhat surprised by the quality of living found within a cave, Rayne and Yamcha allowed themselves to be herded to a couch by the old woman.

'There. Comfortable?' the old woman asked as she began levitating the tea set, pouring cups for them.

Rayne and Yamcha were both impossibly submerged into the couch. Fighting out of it- and out of her own comfort- Rayne sat up and verbally assented.

'Let's get to the matter at hand, then,' the old woman continued 'and get formalities out of the way. My name is Baba. What are your names?' Baba asked, levitating steaming cups of tea to them both. Where and when the cups were heated, they had no idea.

'I'm Rayne, he's Yamcha,' Rayne gestured to the former bandit with her free hand. She accepted the cup of tea and took a sip- _WOAH._ She glanced into the cup, trying to discern what was used to make it. Some sort of greenish-orange plant was spindling out and off the side of the cup. _This is the best cup of tea I've ever had. In my life._ She took another sip, drinking greedily, then poured another cup for herself. Yamcha, once he had risen sufficiently out of the couch to try the tea, reacted similarly.

'My, my,' Baba said, 'enjoy the tea, do you?'

Rayne and Yamcha nodded vigorously, each downing another cup.

Baba made a motion with her hand, and a wrapped mummy shambled into the room, who picked up the tea set and took it to a room behind Baba. 'Hey!' Yamcha exclaimed, slurping his last cup of tea, 'bring that back! We weren't done!'

'Trust me,' a grinning Baba advised, 'you're don't need to drink any more of that stuff. You've had _more_ than enough.'

'Wait,' Rayne asked suspiciously, 'enough for what?'

'Enough for the next part.' Then Baba's eyes seemed to gloss over, before snapping back to a defined iris. 'By the way, that plant is hard to get! You should be grateful that I gave you as much as did!' As she said this, the room started to swim and shift before Rayne and Yamcha's eyes- but it wasn't disorienting or alarming- it was more like an _expansion_ of their senses. A white film started to bleed into their sight, layering over everything within the room save for themselves. Baba smirked and placed two hands on the orb beneath her. The room began to spin, as thousands of individual white films splintered and shook, as if she was clearing away a spiderweb. The spinning continued until but one thin sliver of white film remained. Slowly, it straightened, then expanded, as it began to spread down to touch the ground. Wisps started to coalesce as legs, arms. torso, as a man slowly formed before their eyes. The head came last- the figure before them was an old man, his face framed by a bushy white mustache and eyebrows. His gave an easy smile, fully appearing before then as a nearly white specter. 'Hello there,' he said.

Rayne was absolutely rattled. Yamcha looked confused, then turned to Baba, saying, 'Is this a ghost? I can't think of any other explanation for what I'm seeing.'

'You are correct, Yamcha. This is a ghost- or more _politely_ , Gohan the ghost, formerly a human martial artist.'

'How… how is this even possible?' Rayne asked, stupefied.

'You think _this_ ,' Baba chuckled, 'is unbelievable?' She exchanged a knowing glance with Gohan. 'You're in for a surprise one day, girl.'

'Okay,' Yamcha interrupted, 'but even _if_ ghosts exist, how are we seeing one right now? Aren't they supposed to be invisible?'

'Right again, Yamcha. Ask yourself this, though; what do you think I put in your tea?'

The gears started turning in Yamcha's mind. _Drank tea. Felt weird. Now I'm seeing ghosts. Which means…_

Yamcha suddenly cried, holding his head between his head. 'We're DEAD- WE'RE GHOSTS!' he shouted in shock.

Rayne looked down at her hand, examined it, then pinched it. Feeling a bit of pain, she then pinched the hysterical Yamcha, who moved away with a yelp. 'Yamcha, if we were ghosts,' Rayne pointed out, 'then we shouldn't feel any physical pain,' she looked towards Baba for confirmation, 'right?'

Baba nodded. 'The tea I gave you lets you _see_ ghosts, not _be_ them.'

Rayne leaned back, folding her arms, satisfied with her deducing. Yamcha took a moment to collect himself, then turned back towards Gohan. Baba motioned Gohan to begin.

'I don't have very long,' Gohan clarified, 'and neither do you two- that tea's effects fade very fast- so I'll be brief.' He paused, uncertain how to proceed. 'I think it'll be easier if I start from the beginning, and share with you my perspective of what happened, and why. Open your minds to me, and I, with the help of Baba, will show you everything.' Baba came to the side of Gohan, somehow placing a hand on his intangible form

Rayne and Yamcha exchanged hard glances, then nodded for him to go ahead.

Immediately they were both drawn away from the current scene, feeling themselves be wrenched from their minds as, slowly, their vision re-focused. They were seeing out of the eyes of Gohan, in a forest somewhere on Earth. The old man walked down a path- a path he had walked a hundred times before, judging by how casually and appreciatively he strolled. _It wasn't a noteworthy day_ , a voice drifted into their minds, _in retrospect. This day, however, might turn out to be the most dreadfully consequential day in the history of humanity._ Gohan continued to walk through the forest until he heard something on the very edge of his hearing. He paused, listening, and identified a weak cry to his right. Concerned, the old man waded into the forest's thicker parts, brushing aside branches and bushes, until he emerged into a small clearing. The scene before him was grisly- a small, naked baby with a tail was impossibly raked by claws, bleeding from what seemed like every inch of its body. It lied atop of a mangled bear corpse, bloody and unmoving. Through Gohan's eyes, Rayne and Yamcha saw them approach the baby. _I did what any decent person would have done. I didn't question how this baby had seemingly fought and killed a bear, or why it was in the middle of the forest by itself. In that moment, my only concern was saving that baby's life._ Gohan crouched down as he reached the baby. Rayne and Yamcha could now see- the baby's hair was identical to Kakarot's. _Ghosts can have regrets, as it turns out._

The scene faded, then reformed, as they now looked down on a more slightly grown and healed Kakarot, who was stumbling around outside as a young toddler. Rayne and Yamcha knew instantly this was a gaze of concern, worry- but not for Kakarot. A small bird was on the ground near Kakarot, pecking at some seeds at its feet. Kakarot sighted the bird, and Gohan watched with sadness as Kakarot launched himself forward and sloppily slammed a fist down on the bird, laughing. When Kakarot raised his hand and found the bird crushed underneath, he suddenly cried, and ran back to Gohan, who took him in his arms and lifted him. _That was what stopped me, you see, from doing what needed to be done. He killed animals for fun, with a terrifying lack of conscientiousness, no matter how hard I tried to teach him that it was wrong. Yet, he always ran back to me after the act, seeking my calm and protective arms, crying- though crying from what, I don't know. I was terrified that a person would wander into my lonely stretch of forest and be brutally killed by Kakarot. And I couldn't leave the forest with him, seeking outside help; I couldn't risk exposing him to others as long as he was killing every thing he saw. So, I lived as best as I could and acted as Kakarot's keeper in an effort to shield as much of the outside world from him. I let him out of the house as little as possible during the day, and I never let him be alone at night when he could get out of my sight. I spoke to him, taught him how to speak, but beyond a few words here and there (which was usually his name), he never spoke, nor informed me of the state of his mind. He was… unknowable, in the strongest sense of the word. Perhaps I should have been satisfied that he never tried to kill me. I suspect that, because I saved his life, he felt an attachment to me- but that didn't extend to learning from me in any meaningful way. For years, this went on, to the point where I started to go mad._

The scene shifted again, this time reforming in a dimly lit room, except for a lone, thick candle burning brightly on a desk. Hands were sorting through a stack of handwritten notes. _I began studying Kakarot, writing down my observations. I wanted to learn as much about him as possible while we kept each other imprisoned. I discovered that grabbing his tail immobilized him, which became very useful in stopping him from running off to kill any wildlife. I probed his ki; while it was strong, what astounded me more was its purity- it seemed that from birth he could easily and efficiently call on ki at a moment's notice. Only a rare few humans can claim to possess that sort of talent. It was at that time that I realized that Kakarot was a grave threat to the entire world. If, at only the age of 3 or 4, he had better ki control than 95% of the planet's population, and if he trained himself with a singular purpose- well, I didn't dare to think how strong he'd be as a grown man._

 _The years were getting to me. I grew careless and despondent with the fears I harbored. One night, 6 or 7 years after I had found him, I woke up with a start as the entire house shook. I ran outside and saw Kakarot gazing towards the full moon._ The scene described blossomed into view, the shade of night lit by the luminescent moon. Gohan stood a few feet away, saw Kakarot stare at the moon almost hypnotically. Then, Kakarot began to _thrum_ and shake, as if his heart had grown ten sizes larger and was pumping vicious blood through him. Hair spurted over every open space of his skin; large canines rose in Kakarot's mouth as he howled, more beast than man. He started to grow in size.

Gohan sprung into action, grasping Kakarot's tail- but the paralyzing effect that action would have had was gone, as Kakarot continued to grow unabated, until he was taller than the treeline and hair covered every inch of his body. He howled towards the sky, the sound blotting out all thought within Gohan's head. Kakarot was a monster- his large, red eyes, were set deep into his ape-like face, save for a dog-like, elongated mouth and nose. The ape moved impossibly quick- the strength and speed of this monster were beyond anything Gohan had ever seen. Moments before Kakarot's massive foot stomped down on him, knowing there was no way to escape his imminent death, Gohan summoned his energy and lit himself like a _ki_ flare, shooting his energy out to his surroundings. Then the foot came down and crushed him like a bug.

 _That was how I died,_ the voice said after a moment of turgid silence, as the scene slowly faded into nothing. _I had hoped that my master, Roshi, would be able to sense my desperate last act, and do what I could not. He came close to killing Kakarot- but he failed too. The rest is, as they say, history._

Rayne and Yamcha then found themselves back in the room with Baba and Gohan, blinking rapidly as if their eyes had been open for a long period of time. Gohan, who was fading, nodded to Baba, who took her hand off him. 'Now you know my story,' he said solemnly, 'of how I failed. I hope, however, that through telling you of my mistakes, you will not repeat them.' His voice seemed to pass in and out of existence- he was truly running out of time. 'Please- rectify.'

'I don't understand!' Rayne cried out, 'what do you want us to do? Do you want us to kill Kakarot?'

Gohan smiled sadly, then made a motion with his head- but he had faded too much, and it was impossible to see whether he agreed or disagreed with what she had said. 'Remember what I told you,' he echoed, now nearly gone, 'and above all, remember his strengths and weaknesses, they will…' he faded, then his voice vanished, as his outline disappeared. He was gone.

'He was going to finish,' Baba added, 'with, "they will be crucial in defeating what is to come.' She tapped her ball. 'Sorry for the connection going out at the end, but this beauty here picked up everything.'

Rayne's eyebrows knitted, feeling more anguish than she thought possible for a ghost she had never known in life.

Yamcha sat forward, his hands creating an arch that he rested his head on.

Neither were very loquacious at the moment.

'I think,' Baba said after several silent seconds, 'I will leave you two to your thoughts, to process. what you had just heard. When you're ready to discuss, just yell.'

'What,' Rayne said slowly, her mind still lost in what had just transpired, 'is there left to discuss?'

'You two have a tournament coming up,' Baba grinned, 'and I know some fighters who are _very_ eager to help you train…' Baba left the room after that comment, hovering away on her crystal ball.

If Rayne and Yamcha had noticed she had left, they didn't show it.

0o0o0

Chi-Chi had spent the last twenty-four hours embroiled in thought. _Saiyan? What is that?_ Her last talk with Kakarot had been unexpectedly revealing. She now had a word, albeit a meaningless one, to assign to him. _He's… a Saiyan. Alright. That's something._ Feeling the chill of the weather, she pulled her coat tighter around her, gazing out at the snow-covered landscape beyond the village. Her shoulder ached from the cold. Her arm was slung across her body in fabric.

There were other revelations about the nature of Kakarot. He was, first of all, very troubled. The confusion and despair he possessed for his own purpose were palpable- Chi-Chi was nearly overwhelmed on numerous occasions by the sheer weight of his hurt. _Something we never considered, in all these years of fear; he was as broken, if not more, than us. His gnawing pain of loss and lack of direction._ She saw it now- and saw too much. The more she had come to know Kakarot, the more she sympathized with him. Which, she reminded herself with dreadful seriousness, was an incredibly dangerous thing to do. _The moment I start to believe his motives, his reasons- then I deprive myself of all willingness to choose his death over the death of my friends._ She laughed, feeling for the first time a similarity to Krillin's own moral troubles when dealing with Kakarot. Though, in his case, that was due to his own character, not because he _knew_ Kakarot.

She had also learned of, through peering past the turmoil of Kakarot's soul, a small chance of redemption. _As corny as that sounds._ _He doesn't enjoy killing aimlessly- he enjoys killing as a means to find a challenge. It's still morally wrong, but regardless- he's not the monster we painted him as._

That fact was what Chi-Chi was having the hardest time accepting. _We spent so much time demonizing Kakarot- he had, after all, hurt us all profoundly, in one way or another way. Fighting him to one day kill him was easier when we saw a stark, black canvas. But now… I could never accept that view again. I've seen too much of the person underneath._

What was she going to do? She couldn't keep Kakarot tied to a bed forever, as his body slowly healed to meet and surpass her own level of strength. Inhibiting him was out of the option- she was too injured herself to permanently affect him in any meaningful way, barring rolling the dice and clumsily trying to put what she had seen Tao do into action. She realized, abruptly, that she had put this entire village at risk, not least Suno, who given her a spot to keep him captive and had had Chi-Chi's back the whole way through. _She didn't deserve this burden. I created it- I should have been the only one to bear it._

The sun, hazy and distant in the winter sky, was high in the sky. Chi-Chi sighed. _Time for the visit, then._ She turned and walked for a few minutes towards the house where Kakarot was being kept. When she reached the door, she heard rapid moving inside, and rushed inside in a panic. She saw Suno rapidly turning over the sheets of the bed. The empty bed. Suno spun, dread fear in her eyes, 'He's gone,' she half-whispered, half-shouted across the room.

On a nearby hill, Kakarot had watched Chi-Chi run into the house alarmed. He frowned from pain- he had moved quickly to escape undetected. His body certainly wasn't 100%, but it had healed substantially; breaking out of his binds had been simple. In fact, he could have done so several days ago. _So why didn't I?_

For the second time in his life, Kakarot felt… a warmth towards someone else. He had not enjoyed delving into the maelstrom of conflict within him. With that girl's help, however, he had learned more about himself than he thought possible. Things long forgotten, and in some cases, things he had never consciously known were rising to the surface of his mind, as if together they had thoroughly dredged from him all tangible and relevant facts.

He was a Saiyan. He did not belong here- he was, at least, sure he did not belong on Earth. That old man, long ago, had caused him to forget his proud origins. His Saiyan instincts had remained intact, but his mind had lost the crucial pillar to his existence. Some of what he remembered was unclear… but he knew he had been sent here, to fight and rise above the muck of this planet. So far, some humans had proved strong, even formidable.

That had to change. Kakarot had wandered aimlessly for too long. Starting at that tournament- blood will spill, penitence for his years of mindless destruction. He would kill every human, consecrate this planet in death, starting with the strongest. His campaign of total destruction would start as it should have all those years ago.

His blood felt hot, raging, even burning with anticipation. _My instincts…_ _they cry out with approval. This tournament shall be the final bright moment for humanity- seeing their champions battle valiantly to the end. I shall rid this planet of life, then leave to find my kin. And that will the end of it._

0o0o0

'Do you think they'll be alright with this? Truly?'

Rayne was tying a satchel to the side of her jeep- the three-star dragonball, ready to join the six others that Bulma had spirited away to Capsule Corp for safe keeping. In response to Yamcha's question, Rayne tightened the knot she was working on. 'Gohan told us a ton of useful information about Kakarot. That combined with the training we did with Baba's warriors should be more than enough to handle anything he could throw at us.'

'Alright then.' Yamcha walked over to the passenger's side of the jeep and climbed in. 'On to West City, then to the tournament? I hope that detour won't make us late.'

'Trust me,' Rayne said as she sat in the driver's seat, 'I'll be looking to offload this orange target,' she gestured to the hitched sack in the back, 'as soon as possible.'

From the mouth of the cave, frowning, Baba sat on her crystal ball, watching the jeep start and drive away. _They're not prepared for what's coming next._ _Not in the slightest..._

0o0o0

A few weeks later, In a deserted corner of the tournament grounds, three figures descended from the sky, landing on a tiled path. Arranged in a line, an elderly man broke out of formation first and walked forward, examining the area, before turning to face the other two. One was pale and tiny- the other was tall, muscular, and bald, with- startling to strangers- a third eye on his forehead. Both were clothed in the robes and surcoats of the old man; it was obvious that they were his students.

'You both understand your mission. The murderer was neither subtle nor tricky- he cared nothing for hiding his foul act. He is _here_ , at this tournament, flaunting his pitiful power. Both of you,' he swept her arm out towards them, 'have been trained to the highest degree, and are, without question, the best students among your many talented classmates. There are no two people better suited for this task.'

The two students focused their harsh, serious attention on every word of their master.

'You two are _Crane._ Now show it- defeat and kill that upstart with the tail. And while you're at it, win the tournament too. If my memory serves me right, I'm sensing a familiar… _friend_ of mine here. No doubt he will have brought his students as well.'

He examined his students for a moment longer, then turned, and said, 'Come. Let's greet the competition.'

0o0o0

Across the grounds, Master Roshi, his now alerted eyes hidden beneath his sunglasses, _loathed_ what was coming. _Don't I already have enough on my mind, Universe? Are_ _ **all**_ _my enemies and rivals going to pop up today? Might as well bring out the Demon King Piccolo while you're at it… hah-hah. Don't actually._ At his side, Retu and Launch, clothed in their own Turtle school _gis_ , waved. Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, Krillin, Rayne, and Chi-Chi were all fast approaching. Master Roshi felt an ounce of pride well up from within him. _And grown stronger they have. I wonder, though,_ he thought, turning his head towards the main grounds and eyeing the resplendent wooden arch shining in the sun, _will it be enough?_

* * *

A/N: Another long chapter! I hope this doesn't become a habit!

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** I'm rapidly increasing the number of people I'm juggling at any given time, hah!


	20. Sheep Among Wolves

Escalation

Chapter 20: Sheep Among Wolves

A/N: This was probably the toughest chapter for me to write to date. A lot of things needed to happen for what comes next!

* * *

'Hey! Great to see you guys again!'

Krillin led Rayne, Yamcha, Bulma. Puar, and Chi-Chi over to greet Master Roshi and his two current students, Retu and Launch. Every past and present student of Master Roshi was wearing their Turtle clothes, save for Chi-Chi. 'You guys look pretty good in the _gis_ -' Krillin said to Launch and Retu, '-they suit you well.'

Yellow-haired Launch slammed her fist into her other hand. 'Orange is awesome! It'll look great when splattered with my opponents' blood!' she proclaimed.

Krillin nodded weakly, before turning to Retu, 'Hey,' he said, ruffling Retu's hair, 'you've grown some, haven't you?'

Retu beamed with excitement. 'I'm a fully fledged martial artist now! I'm going to compete and win the entire tournament!' he exclaimed. Krillin shot a disbelieving look towards Roshi, who shrugged, conveying, _I couldn't convince him not to compete._

Krillin leaned into Master Roshi's ear and whispered, 'He wasn't too much trouble, was he?'

'Not in the slightest,' he replied softly. 'In fact, he reminded me a lot of a _certain_ other student of mine.' Master Roshi winked.

Krillin opened his mouth to continue speaking, but was cut off by Rayne. 'I don't mean to interrupt, but can we continue our meet-and-greets while we walk to the registrar's table,' Rayne asked, stepping out and to the side of Krillin. 'I think we arrived a little bit on the late side; I don't want to miss the registration period.'

A few moments later the entire group was walking down the massive tiled walkway; a mix of expressions and emotions ran through them. Some looked around the grounds with awe, amazed at the sight of it for either the first and second time- it was _always_ impressive, they decided. Some walked with a cool determination, gauging every potential opponent, wondering what their weaknesses and strengths would be when matched up with that person, and him, and her…

And some walked with a heavy burden. Knowledge weighed on them, denying them any chance to savor the moment. They were an odd group indeed.

While Yamcha was regaling the rest of the group about his training exploits of the past few months- 'and I even beat this strange looking guy from hell, he was a funny one'- Rayne slowed down to come to Chi-Chi's side. 'So,' Rayne asked, 'if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your shoulder?'

Chi-Chi looked down, as if she was shying her eyes away from the bright sun. _I could never tell them about what I did_ _ **and**_ _live long enough to repair the damage that would cause. Some things… are my own business, and no one else's._ 'I pushed myself too hard training, and sprained my shoulder,' she responded after a moment. 'Completely ripped a tendon. Back luck too, coming right before the tournament.' Chi-Chi watched for any signs of suspicion, but Rayne simply nodded, eyes closed in sympathy.

'That's rotten luck. Sorry about that,' Rayne said, frowning. 'So that means you're not competing in the tournament this year, then?'

'Sadly, no. I wouldn't be very capable with just one arm.' Chi-Chi cast a warm look towards Rayne. 'Win this one for me, okay?'

Rayne smiled at Chi-Chi, wordlessly gesturing in agreement, before she dropped back again, this time slowing to walk alongside Master Roshi. 'Master Roshi,' her tone was considerably more serious, 'I need to tell you something.'

Master Roshi placidly regarded Rayne. 'Hmm?' he murmured.

'I met Gohan.'

In front of Master Roshi and Rayne, Yamcha finished his good-natured bragging and clasped an arm around Krillin in a hush-hush manner. 'Krillin, buddy, Rayne and I did some _freaky_ stuff-'

'Dude, gross!' Krillin winced, twisting off Yamcha's arm. 'What are you telling me this for? And why would you do that to Bulma? Aren't you two still dating?'

'What-' Yamcha stammered uncomprehending, before recognition flashed across his face. 'Wait, wait, wait, you don't understand. I meant freaky like, really strange, _mystical_ stuff-'

'That's- I feel bad now.' Krillin pressed on, still hung up on the wrong topic, 'I know I never said-'

'Krillin!' Yamcha grabbed Krillin by his arms and shook the former monk forcefully, shaking the thought from his head. 'We talked to a ghost! A ghost that raised Kakarot!'

A look of confusion, then a look of consideration spread across Krillin's face. '...Now, I'm no expert, but how would a ghost raise Kakarot, being a... ghost?'

'The ghost was alive until a few years ago. He raised Kakarot until he died.'

'And you talked to this ghost? How'd you pull that off?'

'We drank some hallucinogenic tea some old witch gave us-' Yamcha frowned, realizing how ridiculous he sounded. 'Not important. What _is_ important is what that ghost told us. We learned _a lot_ of stuff about Kakarot- for example, his chief weakness is his tail! If you grab it he's paralyzed!'

'Really?' Krillin frowned, thinking. 'Is that why I never saw the dragon get summoned? Because you learned this- you got your info?' A sinking feeling spread throughout Krillin's body.

'Yes. We have all seven dragonballs, but we left them at Bulma's house as a sort of rainy-day fund. Our thinking was that this tournament might have a lot of nasty surprises that we'll need the dragonballs for.'

Krillin pouted. _If I had told that stupid little fact, then maybe- they could have learned something more. I hope I made the right decision…_ 'Was there anything else the ghost told you?' Krillin asked.

'Mmm-hmm. Kakarot-Kak…' Yamcha trailed off, his eyes fixed on something in front of them. HIs feet were planted in the ground, frozen. Krillin stopped as well, bringing the entire group behind them to a halt. Raising his gaze, Krillin focused on where Yamcha was looking-

Kakarot. He was taller than Krillin remembered, maybe a bit more muscled, but that look, that cold, merciless flame still burned in his eyes, clamoring to overwhelm every entity they appraised. Dressed in a loose, simple brown shirt and pants, Kakarot purposely stood still for a second, letting himself be seen by them before entering the crowd once more and disappearing.

They all remained frozen, both physically and conversationally, while people passed around them and continued as usual. Launch and Retu were thoroughly confused. 'What the hell has gotten into you guys?' she scowled them.

0o0o0

Kakarot waded through the crowd, reassuming his anonymity amongst the gaggle of prospective competitors. _This time, things will be different. No more surprises, no more tricks. I'm at the peak of my powers. And, most importantly, I don't have a gigantic weak spot on my back anymore…_ Wagging his tail behind him, Kakarot examined the cocky faces surrounding him. _All of you will be dead by the end of this. Do you understand? All of-_

Abruptly, Kakarot walked into someone much taller than him. He growled, tried to push his way past- but the figure in front of him didn't budge. They were, amazingly, holding their ground as Kakarot applied more and more of his strength. Irritated, he looked up.

Scowling down at him was a bald teenager. An unnerving third eye dominating his forehead. _Three eyes? He doesn't look very human._

'Tell me your name,' the man punctuated his words by shoving Kakarot back a few inches- _he actually moved me!_ -, 'so that I know the bastard name of the murderer of my mentor's brother.'

 _Mentor's brother? Interesting._ Kakarot smiled condescendingly. 'Wordy, isn't that? I'm Kakarot,' the Saiyan said, trying to hide his surprise at being moved. _His posture, the way he moves-_ _he reminds of that man in the pink surcoat… wait…_

'You killed Tao,' the bald youth said venomously, 'and for that, I will kill you.' He sneered at Kakarot. 'Make peace with whatever God you pray to.' The youth then spun and vanished into the crowd.

Kakarot remained where he was, watching the crowd fill-in the space previously held by that upstart. He slowly clenched and re-clenched his fists. _I seem to have a knack for getting powerful warriors to challenge me._

 _Good. Let them come. It'll make things quicker._

0o0o0

The group was decidedly quieter the rest of the walk towards the tournament registration area. They stuck close together. Bulma and Yamcha hung on each other's arms.

Chi-Chi had nearly collapsed out of shock in that dreadful moment, where each and every one of them had been reminded of their grim situation. _Kakarot- he was- so healed! As if he had never fought that man with the pink surcoat. No-one should be able to heal that quickly..._

While she stewed with suspicion and speculation, Rayne resumed talking to Master Roshi. 'Master Roshi, don't you think it'd be a good idea for us to take him on _now_ , before each and every one of us are worn down by matches?'

Master Roshi wheeled his head to her, his eyes obscured by the dark, furtive shades bridging his head. 'I understand where you're coming from, but no. Defeating him in the ring is our best option. If he follows up on his promise and participates, he'll be as worn down by the competition as the rest of us- not to mention I'll be fresh from not competing.

'I- but Master Roshi-'

'Rayne,' he said seriously, 'If we attack him now, countless innocent people will be caught in the crossfire. If we can get him in the ring, at the end of the tournament… at the very least, it'll be easier to defend the crowd.'

Rayne's eyes lingered on Master Roshi for a second, then said, 'Alright. And about Gohan-'

'We've discussed everything about him as it is,' Master Roshi interrupted. 'I made my peace with his death years ago. My only regret is that I wasn't with you to see him one last time…' While his facial expression hadn't changed, the pain was obvious in his voice.

She looked at him, commiserating, and then reentered the larger group in front of her.

Master Roshi continued his walk, bringing up the rear. _I have failed you once Gohan; I don't plan on doing that again. Our business with Kakarot_ _ **will**_ _end. I have spent years preparing for this moment- though, even now, I would prefer if my students could handle this themselves. Time will tell… but eventually, I will have to decide whether to handle this myself, with all its hurt and sorrow that comes with it…._

A few minutes later and the group had reached the registrar's table. After registering- a few of them were recognized from the last tournament- an official enthusiastically handed out preliminary group numbers to them all. Krillin, Yamcha, Rayne, Retu, and Launch presented their numbers to each other- and amazingly, for the second tournament in a row, none of them were placed in the same preliminary group.

'This is awesome!' Yamcha said, as he checked every one of their numbers. 'We're guaranteed to reach the quarterfinals, no problem!'

'Don't get cocky,' Krillin warned, 'there might be some nasty surprises waiting for us in the preliminaries.'

'Please,' Launch dismissed, 'we're students of the Turtle Hermit himself. Who could possibly give us trouble?'

'If any of us get Kakarot in the preliminaries-' Krillin shuddered from the thought. 'It's not going to be fun.'

'Kakarot this, Kakarot _that_ ,' Launch mocked. 'All you seem to talk about is this Kakarot guy. What did he do to you that made you be _obsessed_ with him?'

Grimacing, Krillin tightened his face. He knew Launch could be antagonistic- but he felt particularly annoyed by that last comment. _What gives her the right to insult me with her ignorance?_ Just as Krillin was going to angrily admonish Launch, a figure brushed past him. their shoulders knocking into each other. Krillin turned and saw a bald teenager walking over towards the registrar. His attire was clearly centered around a "crane school" symbol. His movement and posture were frighteningly austere, as if he didn't waste a single ounce of energy. Most startling, he had a third eye on his forehead. An extremely short, pale-white kid accompanied him. 'Crane School, huh?' Krillin said, his eyes narrowing. He swung back to face the rest of the group. Master Roshi, is-'

But Master Roshi was gone. At some point in the last minute or so he had left them. '...well, that figures,' Krillin finished. 'Wouldn't be a World Tournament if the old man didn't run off to who knows where.'

'He's done this before?' Retu asked.

'Yep. At the last tournament, he was missing for practically the entire thing- until we spotted him milling around in the stands during the finals.'

'The stands?' Launch questioned inquisitively. 'What, did you see him from the ring or something? You weren't actually with him?'

'We saw his shell buck up and down at one point.'

'So you never actually _saw_ him the entire tournament, then?'

Krillin cocked his head in thought, then said, 'No, I guess not.'

A mischievous grin encompassed Launch's face. 'Isn't that interesting.' Without saying anything else, Launch checked her surroundings and skulked off deeper into the tournament.

'She's a weird person…' Yamcha spoke, 'or persons…'

Everyone else present nodded.

0o0o0

'You did as Shen asked then, Chiaotzu?' Tien was watching the Turtle School students wade into the main building, where the preliminary fights would be starting soon.

Standing next to Tien, Chiaotzu nodded. 'They've been placed in separate preliminary groups from us- them and that fighter with the tail. Though I had to place one of them in the same group as our target.'

'Not our concern. In fact, it's good that you did that- we can see how he fights up close and personal. Provided, of course, we don't waste time in the preliminary matches.'

'Since when do we waste time?'

Tien settled a warm gaze on Chiaotzu, before gesturing towards the preliminary building. 'Come on, let's get to our matches.'

0o0o0

A few minutes after his students had registered and moved further into the tournament complex, Master Roshi emerged from a nearby bush, figuring enough time had passed to register his old friend Jackie Chun. When he began to approach the table, however, a hand clasped onto his shoulder. He turned, seeing a familiar, fellow old man. 'Shen,' Master Roshi pronounced inflectionless.

'Nice to see you too, Roshi,' Shen sneered, withdrawing his hand as if he touched something filthy. 'Were you about to register for the tournament? Don't you have your own pathetic students to defend what passes for whatever _honor_ your school claims to possess?'

Master Roshi stared at Shen for a moment. Shen, coincidentally, also wore sunglasses. 'I have nothing to say to you,' Roshi said. 'What I or my students do is none of your business.' Master Roshi began to turn, before he heard a low, soft laugh escape from Shen.

'Do you think you exist in a vacuum? That no one else cares about what you do?' Shen asked pointedly.

'What do you mean?' Master Roshi said, curious. He didn't bother to face Shen again.

'I know that you have eyes on that boy with the tail,' Shen stated ominously. 'And I cannot allow that. The Crane School has marked him for death.'

'Oh? Is that so? And why might that be?'

'It's none of your concern,' Shen replied confrontationally, 'and even if you _did_ care, you would know the answer to your own question. Just remember that his defeat belongs to us, and us alone. Tell your students to get out of our way.' Shen waited for a moment, expecting a response from Master Roshi. When Roshi gave none, Shen grunted and walked past Master Roshi, approaching the spectator's section of the tournament.

`Master Roshi was thinking- not on Shen's command, which he planned to ignore, but what Shen had said before that. _I should know the answer to my own question…_ Intuitively, he spread out his _ki_ sense across the world. He searched for familiar energies. He… noticed an absence. _No, that can't be right… but he's gone. Tao's… gone._

 _Has Kakarot really grown that strong?_

0o0o0

Most of the Turtle School students had expected modest, yet surmountable, resistance in the preliminaries. Instead, they _cruised_ , in most cases knocking out their opponents in a single blow.

Krillin was surprised to see Nam. 'You're competing again, then?' he asked with a warm smile. 'I hope another disaster hasn't fallen on your village.'

Nam shook his head, then settled into a guard. 'No, this time, I compete for myself. That, and to watch my nephew soar. So, if you don't mind…' Nam charged Krillin, images of their last fight playing through Krillin's mind.

This encounter couldn't have been more different. With amazing grace, Krillin palmed Nam's first punch and then ducked underneath his second one. To Krillin, Nam moved incredibly slow. Krillin then delivered a casual, yet powerful, punch to Nam's sternum. sending the village fighter skittering back, fast and forcefully enough to make Nam fall out of bounds. Nam spent a few seconds on the ground, trying to comprehend the pain he felt- _so much strength!_ \- before a hand grasped his own, pulling him up. His vision still clearing, Nam could only stare at Krillin in disbelief. 'You have truly surpassed me,' he said, gazing in awe at Krillin. 'I am humbled.'

Krillin helped Nam to stand by himself. 'Don't be. Our fight taught me a lot.'

Yamcha and Rayne similarly blasted through their matches. Yamcha dispatched a certain smelly giant with even more ease than the last time- he just summoned an aura around him to block the smell. Rayne dispatched another former competitor- _what was her name? Rafnan?-_ After her opponent inexplicably started undressing in the middle of the ring. Rayne was immobilized from shock for a brief moment before launching her away with a kick. Krillin, Yamcha, and Rayne's collective ease in winning their groups gave them ample time to wander the preliminary hall and watch the other fights.

'Hey Rayne, over here!' Yamcha waved, pointing towards a nearby match.

Rayne approached. 'You finished too, huh? What is it?'

Yamcha gestured to the closest ring, mouthing, _look_.

The fighter from earlier- tall, bald, third-eyed and fierce-looking- was facing a darker skinned fighter with an afro and a billowing yellow robe. 'Do you see him?' Yamcha asked, excitement leaking out of his voice.

'Yea- the fighter from before,' Rayne answered lamely.

'No! His opponent!'

Rayne studied the man opposite of the tall youth. 'I… no, I don't know who that is,' she gave up after a few moments.

'That's the legendary King Chappa! Surely you've heard of him?'

A blank stare from Rayne.

'You really don't know anything about the history and lore of martial arts, do you?' Yamcha asked.

'I _was_ a member of a paramilitary organization from birth,' Rayne reminded him.

'Fair enough. That man,' he pointed at the dark-skinned fighter, 'is King Chappa. He won a previous World Martial Arts Tournament when I was really young- maybe the 20th or 19th one. He became an instant celebrity; I even had a poster of him on my bedroom wall.'

'A poster?' Rayne inquired, a hint of amusement in her voice.

'I was going through a phase.'

Before they could continue their conversation, a reverberating blow rang out through the hall. They swung back to the ring to see King Chappa motionless, one arm outstretched and his body posed as if he was about to strike his opponent. The tall youth, however, had stepped around the arm and was pressing the edge of his hand into King Chappa's neck. A split-second later, King Chappa collapsed to the ground. The referee quickly checked the pulse of the fallen champion. 'He's still alive,' she said, 'for your sake. You do know that if you kill anyone in this tournament-' she looked at her clipboard- 'Tien, you'll be instantly disqualified. Do you understand?'

Tien glowered at her, then gave a curt dip of his head saying, "yes".

'That was… horribly effective,' Rayne said after a moment.

'I think,' Yamcha said, 'I can add another person to my "hope to never fight"' list.

'You and me both.'

0o0o0

Krillin, wandering towards the end of the building, unintentionally stumbled upon Retu, who was bowing towards his opponent. Who was _-_ Krillin's heart stopped. _No._

Kakarot gazed maliciously, noticing Krillin's gaze ping-pong between himself and his opponent, Retu. Retu was stretching energetically, a bright smile on his face.

 _I can stop this_ , Krillin though, rushing forwards to the ring, _I can stop this before it even begins_ -

He felt a mysterious tug, then a full stop arrest his body, freezing him ten or so feet from the ring. _I- why can't I move?_ His eyes darted to either side of him, then spied a face looking towards him-

The pale white kid from before. His eyes were locked with Krillin's. A single hand was extended in the former monk's direction.

 _Is… is this telekinesis?_ Krillin tried to move this body again, trying harder to this time- but it was like he had been encased in stone. He was powerless.

Krillin swung his gaze back towards the ring. Retu and Kakarot were preparing to fight. He intensified his efforts to move- he tried to move, speak, do _something_ to tell Retu to resign from the match- but he could barely move his eyes. _Please! This won't be a match! Don't do this!_ His eyes pleaded with his pale captor- but the eyes that looked back were emotionless.

He could only look on in despair as Retu and Kakarot charged each other.

Retu began a complex series of moves, blending the heavy style of his uncle Nam with the defensive capabilities of the Turtle School, but Kakarot easily kept out of his range, edging to the left and right when necessary to avoid Retu's blows. Seeing the ineffectiveness of his initial moves, Retu ramped up the pace of his attacks, burning through his energy. He succeeded in forcing Kakarot to start block- but not a single hit landed on Kakarot beyond that. It was obvious in the space of half a minute that Retu stood no chance.

Krillin looked back at the pale kid- _Please!_ \- but now he was also watching the fight unfold, eyes focused on the scene in front of them. Krillin also saw the tall, three-eyed youth emerge on the other end of the ring, gazing intently towards Kakarot. Krillin's eyes flung back to Retu; the kid's expression slowly soured from exertion. _Of all people-_ _ **why him?**_

Kakarot planted his feet in the ground, and blocked one blow from Retu- then, for the first time, he stepped forward, slamming a knee into the kid's abdomen. Retu gasped as pain shot through him, falling to one knee. Short, ragged breaths fell out of him before he coughed and spat onto the ring. Retu looked up, his teeth splattered with blood- but there was still that same look in his eyes from before; uncompromising determination.

Standing ominously, Kakarot waited for his opponent to rejoin the fray.

Krillin felt himself loosening- he was now flaring his _ki_ in an attempt to break free. He saw the pale kid turn back to him, droplets of sweat running down his face. _He can't do this much longer! Come on! I need to STOP THIS!_

Retu closed again with Kakarot, yelling, as he unveiled a technique of his uncle's. 'Eight-palmed strike!' Retu shouted, as his arms seemed to blur until it seemed like there were _eight_ limbs sprouting out of his back. Palms and jabs assailed Kakarot, a storm of strikes bouncing off of Kakarot's confident defense. Kakarot wasn't idle on offense- for every blow Retu managed to glance off of him, Kakarot returned the damage twofold, hammering into every inch of Retu's body. Retu's attack slowed, then devolved completely as he sank to the ground, completely out of energy and aching from his injuries.

 _That was… everything he had,_ Krillin realized.

Kakarot lorded over him, then planted his foot on Retu's chest, knocking him back and pinning him to the ground. Retu squirmed feebly underneath Kakarot.

'A recent opponent of mine crushed my ribs,' Kakarot said. 'It was _excruciating._ So I will do something even worse to you.'

In one movement, Kakarot brought his leg out and to the side, and whipped it into Retu's head. Retu's head jolted to the left, his eyes rolling over, as his struggling slowed, then ceased. A small dent was now present in Retu's skull. Utter silence descended on the ring and the surrounding onlookers.

 _He's- he's-_

'He's not dead,' Kakarot informed, before taking his other leg off of Retu's body and turning. 'I know the rules of your tournament.' He gave a casual wave as he walked off and away from the ring.

An explosion of movement erupted around the ring. Numerous tournament medics flocked to Retu's side, checking his heartbeat and breathing, as well as Krillin. He couldn't even reach his one-time pupil's body- he was blocked by a wall of people. A part of him was about to flare his _ki_ outwards, knock everyone in front of him out of the way, just to get to Retu-

A hand grabbed his arm, stopping him from charging forwards. He turned, the tall, three-eyed youth had stopped him, with the pale kid at his side. 'I- we didn't mean,' the tall youth began with a tone of regret.

Krillin was furious and devastated; the two emotions coursed violently against each other in his veins. He aggressively ripped his arm away from the tall youth's grip, Tears streaming down Krillin's face, he staggered back, his mind drunk on misery and anger. He cocked his fist to strike the crane students- then he halted, and let his hand go limp. He asked, half-distraught, half-furious, 'Why?' before sighting the medics taking away Retu on a stretcher and chasing after them.

Tien and Chiaotzu watched the grim proceedings make it way through the hall, hurrying as best as it could through a heaving mass of people.

'Tien,' Chiaotzu said neutrally, 'I know we have a mission to kill that boy with the tail, and garnering information is critical to succeeding- but was that the right thing to do?'

Tien watched the crowd reform in the wake of the medical convoy, and said nothing.

0o0o0

Launch couldn't have sneezed at a worst time. Right when she needed that fire, that drive to win, blue-haired Launch manifested in the ring, hesitantly staring down her hippo-man opponent.

Luckily, she soon discovered that she was strong enough to lightly _push_ the fighter out of the ring. The hippo-man nearly completed a full flip before landing painfully in a jumbled heap of his own limbs. Blue-haired Launch stared down at her victorious hand, disbelieving that she had that much power. _I… I did that. I beat that man._ A grin snuck onto blue-haired Launch's face, reminiscent of an expression her other side would display. _I'm strong. I think I'm starting to get it, other me. No more of us being pushed around._

As she walked off the small ring, she inadvertently stepped in front of someone else, who promptly collided with her. 'So sorry!' an old man apologized, 'I get so clumsy in my old age, haha!'

Launch waved away the old man, then blinked. She stared at him. _Wait a second._

The old man was dressed in black robes- his gray hair pulled upwards like a sheet. And his face… _there's something familiar about that face..._

Feeling a bit nervous from the attention, the old man said sorry again, and then quickly moved away towards another section of the hall. Launch continued to watch him, studying his movements. _No, that can't be… but I've spent three years with that man; that gait is unmistakable. That's-_ then Launch sneezed violently, startling the other fighters around her with its loudness. Yellow-haired Launch wiped her nose, then lifted her head to glare five times as harsh in the direction the old man had left. _Master Roshi! You bastard!_ She was about to run off after the old man when Rayne stepped into her path, a grim look on her face. 'Rayne,' she began to say, 'get-'

'You need to come with me now,' Rayne said. 'Retu's been injured.'

0o0o0

Chi-Chi, Bulma, and Puar reached the stands. A few seconds after they sat, something beeped in Bulma's pocket. 'Huh, that's weird…' she mumbled as she examined the device she had pulled out.

'What is it?' Chi-Chi asked, trying to peep over Bulma's shoulder to see whatever she was looking at.

'It's... nothing.' She pocketed the device again. 'Apparently, someone re-entered the Red Ribbon Headquarters recently, but nothing was disturbed or taken. Considering I cleared that base out of anything useful- no, it's really not important.'

'Red Ribbon Headquarters? What's that about?'

'Oh!' Bulma exclaimed. 'Right, you weren't there. We took the Red Ribbon Army down, for good.'

'Like,' Chi-Chi snapped her fingers, 'that? I find that hard to believe.'

'It's not like it was much of a challenge- at least for Yamcha, Krillin, and Rayne, and you if you were there. Don't you remember how weak their soldiers were? None of them were actually trained to go toe-to-toe with an accomplished martial artist.' Bulma cocked her head, her eyes looking away. 'Though, admittedly, we got some help. There seemed to have been a power struggle- their leader was dead before we arrived. At the same time, their other base was inexplicably destroyed at some point around when we attacked their HQ. So yea, we did get a little lucky.'

Chi-Chi nodded and shifted her gaze towards the currently-empty main ring of the tournament. _Yes, you did._

'Chi-Chi,' Bulma cut through her thought, 'I've been meaning to ask- was that you who took out that other base? Is that how you got injured?'

 _Too smart. Too smart by_ _ **far**_ _._ Chi-Chi turned to Bulma, her eyes meeting her's, pleading. 'Don't tell anyone.'

'Chi-Chi,' Bulma laughed, 'no need to be so serious! What you do with your own time is no-one's concern. I'm-,' a corner of Bulma's mouth twisted, '-we're just concerned. You are injured, after all…'

'I know it was a dumb decision,' Chi-Chi muttered. _In more ways than one._ 'But…' She struggled against herself, trying to find the right words. _Please, I don't want to lie any more than I have to._

As if Bulma was reading her thoughts, she said, 'Like I said, you don't need to explain anything, Just remember we can back you up.'

Again, Chi-Chi nodded, while her mind was racing away again.

0o0o0

Yamcha, Rayne, and Launch hurried down a hallway towards the medical wing. They were told by a passing tournament official- delivering the news insultingly casually- that their fellow student Retu had been injured and taken to the medical wing during a fight. It was only when they found Krillin sitting outside the surgical wing, clasping and unclasping his hands together in anxiety, did they understand the gravity of the situation. Krillin could do nothing more than look up at them in anguish, before turning back to his hands, kneading and squeezing them.

Yamcha exchanged a few uncertain glances among Rayne and Launch before crouching down to be level with Krillin. 'Krillin,' he said softly, 'what happened?'

Krillin twisted his head away, speaking towards the open end of the hall, 'what do you think happened? _He happened._ '

Launch uncharacteristically stayed silent, glancing between Krillin and the door to the surgical wing. Rayne grimaced, before crouching down as well, crowding around Krillin with Yamcha in support. Yamcha wrinkled his nose in anger, then frustration, before rising emphatically. 'We know what we need to do, then. Screw Master Roshi- we need to take out Kakarot _now_.'

Krillin remained seated, gazing into his hands. Rayne noticed the strength Krillin was wringing his hands with- _anger_. She sensed there was something else. Ignoring Yamcha's comment, she asked, 'Krillin, what else happened?'

Again, Krillin turned his head away, before saying, 'The Crane students stopped me from intervening. I _let_ them…'

Rayne huffed, feeling a heat rise to her face, before softening her expression. _Now's not the time for anger. Not yet._ Carefully, she gripped Krillin's head between her hands and drew it to rest against her body. The moment Krillin's head touched Rayne, he started crying, soft and bitter.

Shaking with anger, Yamcha twisted his face, then spun on his heels, storming off. Launch glanced at Rayne- who shrugged, and mouthed, _stop whatever he's doing._ Nodding, Launch turned and set off after him.

Watching her go, Rayne realized that, out of all of their friends, she was here, holding Krillin. _Okay,_ she thought, as another sob wracked Krillin's body. _Okay._

0o0o0

Having finished and qualified for the main tournament, Tien watched his friend Chiaotzu dispatch another ridiculously dressed competitor with a well-placed strike. Thankfully, Chiaotzu had nearly qualified so this wouldn't go on for much longer. _Thank Kami. I could do without this time to stew to myself._

Tien and Chiaotzu had spent years training under Master Shen- they had dedicated their entire lives to learning martial arts as students of the Crane School. Tien lived, ate, and breathed his master's teachings, spending every waking moment training himself harder.

It was hard to remember why exactly he had started training in the first place. Perhaps he was motivated by a righteousness to defeat evil, or a desire to grow stronger. Ultimately, though, it didn't matter now; training had become so ingrained in his life that it became a habit, a constant repetition- it practically _was_ his life.

He wondered whether his younger self would approve of his actions. He used to be more idealistic, and he didn't care for that blind adoration of the inexperienced- but he did desire… well, he wasn't sure _what_. Had he lost something, in these years of training? Something important?

Indirectly letting that Turtle School fighter be so grievously injured- he realized now that that wasn't necessary. They could have let that bald kid intervene right before the end, before their target viciously wounded his opponent, without losing out on any potential information. Sadism was not a useful fact to know when constructing a strategy. _So, that begs the question: why did we let that happened?_

His mind reached back, recalling some of the earliest lessons Master Shen had taught them. Tien remembered a young boy who had entered the dojo at the same time as himself and Chiaotzu. The boy was a bright, happy kid, who Tien would often run off with after training to explore the grounds of the school, back when the dojo seemed so fresh and new. They would chat for hours on end about their anxiety about joining and where they grew up- it was a genuine friendship, Tien reflected. For a few months, they were inseparable.

Tien couldn't remember the circumstances of when and why, but one day a 'special' day of training took place. They couldn't have been more than a few months into their lessons when Master Shen's brother, Tao, visited. The first thing Tao did was drill with each student individually, one at a time, in the central open area of the dojo. With every fighter, he utterly and completely dismantled their defense, hammering blow after blow into them. He would command every student to rise up once more after being knocked down. This rising and falling of every student would continue until Tao's opponent physically couldn't get up anymore. At that point, their spar would end.

Multiple students were horribly injured. Some had bones broken, other had limbs burned and cracked. Tien himself escaped with only a dislocated shoulder, which, he remembered, forced an earlier exit for him than for others.

When it came time for Tien's friend, after being knocked to the ground once, he refused to get up again. He said that he didn't think that this was training- he said it resembled torture. Tien remembered the distinct expression of disgust that rose on Tao's face, in sync with his friend's words. This time, Tao didn't wait for his opponent to get on his feet again- he extended one finger and pierced Tien's friend in the chest with a spear of _ki_ , drilling straight through a lung. Blood sputtered, then frothed from the entry point of the attack. Tien's friend gasped and nearly choked on his own blood right then and there before being taken away from sparring area.

He never recovered. His wound got infected and he died a week later. Tao and Shen would remind everyone in the class after that point that the only person to die that day did so because they refused to stand and fight.

Thus began Tien's adoration for Tao, his perpetual mentor… but now he wondered whether he had failed to see something in Tao then, all those years ago. He had thought for the longest time that his friend had proved himself a coward by refusing to stand up while he still had the power to do so, but seeing that Turtle fighter being injured like that- Kakarot going out of his way to permanently injure someone who was so far beneath their level- it reminded Tien of that day with Tao, and his friend who died an early death. _Was there a true purpose for Tao taking that extra step, injuring that kid? What was the point of that?_

Tien blinked. Chiaotzu was standing over another fallen fighter and was being proclaimed the winner of his preliminary group. Tien sighed. _That's over, then. Time for the real competition._

0o0o0

Jackie Chun had felt Retu's life energy drop like a rock. He wished he could have sped to his side immediately, see what he felt immediately- but he was infuriating stuck in a series of preliminary fights. He dismissed his opponents as quick as humanly possible, and when he heard the tournament official began to proclaim him the winner of his group, he raced off, not even giving the official enough time to pronounce a single syllable beyond his name. Jackie Chun sped through what he sensed were empty corridors, making his way towards the medical wing. He carefully avoided Krillin and Rayne's returning _ki_ signature- _best to avoid that conversation-_ and approached the room where Retu was from the other side. The medics and surgeons had left- that much was obvious from the lack of sound coming from the room. Quietly, Jackie Chun slipped in.

The room was small- but even so, Retu looked pathetically small curled up on the single bed. Master Roshi came to the side of the bed, his hands resting on the metal railing. Retu's chest rose and fell slowly, his heartbeat monitor beeping normally. Master Roshi let out a pent-up sigh of relief. _He'll live. Yet…_ Master Roshi's eyes jumped upwards, towards Retu's head. On the left side of his head, a prominent dent now occupied the back corner.

Jackie Chun snapped his fingers in front of Retu. Nothing. He clapped. Still nothing. Panicking now, Jackie Chun took Retu by his shoulders and shook him as much as physically acceptable for an injured person. Nothing. At one point Retu's eyelids flapped open- and his eyes were still rolled back in his skull. He was completely unresponsive.

He pulled away, unable to look at Retu any longer. _How could I be so foolish? I should have known better than to expect so much of them…_

 _And I should have known they'd be prepared to give_ _ **everything**_ _. They are my students, after all._

0o0o0

Yamcha pushed his way past dejected fighters- the primary composition of the preliminary hall now that the eight finalists had been all but decided- searching furiously for the Crane symbol he had spied earlier. _I'm going to make them pay- or Kakarot- whoever I find first!_

He was livid. Angry beyond what he had thought possible. Angry that Retu had been so grievously injured and that Krillin had done exactly what he shouldn't have done- descend into a crying mess. He knew that, on some level, he should have stayed with Rayne, comforting Krillin; but the sight of him like that enraged Yamcha. He couldn't bear to see Krillin slowly self-implode, like so many times before. Yamcha also knew that he should have been more concerned about Retu- _a coma, oh, a coma_ \- but his rage was all-consuming. He was now at the point of physically shoving away people who were slow to get out of his way. _I'm tired of bullies and monsters hurting us. Hurting others. I'm-_

 _There._

He sighted the bald youth from before- no doubt that pale white brat was around, too. He beelined for the three-eyed freak-

Launch came from the side and grabbed him, digging her feet into the ground. 'Woah!' she hollered, as Yamcha struggled against her.

'Let… go of me!' he said, trying to worm his way out of her grip. 'I need to do this!'

'Yamcha,' yellow-haired Launch said evenly, 'look at me- if anyone should be clocking someone for what just happened, it should be me. But this… doing this by yourself is stupid. _Dumb._ '

Yamcha scrunched his face, tried to break loose again- then relented, gritting his teeth. 'Damn it, you're right…'

Launch sighed, then saw out of the corner of her eye the bald youth start to approach them. _Oh Kami, crisis #2._

Tien approached them, an uncertain frown running across his face. _This can't be a good idea…_ he thought, as he saw the Turtle school fighter with the spiky black hair notice him approach.

'What do you want?' Yamcha said, glaring.

At Tien's side, Chiaotzu also looked expectantly at the Crane student. _Tien, what's going through your mind?_

Tien seemed to fidget for a moment, then a stillness settled over his features. 'We apologize for what we did earlier. We should have let your friend intervene.'

Chiaotzu blinked in surprise. Before he had a chance to say anything, Yamcha said, 'Oh? So you suddenly develop a conscious, jerk?'

'It's not like that. What happens to any of you is none of our concern. But what we did earlier was unnecessary. We were just concerned with fulfilling our mission.'

'Mission?' Yamcha said incredulously, 'what the hell are you talking about?'

An arm brushed against Tien- he looked down and locked eyes with Chiaotzu's. _What_ , his eyes seemed to glare, _are you doing?_

Tien turned back to Yamcha, who still stood with a sour expression on his face. 'We've been tasked with killing that boy with the tail. We will say this once- he is ours, so stay out of our way.'

'Boy with the tail? Are you talking about Kakarot?' Yamcha said.

'Yes. Him.'

'You have no right!' Yamcha yelled, moving forward before Launch could restrain him from jabbing a finger into Tien's chest. After contact, he was pulled away by Launch, and his arm flailed in front of Tien. 'I'd rather die than let you do that!'

Tien felt himself grow more frustrated; a vein bulged on his forehead. 'This is Crane business,' Tien responded, jabbing a finger of his own into Yamcha's chest, 'and so it will be dealt with by Crane students. I wouldn't expect a pathetic Turtle student to understand!' On some level, Tien recognized he was overreacting- but this damn guy was riling him up!

'Say that about the Turtle school one more time!' Yamcha roared, and this time Launch physically grabbed Yamcha in time, preventing him from escalating his shouting match with Tien. 'I'm so mad!' he said, as he was pulled back a few more feet from Tien.

Launch couldn't help it- she was smiling from behind Yamcha. She made eye-contact with the pale kid next to the tall youth- and found he was smiling, too. _At least us observers are having fun watching this._

Retracting his finger, Tien stared at the writhing mass of Launch and Yamcha, before straightening, 'That was unprofessional of me,' he grated, still obviously worked up, 'but my original message still stands. Do not interfere.' Tien gestured to Chiaotzu, and together they strode out of the preliminary hall. As he watched them walk away, Yamcha realized that a call was going out for all preliminary group winners.

0o0o0

Kakarot smirked as he followed a tournament official towards the main stage of the tournament. _The idea of fighting all of these fighters- it's thrilling! I'm… excited. I can't remember the last time I felt this anticipatory rush!_ Things were proceeding as much as he had expected them. The preliminary fights were, as he predicted, laughably simple. He was surprised that the earlier fighter- who looked to be from a small village, or something like that- had been associated with those other Turtle students. Once that became obvious, however- once Kakarot had seen that bald cretin standing nearby, trapped by fear- it was easy to do what he had done. Perhaps it was unfair that he punished that fighter for his association with his school; _then again, do I actually care?_

 _No_. _I'll cripple both the strong and the weak- fewer people to oppose me in the future._

The more he thought about it, though, the more Kakarot felt a sense of... dirtiness sweep over him. Was he wrong to feel that? Kakarot searched his feelings- _what would a Saiyan do?_ _A Saiyan has… a code?_ He clenched his face, digging deeper into his mind. _Some sort of… maybe... guidelines? That dictate decorum with fighting…_

Try as he might, he couldn't remember. _All in good time,_ he assured himself, as he saw the opening to the main stage yawn before him. Kakarot stepped out towards the main ring- and found himself the first of the eight finalists to appear before the crowd.

As if they were sleeping before, the crowd erupted into cheers, waving all sorts of signs and banners at the sight of the first fighter. _Is that… is that for me?_ Kakarot was admittedly a little surprised as he meekly waved back. _This is easily fifty times the amount of people I've ever seen in one place._

His eyes skimmed through the crowd- _so many different faces, so many different expressions; this is what humanity is like?-_ then he saw _her_. The girl. _Her name…_

His was pulled away from the scene, back to his detention in Jingle Town just a few months ago. ' _So what are you like?' she asked abruptly one day, staring at him with that damn soul-piercing look. 'Open-ended question.'_

 _Kakarot glared at her, then turned his head away. 'A stupid question,' he huffed. 'What I'm "like" isn't relevant at all.'_

 _'Really?_ _ **That's**_ _what you think?' she said, mocking. 'You think so little about yourself that you can't even bother to pull a fact out of your ass? Or even a lie?'_

 _He didn't make a move to look back at her- he continued to lay in silence._

 _'Do I need to drill this into your thick skull?' Chi-Chi was sounding increasingly annoyed. 'You can't even say something like, "Oh, my name is Kakarot, I like to kill people!" It's simple! Look at me! "My name is Chi-Chi and-"'_

 _Chi-Chi halted. Kakarot turned over in curiosity and saw she had gone as white as snow. Quickly, she collected a tray at Kakarot's side and hurried out the door._

That's right- _her name was Chi-Chi…_

Kakarot thought he saw a flicker of recognition on her face, distant as she was in the crowd. She started to stand-

And the announcer stepped in front of him, shooing him towards the center of the ring. 'Kid, what are you doing? I told you to stand in the middle. Just stick next to the rest of the fighters…'

 _Fighters…_ Kakarot turned- he could now see the trickle of his competition entering the ring.

0o0o0

'Ladies and Gentlemen! Let me be the first to say- welcome to the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament!' Looking at the announcer, it looked like the last tournament had happened yesterday- he still wore that ridiculous black suit, gelled hair, and thick black sunglasses. And, of course, he hadn't lost his touch with the crowd either. 'Everyone, calm down for this next part! We've decided to make the drawings for the finals public this year for your nail-biting pleasure! I will be your narrator for this dramatic process- but first, let's meet our finalists!'

The crowd rumbled with excitement as the announcer walked over to the first person in line. 'Rayne! It's nice to see you in the tournament this year.' He pressed the microphone into her face.

'Uhh… yeah,' she offered lamely. 'Can I draw my number now?'

'Go ahead! You have the honor of the first pick!'

Rayne approached the white box wheeled out to the center of the ring and stuck her hand inside. She pulled out a ball with a 5 on it.

'Well drawn, Rayne! Now for our next finalist; Tien Shinhan!' The announcer walked a few feet over to the three-eyed fighter. 'I can see from your uniform that you've trained under the Crane School. Is there anything you'd like to say to any fans or aspiring martial artists out there, Tien?'

Tien eyed the announcer for a long moment, then said, 'No.'

'Well… go draw your number then, Tien!'

Tien walked towards the box, and after glancing briefly back at Chiaotzu, he drew a ball, holding up it to the crowd. '3,' he said disinterestedly, before returning to his place in the line.

'Fantastic!' the announcer yelled into his mic.

0o0o0

'Not sure how I feel about this new direction,' Puar commented as she watched the announcer scurry around the ring. 'I don't think martial artists as a whole are a talkative bunch.'

'I see what you mean,' Bulma said, fidgeting in her seat to see around the tall person in the row in front of her. 'Just look at Krillin…'

The former monk looked decidedly unhappy, answering the announcer's questions as quickly as he could.

'Yea, actually... Krillin doesn't look right. Even at his distance, you can see his shoulders are slumped.' Puar floated higher into the air for a better look, then descended back down to Bulma. 'Did something happen?...'

'This is the part that sucks about being stuck in the stands.'

Sitting next to them, Chi-Chi might as well have been in another world. _He… he saw me. He recognized me._

 _Well, why wouldn't he? I did imprison him for a few days. That look, though- it was so... depthless._

Krillin held up a ball with the number 2.

0o0o0

Kakarot was going to relish this moment, he decided. When he first strutted out for the world to see, and utterly terrified them. He waited for the announcer to approach him. He looked at him expectantly- but the announcer held his distance, and said, 'Kakarot, draw your number!' It was… odd that the man was standing so far away from him. Kakarot could swear he could see an expression of nervousness hidden on the announcer's face.

 _Whatever._ He strode forwards and rummaged for a ball from the box. _This one_. He grabbed the ball and showed it to the announcer- '8! Kakarot has drawn 8! What are the odds that the first four finalists wouldn't draw each other?'

On the edge of his vision, Kakarot thought he saw that pale kid from before cough.

Crossing his arms in annoyance, Kakarot walked back towards the line. He purposely tried to make eye contact with the familiar bald fighter- but he looked lost. _Like I'd already beaten him, hah. Though…_ Kakarot remembered that leading up to this tournament, sensing _ki_ of the really strong fighters- that became much harder. It was almost like they weren't showing their full _ki_ anymore. It made gauging where he was compared to them much harder.

Kakarot was snapped out his thoughts by the grating voice of the announcer. 'Yamcha draws 7! So that means!...'

Yamcha swung his gaze towards Kakarot, frowning. _Oh,_ Kakarot thought, _this should be fun..._

0o0o0

The drawings finished without much fanfare- the crowd gradually lost interest in the ceremony as it dragged on. Chiaotzu drew 1, matching with Krillin. Jackie Chun drew 6, matching with Rayne. Thus, Launch knew before she even had the ball in her hand that she would draw 4 and face Tien in the quarterfinals.

'And there you have it, Ladies and Gentlemen!' the announcer said, recapping for the crowd. 'Our quarterfinals matches will be Chiaotzu vs. Krillin, Tien vs. Launch, Rayne vs. Jackie Chun, and Yamcha vs. Kakarot! After a ten-minute break, fists will be flying!'

The finalists were given leave to disperse. As Tien exited the ring, he tried his best to ignore the strange, crazy look his yellow-haired opponent was throwing towards him. _I don't care about that right now!_ He padded over to Chiaotzu and gestured him to follow.

Once they were out of sight of the crowd and the tournament officials, Tien pulled Chiaotzu to one side. 'Chiaotzu!' Tien said in a loud whisper. 'Why didn't that punk from the Turtle School draw me?'

Sweat was streaming down Chiaotzu's face. 'I think I overexerted my telekinesis today, Tien. Holding back that bald turtle student earlier took more out of me than I thought…'

Tien frowned nastily- then sighed. 'Okay… It's okay, Chiaotzu. Truth be told,' his eyes settled on Kakarot, who walked past them with a gleeful look on his face, 'he'll probably suffer _more_ against his current opponent.' _And does that upset me? Will that make me satisfied or regretful? We should have arranged it such that we faced Kakarot immediately in the preliminaries. Is there really any reason to expose all these other people to him?_ His thoughts flashed back to that first training day with Tao, then to Retu's crumpled form on the ring. 'Chiaotzu,' Tien said after a moment, 'I have a question that's been chewing at me the entire day.'

'Yes?' Chiaotzu said, encouraging Tien to go on.

'Why do we train?'

0o0o0

A figure crept through the forest, the night sky above bright with a multitude of stars. She swung around a tree trunk and ducked beneath a beam of wood into an abandoned barn. Pausing a moment at the entrance, she listened for any sounds. A single set of quiet breaths could be heard from the other end of the building. _Alright_. Colonel Violet straightened and walked further into the building, emerging into the main chamber. General Blue was sitting on a crate, his head hung between his legs. Upon her entrance, he lifted his head fractionally. 'You have it?' he asked.

Colonel Violet nodded, then shrugged off her pack. A few seconds of rummaging and she withdrew from it a… a rice cooker, worn, unadorned. General Blue squinted at it. 'This is it? You're serious? You're _sure?_ '

'This was the only item in the secret chamber you described to me.' She placed the rice cooker on the ground between them. 'Have you never actually seen it before? I'm starting to think this was a giant waste of time…'

General Blue approached the rice cooker, picking it up and holding it between his hands. 'If this is it, then so be it. Whatever researcher we had at the time said that this was an item of unparalleled power… it would literally _ooze_ energy into its surroundings.' He noted that the rice cooker was, accordingly, hot to the touch. 'There's something powerful in here, which will help us get revenge on those brats- I know it.' General Blue motioned Colonel Violet to stand back, and then placed the rice cooker on the ground. He slammed his foot down on the rice cooker with all his might, splintering and breaking it into pieces.

All at once the room around them started to swelter. Hot air blew past them from seemingly nowhere as the fragments of the rice cooker started to shake and vibrate. A wave of energy shot out from the center, then another, knocking both General Blue and Colonel Violet onto their backs. Wisps of smoke started to rise from the rice cooker, coagulating and mixing into a vague, humanoid shape. Another rush of wind and smoke, and suddenly, there stood a figure amongst the remains of the rice cooker. They were hairless, tall, and old, with a black tunic and pants, tied to the body with a purple sash around the waist. The person was also green, with two antennae pointing out horizontal from their forehead.

They were smiling. 'You,' they raised a finger towards General Blue, 'released me?'

Too shocked for words, General Blue could only nod his head.

Then the person who emerged from the rice cooker deepened their smile, far past the point of amicability. 'Then I thank you. You have released the Demon King Piccolo.' Two beams shot out of King Piccolo's eyes and pierced General Blue's chest, stopping his heart.

His first kill in centuries- _and such a good feeling, too._

* * *

A/N: Haha.

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** Thanks as always for the review. And thank you for rolling with my changes! I figure that if I'm going to fiddle with the entire story, I can put a few things of my own in from time to time.

 **Silenthawk170** : Thank you for the review! Burnout is always a very real hazard but I think I'm writing at a more sustainable pace now than when I first started. I want to see this story to the end!


	21. Remorse

Escalation

Chapter 21: Remorse

A/N: As of this publishing I've finished up writing the rough draft of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, and let me tell you- hoo boy, I surprised even myself. This entire tournament was super tough for me to write- but I think it's some of my most solid writing yet. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Also, I changed the story name. "The Power Within" was way too generic for my liking and I would have changed it earlier if I had known it was possible. Thus- you are now reading "Strength of Many". The title is/will be more descriptive.

* * *

After the announcement of the quarterfinal matches, Krillin had crawled away to a far-flung corner of the grounds. _There's nothing fun about this_ , he thought, as he sat in a dark hallway, arms around his knees and his eyes wide. _How did I fool myself into thinking otherwise? I've been deluding myself._ _Martial Arts is pain- suffering- and seeing your friends be brutalized when you aren't strong enough-_

Krillin heard a sound come from the edge of the hall. Whoever entered approached him, stepping into the dim light a handful of seconds later. It was… _Jackie Chun?_

Beneath his disguise, Master Roshi's mind was racing. _Okay... how do I do this?_ 'Kid,' Jackie Chun said. He paused for a moment, then continued, 'what are you doing here by yourself? Is everything okay?'

The former monk gazed up at the old man, wiping his eyes with one hand as he did. 'Why… why do you care?'

 _Why_ _ **does**_ _Jackie Chun care? Hmm…_ 'I care,' Jackie Chun said, 'because I care about martial arts. I care about their ability to help someone defend others. Seeing you run away from that last match, well... I thought you might want to hear that from someone who's been doing this for a _long_ time.

Krillin blinked. _Master Roshi would get along well with this guy._ 'Martial Arts has brought nothing but pain into my life,' he said, letting his emotions pour out. 'I've trained my hardest just so I can watch my friends get hurt, even maimed! They were good people- and I couldn't protect them!' Krillin shouted, more out of anguish than anger. 'Do you understand? Do you understand that _pain_? Have you ever watched someone you care about be hurt while you stood by, helpless!'

 _A dark, dim landscape. Master Roshi was young- hair still on his head!- as he realized he was cowering behind an impressive, shimmering man._ _ **Mutaito…**_ _Fearing for his master, Roshi tried to get up; but his legs were useless underneath him, try as he might to rise. Energy had deserted him- he was as close to death without actually being dead. He was forced to watch his master perform-_ _ **The Evil Containment Wave- No!...**_ _A swirling, bright green beam shot out of Mutaito's arms, encompassing some unseen figure in the distance. The world shook with the power and energy being unleashed, until the beam started to retract backward towards Mutaito. Within the beam, that distant figure was inside it! Mutaito twisted, and with a final motion, he slammed the beam- figure encased- into a rice cooker before him. The rice cooker snapped closed- and Mutaito fell to the ground, dead._

Jackie Chun shook his head, dispersing the memory. He had no idea how long he had zoned out- but Krillin was still looking towards him with pleading eyes. 'Yes,' he replied to Krillin's question. When Krillin didn't respond, Jackie Chun went on. 'I do know what you're talking about. I've lived a long life- a life full of regrets. I've seen many friends get hurt while I was powerless to help. But I've also seen my friends be _saved_ by my actions. If I had never become a martial artist- I shudder to think how much evil would be loose in this world.'

Krillin held his gaze with Jackie Chun. A spring of sadness fed Krillin's eyes, Jackie Chun saw, but he also thought he saw a seed of perseverance taking root. 'All the evil I've stopped…' Krillin murmured to himself.

'Krillin,' Jackie Chun reminded gently, 'don't you have a match to get to?...'

Casting his eyes downwards once more, Krillin nodded and rose. 'Thank you for putting things in perspective, Jackie Chun.' Krillin bowed and hurried down the hallway.

Jackie Chun watched him go, a twinkle of pride in his eyes. _Make me proud, Krillin- especially after falling for my disguise again, haha!_

0o0o0

Krillin exchanged curt greetings with Launch, Rayne, and Yamcha as he walked out. He saw that Yamcha was casting nasty glances towards the tall Crane fighter. _For what he did- serves him right_. And Krillin tried his best to ignore Kakarot. _One thing at a time..._

Entering the main ring was just as overwhelming, if not more so, than the last time three years ago. His opponent, Chiaotzu, eerily waited for him in the center. Krillin walked towards the middle to stand face-to-face with his opponent. He could feel a deadly air surrounding Chiaotzu, in spite of his small stature.

'You two ready?' the announcer asked swinging his head between them. 'Yea? Alright then.' He then ran off the ring, jumping up and down for the crowd. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, prepare for the first quarterfinal match of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament! Krillin vs. Chiaotzu- begin!'

They immediately charged each other. Fists rammed into blocks- kicks were dodged or knocked to the side- and Krillin, in moments, was driving Chiaotzu back.

'Yea! Get that pale freak!' Bulma chanted from the crowd.

'Bulma,' Puar said, 'that seems a bit rude.'

'Quiet, cat!'

Krillin's pace increased, then doubled, bearing down on his opponent. For what it's worth, Chiaotzu was doing all that he could to prevent a blow from landing. It was too much, though- after feinting to the right, Krillin slid left and down to Chiaotzu's side, and drove a haymaker into the Crane student's gut.

Chiaotzu barely stopped himself from slipping off of the ring. From one blow, his body was pulsing with pain. Krillin straightened, staring down his foe.

A voice flittered into Chiaotzu's mind. _Use all available techniques. You have my permission. Anything to ensure victory._

Mentally agreeing- _I didn't expect to win in a straight-up fight, anyway-_ he brought both his arms to his side. He closed his eyes and began levitating into the air. Rising ten, then twenty feet, Krillin watched Chiaotzu ascend in utter shock. _He can fly? What the_ _ **hell**_ _?_ The pale fighter halted his upwards motion, appearing to casually stand on an invisible platform.

The crowd had gone silent, barring Puar. 'Really?' she groaned, 'Haven't they seen someone float before?'

Shaking out of his stupor, the announcer roared, 'Incredible! Chiaotzu has risen into the air, and it doesn't look like he's coming down anytime soon! Does this spell the beginning of the end for Krillin?'

Krillin peered up at his opponent, who remained motionless in the sky. _Okay. Flying opponent. Nothing impossible- a pain, sure, but not impossible. So odd. How is he even doing tha-_ His thoughts were interrupted as a gold blast of energy launched from Chiaotzu's outstretched hand, forcing Krillin to roll forward. As soon as he finished that movement, he sighted another blast speeding towards him. Krillin started scampering madly around the ring as blast after blast shot from Chiaotzu's hand.

From the competitors' section, Kakarot watched closely. _An impressive amount of ki control- though the blasts themselves aren't that strong. What's he up to?_

Chiaotzu's speed of attack quickened- more and more of the ring was being blanketed by his golden blasts. Krillin was rapidly running out of room to maneuver. Additionally, Chiaotzu was coaxing the former monk towards the center- his pattern of attacks was constricting Krillin's movement like a shrinking circle.

Nearby, Tien regarded the unfolding fight. _Chiaotzu shouldn't expend this much energy without a clear goal._ He saw Chiaotzu pause a moment, and then raise his other hand. _Ah. Clearer now…_

Krillin continued his scrambling. He rose out of another roll, standing when he realized he had run out of room to maneuver. He began to face Chiaotzu, intending to take on whatever blast was heading his way- but all at once, he felt his body seize. He couldn't move- just like before during the preliminaries! He struggled to look up- through strained vision, he saw Chiaotzu now had both his hands raised. A brighter, larger beam was coalescing in one hand. _This is bad!… I'm out of breath and out of space from running around so much!_

With his free hand, Chiaotzu wrenched the tiles surrounding Krillin up from the ground, forming a walled box around Krillin. It was open to the sky in Chiaotzu's direction- perfectly positioned to receive Chiaotzu's imminent _ki_ blast.

'It looks like Krillin can't move! In addition, some strange multi-tiled prison has encompassed the fighter!' The announcer was running around the ring, like a roaming fly. 'Is this some nefarious technique of his opponent?'

The blast swelled, then ballooned, as Chiaotzu struggled to keep his arm trained on Krillin. _If I miss- no, I can't think about that right now. I need to focus on winning!_ Backlit by the climbing sun, he appeared as a god of destruction to Krillin.

The former monk struggled against Chiaotzu's telekinetic grip. _Come!... On!..._ _This is hopeless! Barring any massive collapse from him, I'm going to be stuck here!_

An idea popped into Krillin's head. _Well! If I can't move-_ he started laboriously bringing his arms up- _then I better defend myself!_

Far above Krillin, Chiaotzu watched his opponent slowly edge his arms up, to the point where the hands were pressed towards him in a cup. _If he's preparing a ki attack- but to do that while paralyzed… impossible!_ He frantically finished pooling energy into his hand; sweat was now streaming down his arms and sides from the effort of immobilizing the Turtle student. _There._ In an instant, Chiaotzu released the energy from his palm, shooting out a thick, loping gold blast down at the ring.

To the side, Rayne and Yamcha were silently rooting for Krillin. 'C'mon, buddy…' Yamcha whispered.

Krillin had been staring at Chiaotzu for the last few minutes- but in his head, he had been reciting a familiar word. _Meeee… HAAAA!_ A bright, blue beam burst out of Krillin's cupped hands, staggering in its size and speed. The force from the blast must have been enormous- but Krillin didn't move an inch due to Chiaotzu's telepathic paralysis.

The two beams met in mid-air, struggling for a moment, before the blue beam split the gold beam in two, running down its middle. Chiaotzu only had a moment to gape before the blast hit him, exploding on impact. Krillin felt the telepathic grip on him release- and a few moments later he saw Chiaotzu fall to the ring. The announcer ran over. '...8, 9, 10! Knockout! Krillin wins!'

The crowd, having been mute for the past few shocking minutes, erupted into cheers. Krillin grinned and waved.

0o0o0

Tien ran out as soon as the tournament officials would let him. He ignored the withering gaze of Master Shen from the stands, instead coming to Chiaotzu's side and helping him up. 'Bud,' he said as the pale fighter came to, 'you alright?'

Chiaotzu nodded weakly, letting Tien help him to stand. 'I exhausted myself too much holding him earlier.' They both gazed at Krillin, who began to reenter the competitors' area. 'But Tien- he's _strong_. Maybe as strong as you…'

Tien burrowed his eyes into Krillin's back.

0o0o0

'Krillin, Way to go!' Rayne slapped a hand on his back, smiling. 'You really showed those Crane bullies what we Turtles are made off!' All around Krillin, his fellow students were congratulating him and clapping him on the back.

'Yea,' Yamcha said, 'that was some impressive stuff. It looked pretty dicey there for a moment. Were you… frozen? What exactly happened?'

'I'm not exactly sure,' Krillin said, 'though something similar happened to me earlier. I think that pale kid has telekinetic powers- he immobilized me in the center of the ring, to maximize the damage of his _ki_ blast.'

'Oh! Like General Blue.'

'Exactly.'

'How exactly did you get out of it?' Launch asked.

Krillin furrowed his brows, thinking. 'This is just a guess, but based on what I saw- and felt- I think the restriction only applies to physical movement. Even though I was paralyzed, my ki was still flowing freely. It was just a matter of pointing my hands at him to do what I did. '

'Well,' Yamcha pouted, 'that would have been good to know two months ago.'

Chiaotzu limped past them, avoiding eye contact. They saw that Tien was waiting patiently in the ring.

'Oh! Time for my match then!' Launch said gleefully, cracking her knuckles. 'This should be fun. Krillin, got any tips against these dirty Crane bastards?'

'I guess,' Krillin said, eyeing the tall youth, 'if he uses any telekinesis, use your _ki_. Other than that? Dunno. Downside of dispatching an opponent so quickly is that you don't get to see many of their techniques.'

Rayne narrowed her eyes. 'From what I saw,' she said, 'the Crane style involves a lot of precise, injuring blows- so try not to let him dictate the pace of combat. Keep him off balance.'

Launch nodded, then began her long walk forwards.

0o0o0

'So,' Tien said as soon as Launch had stopped opposite of him. 'you're a Turtle student?'

'What's this?' Launch laughed, 'Genuine interest in the backstory of your challenger?'

Tien frowned; he wasn't used to such blatant mockery from his opponent. _I can already tell this is going to be a frustrating fight…_ 'I have respect for all my enemies. It's a basic tenant of being a student of the martial arts.'

'Oh? So I'm an enemy now?'

He felt a vein burgeon on his forehead. _What's with these Turtle students and their uncanny ability to get under my skin?_ Tien frowned, glaring at Launch, and said nothing.

 _That's right big guy,_ Launch thought, _keep getting worked up. Hmm… let's throw in some confusion, too._ 'Tell you what,' she said, changing the tone of her voice to somewhat sincere. 'If you apologize for what you said about the Turtle School earlier, I'll resign from this match. But when you apologize, you have to _mean_ it.'

Visible confusion surfaced on Tien's face. _I- what? Would she really do that? All over a stupid, passing insult by me-_

'Begin!' the announcer's voice carried across the ring.

Tien was jolted out of his thoughts as Launch barreled into him, raining down a storm of punches and kicks. Distracted as he was, a few glanced him and some even slipped past his guard to slam into him. He steadied himself and counter-attacked with a palm to her sternum, skidding her back a few feet. She stopped herself, smirking at him. 'Still thinking about my offer?' she teased.

Snarling, Tien rushed her, taking the initiative. He landed some glancing blows as Launch wisely kept her distance, being just far enough away to prevent him from doing any real damage. She took advantage of this physical distance to verbally attack him. 'Think about it- you could save your energy for the rest of the tournament if I gave up now! You could fight that Kakarot guy at full strength! All this, if you would just apologize!...'

'Stop talking!' he shouted, as he swung a kick into her midsection- but his kick swung in an arc _through_ her. Her outline shimmered and faded after a moment. _An afterimage! Where-_ a knee slammed into Tien's back, flipping him to crash onto the ground. He deftly sprung to his feet and jumped away from a diving stomp. 'I have to admit,' Tien said while they both caught their breath, 'you're not half bad.'

Launch's face, which had been gloating before, instantly soured. 'Don't patronize me!' she yelled, as he charged him once more. Her strikes, compared to before, became more erratic; oddly enough, this made it _harder_ for Tien to block her attacks. Launch would try to hit him from any direction and with any degree of strength. Tien would rush to block a surprisingly weak kick to then be whiplashed by an incredibly heavy swinging fist. He slid back to avoid an elbow- but amazingly, by sheer luck, she had accompanied the attack with a charge. She surged forward and drove the elbow into Tien's unguarded front, actually tumbling backward with him to roll a few feet.

'Get! Off of me!' Tien yelled, as he disentangled himself from her. When she rose in pursuit he launched a quick, point-blank gold _ki_ blast from his hand, buffeting Launch back a few feet. Smoke ballooned into existence; when it cleared, Launch stood covered in scorches, her _gi_ charred. She glowered at him, her eyes smoldering like embers.

0o0o0

'This doesn't look good for Launch,' Yamcha commented alongside Krillin and Rayne. The three of them were enthralled by the current match- it was, up to this point, both entertaining _and_ impressive. They were definitely surprised by Launch- she would have beaten any one of them at the last tournament- and were whooping for her during her last wild offensive. Things were looking considerably bleaker now, though.

'I agree,' Rayne said, 'that Crane fighter had no problem conjuring that amount of energy, despite how much he's been on the receiving end of the damage dealt out in this fight so far. Meanwhile…' Rayne trailed off, staring at Launch. She was still straightening, evidently delayed by the pain spasming through her body.

Krillin glanced at the standoff out on the ring, then squinted his eyes in skepticism. 'I don't know guys. When Launch is angry- well- never count her out when's she's angry.' _Then again… if he's as strong as I think he is, no amount of rage is going to be able to help her..._

Not ten feet away from this conversation, Kakarot scrutinized the Crane student. _Impressive._

0o0o0

Launch brought a hand to her face, rubbing away a soot mark. 'You pack a punch.' she seethed.

Tien said nothing, and drew into a guard.

Abruptly, Launch changed her posture- from confrontational to conversational- and beginning grinning madly. 'You know what? I just realized something.'

More silence from the Crane fighter- yet he didn't resume attacking her, allowing her to go on.

'We would make great friends.'

'I- what!?' he stammered.

'Yea! Think about it. With your stoicness and seriousness, and with my unpredictability and anger, we'd make the perfect little ying-yang combo!'

'You're speaking nonsense,' Tien said in an unintentional monotone voice.

She tutted. 'No need to be so closemin-'

Launch disappeared right before Tien's eyes. _Damn it!_ He went wide-eyed and spun madly, searching for where she went. _She was charging her ki during that entire conversation, so damn-_ A shoulder rammed into the small of Tien's back, sending him flying forward and toppling to the ground- or he would have, if not for Launch blurring past his falling form and slamming a leg into him from the other side, sending him spiraling back in the direction he came. Her speed quickened, buzzing around Tien like a bee as she moved at a seemingly impossible speed. Blow after blow kept Tien perpetually airborne and moving- he was being punted around the ring like a volleyball.

Speechless, Yamcha could only stare on with a dumb look on his face. Rayne and Krillin were much the same. 'Is… is this real?' he stuttered, as Launch sent the Crane fighter spiraling away yet again before chasing after him. 'How is she moving so fast?'

Kakarot, for the first time in his life, found himself genuinely shocked. _If I'm sensing her right… Her level- it's beyond_ _ **even**_ _me… no, there has to be something else going on!…_

Even Jackie Chun looked shaken- though not for the same reasons of his fellow competitors. _Launch, stop this now! If you're doing what I think you're doing- stop!..._

The announcer comically tried to keep his head trained on the action, which was realistically impossible considering how fast they were moving. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, in all my years of announcing for this tournament, I have _Never! Seen! Something! Like! This!_ ' His words were coupled with every resounding blow Launch landed on Tien; they rippled through the crowd, riding the blows' shockwaves. The atmosphere was electrifying.

The speed of Tien's rebounding grew faster- then, all at once, a series of blows drove him towards the center of the ring. Launch was there in a heartbeat, visible. She tensed, then jumped and spun in the air, bringing her extended leg out from behind her in a half-circle across her body, right to left. As her leg swung, Tien careened into her- and he was mercilessly kicked to the right, speeding like a rocket towards the grass. As his body spun at an unforgiving speed Tien- working on instinct alone- shot out his limbs in an X as far as possible. His velocity and rotation slowed, then stopped, just as he found himself looking face-down at the grass. He was floating a few feet away from the ring, parallel to the ground- he had come half a foot away from touching the ground and losing the match.

In the center of the ring, Launch suddenly sagged, her limbs slackening to drape at her sides. _Damn. I really thought that amount of physical disorientation would do the trick._ True to Launch's thoughts, as Tien touched back down on the ring, he fell to his knees and vomited on the ring. _So I made him nauseous enough to puke but not enough to stop him from flying? Son of a bitch._

Tien took a few ragged breaths, drool and bile dripping out of his mouth and nostrils. _I guess it could be worse,_ Launch thought. _As long as I don't-_

She felt an itch. _Oh no._

Her nose wrinkled. _Please not now._

A familiar sensation rushed up from lungs, coming to a point in her face. _NOT NOW!-_ She arched backward, clenching her every muscle in resistance- but her body could not be denied. 'AAAACHOOOO!' she shot snot into the air, her hair changing instantaneously from blue to yellow. As she finished arching backward, her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed to the ground.

0o0o0

Once the announcer finished his count, a flurry of medics swarmed Launch. Jackie Chun pushed himself through them towards his fallen pupil. He feared the worse- _please, don't be dead-_ as he flung to the side the last person in his path.

Launch was on her back, her arms spread wide on the ring- but she was alive, her eyelids feebly fluttering. 'Did… did I win, Master Roshi?' she croaked out as she was rolled onto a stretcher by the medics.

Master Roshi-as-Jackie Chun turned his head away and laughed, a single tear of relief running down his cheek.

As soon as Launch's stretcher rushed past Krillin, Rayne, and Yamcha- Launch managed to flash a feeble thumbs-up as she went past- they visibly relaxed. The memory of what had happened to Retu was fresh in their minds.

'Thank… Kami' Rayne whispered, her eyes lingering on the receding ensemble of people surrounding Launch. 'What the hell was she thinking, doing that?'

'Implying you know what she did?' Yamcha asked, incredulous. 'Because I, for one, have no idea what just happened.'

'It was definitely related to her _ki_ ,' Krillin said, 'it fluctuated almost inconceivably fast for a few minutes there. When she sneezed at the end- her energy dropped like a rock. I'm guessing her temporary boost was related in some way with that sneezing? Maybe the sneeze was so violent it strangled her _ki_?' he offered.

'I don't think so,' Rayne commented. They were now watching the Crane fighter stand and walk off the ring- it had taken him a few minutes to collect his bearings and rise to his feet. It was odd that, despite receiving all of Launch's previous blows, he looked almost untouched. 'I'll admit I never really thought about Launch's dual personalities until now, but still; have you guys ever noticed that her _ki_ never… feels quite the same when she turns into her other self?'

'Actually,' Yamcha said, 'now that you mention it, you're right. Blue and yellow-haired Launch have similar but non-identical _kis_ \- I'm sure of it. Though, I always chalked it up to her yellow persona getting more training than her blue one.'

'I think that contributes to the difference, but no amount of training should make what should be identical _kis_ feel dissimilar. No- it almost feels like her two _kis_ come from different people…'

'So what,' Krillin said, 'you think yellow-haired Launch tapped into her other self's _ki_ and depleted it?'

'And because of that,' Rayne continued, 'when Blue-haired Launch appeared, she immediately blacked out from the energy loss. That's exactly what I think.'

Yamcha whistled. 'You two make a good _ki_ investigating duo.'

Rayne shrugged, and purposefully looked the other way. 'I'm just observant, that's all,' she said.

'C'mon,' Krillin said, 'if we rush we'll have time before the next match to check where they're taking her.'

About a minute later, after the Turtle students had departed, Tien padded into the competitors' hall. Chiaotzu walked over to meet him. 'Chiaotzu,' Tien said, 'you felt it too, right?'

The pale Crane student nodded. 'Yes. Her power was enormous- yet she didn't use it to decisively defeat you. She just… toyed with you.'

Tien held his gaze at Chiaotzu for a few moments, then shook his head, his eyes distant. 'No. No, I don't think that was it at all…'

0o0o0

Since he was already out on the ring, Jackie Chun figured he would wait out here for the few minutes before his match with Rayne. He also didn't want to risk any more of his students recognizing him. _That was a bit… rattling, though at the time I was able to smother it with my relief. In all my years, of all my students, I never would have guessed that_ _ **Launch**_ _would be the one to discover my secret. Then again, I wouldn't have expected her doing what she just did either- err, alright, that's not true. Something as foolhardy and stupid as that is definitely something Launch would do._

He wasn't quite sure _what_ she did, though he suspected that, whatever had just occurred, she had attempted it for the first time. Master Roshi's old, wizened eyes saw Launch, as fast as she was, lurch side-to-side in between periods of dashing- as if she wasn't prepared to handle her new power. _An extremely impressive sequence of events, if it hadn't resulted in her nearly falling into a coma. Which means she'll be out of commission for the rest of the tournament. Which means…_

Krillin, Rayne, Yamcha. If one of them can't win this tournament, then Kakarot fulfills his promise, and slaughters _everyone_. And he had no idea how strong Kakarot had grown in the time leading up to this tournament. _I've trained myself as much as I could. Surely Kakarot would have done something similar?_ However, the boy with the tail had shown himself to be very arrogant in the past; he wouldn't be surprised if he deemed training for this tournament unnecessary. But Master Roshi had glimpsed the shock on Kakarot's face when Launch began swatting Tien around like a bug. He knew that, at the very least, in that moment Launch had surpassed Kakarot. _Damn it all, Launch-_ _why couldn't you have saved that for an actual crisis?_

Perhaps the Crane fighters could defeat Kakarot, hellbent as they were for avenging Tao's death- but Master Roshi doubted even the tall Crane student could overcome an enraged Kakarot who was backed into a corner. _That boy has shown an unsettling ability to survive so far- why should now be any different?_

 _So; I will see soon enough whether Rayne has surpassed me, and whether Krillin can defeat Tien. Then, I will have the knowledge I need._

Jackie Chun blinked. Rayne was striding out onto the ring, the scowl on her face centered on him. _Good. Fight this battle like everything is on the line- because it is._ She stopped opposite of him. The announcer quickly checked that they were ready and scampered to the grass. 'The third quarterfinal match, Rayne vs. Jackie Chun; begin!'

Rayne crouched backward, tensing, then sprung herself forward. Jackie Chun was put on the defensive as she wasted no time warming up or playing around. Her strikes hit strong and true and rushed towards him almost too fast for Jackie Chun to handle. Almost. He set his back foot into the ring and pushed off it, forcing Rayne backward as a couple of glancing blows impacted Rayne's body. She dodged to the right to avoid an arm swing- and fell into Jackie Chun's trap, hammered by a left hook that sent her reeling backward. Her guard broken, Jackie Chun landed a series of strong punches to her abdomen before she brought her arms forward, catching one last heavy hit, and hopped back. Despite the obvious damage she had taken in the form of swelling bruises, she still stood tall, her arms raised at her sides. 'Is that it?' she taunted, 'really?'

Jackie Chun arched an eyebrow. 'Is what it? Are my attacks not to your liking?'

'You and I both know,' a smirking Rayne said, 'that you're fighting at the same exact power level you had at the last World Tournament.'

'Oh? Is that so?'

'Yep.'

Jackie Chun stared at her, then broke into a smile, laughing. 'Since when have you been so observant of _ki_?'

'Always. Though it helped that I was trained by Master Roshi, the best teacher in the world.'

Flattered, Jackie Chun widened his smile. 'So you have. I assume you want me to fight at my full power, then?'

'Please, I insist.'

'Haha! You're a worthy student of the Turtle Hermit.' Jackie Chun brought his arms parallel to his body, tensing himself. He briefly considered actually using his max power- but he then remembered that he was fighting to win, not to survive. _Best to keep it unrevealed._

Jackie Chun drew in a deep breath and accessed more of his _ki_ \- using a significantly more substantial amount that before. Briefly, small rocks and pebbles rolled away on the tiles away from him, but for the most part, he tried to conceal how much energy he had summoned. 'Alright,' he said, crouching into a guard again, 'round two.'

Rayne rushed him, launching into a series of complex maneuvers. She jumped, spun, shifted around Jackie Chun, trying to land a clean blow on him. When Jackie Chun, off-balanced, moved slightly with his low block of Rayne's leg, she pounced, swinging a cocked fist towards Jackie Chun's exposed torso. The blow reverberated against his body as he staggered backward. Rayne pursued him, unleashing an onslaught of blows- but frustratingly, her opening blow did nothing to break his defense- he blocked or took minimal glancing blows even as he continued to fall backward. Enraged, Rayne overextended, swinging an overhead double-fist down. Jackie Chun saw her mistake and quickly jabbed her in the stomach, winding her and forcing her to jump back. In the same motion he nimbly brought one leg behind him and pushed off it, rising back into a vertical standing position. As Rayne caught her breath her hands unconsciously cupped her stomach- it hurt like hell, she realized. _That was very nearly my best- and he's still smiling? Damn it…_

Jackie Chun was indeed smiling. _In a way, I'm glad Kakarot gave me a reason to train for this tournament. This Rayne would have given me a run for my money last tournament. Now, though…_

He plowed into Rayne, his fist sinking into her gut, doubling her over. She tried to swing her fist to counter-attack- but it bounced off him, as he continued to land blow after blow into her. _Damn it!_ She brought her arms in a cross-block- but Jackie Chun's blows simply smashed through it, forcing her backward. She felt her back foot rest slightly over an edge- _the edge of the ring! Okay, no more fooling around,_ she mentally rallied, as she pushed energy into her left hand, _time to reveal my tri-_

As Rayne was dodging to her right to avoid an elbow strike, the Jackie Chun skillfully sidestepped to his left, keeping himself parallel to Rayne. Out of position- and more importantly, off balance- Rayne was helpless as the old man jabbed a finger into her chest, toppling her out of bounds. 'Ring out! Jackie Chun advances to the semifinals!'

Shocked beyond belief, Rayne watched Jackie Chun give a quick wave to the crowd until turning back to the competitors' hall. _I… I was going to do my last-ditch move. But he just… nudged me out of bounds. I didn't even get a chance to use it..._

 _Bullshit!_

0o0o0

Tien edged around a corner, scanning for other people. Once he saw that the corridor was deserted, he briskly walked forward, opening and closing a door as he did, to enter a nondescript medical room.

In the corner, Launch was resting in her cot, bandages littering her body and an IV threaded into her right arm. She was sleeping. Tien crept up to her bed, frowning as he approached. _How do I wake her? Is it even okay for me to wake her? Now that I think about it, disturbing a recuperating, defeated opponent is probably something I_ _ **shouldn't do**_ _. I have no idea how she'll react._ He noticed that her hair had changed back to what it was during their match- yellow. _That's odd. I wonder-_

'RAUUUGHHH!' Launch's eyes shot open and she lept out of her bed, spinning over Tien and landing awkwardly behind him. Though she had nearly fallen down to one knee, nevertheless, she maintained a scary expression on her face. 'I knew you'd come back for a rematch!' She aimed her arm towards him like a cannon, one finger pointing accusingly. 'You Crane students can't leave any petty dispute undisturbed- which is good! I'm exactly the same!' Launch swayed as she very clearly struggled to bring her arms into a guard- but still, she looked ready for battle.

Tien had been in many strange situations during his training- nothing, however, could have prepared him for this. 'No! It's not like that!' He held up his hands defensively, backing away a foot. 'I'm not here to hurt you… or, fight you. I just have… a question, that's all.'

Launch narrowed her eyes suspiciously, still holding up her arms. 'What _kind_ of question?...'

'I was wondering; what exactly did you do before, when you were thrashing me around- and why didn't you defeat during this, when you had the chance?'

'What? You mean that fast thing I did?'

Tien nodded.

Launch continued eyeing Tien suspiciously, then abruptly slapped a hand to her forehead. 'Damn it!' she said, her exasperation clear, 'really? That move gave me enough power to beat you? Kami freaking dammit…'

Confused, Tien tilted his head. 'Are you saying… you didn't know you were stronger than me when you used that move? How!?'

'Well, that _was_ the first time I had used it, in my defense…'

Now completely boggled, Tien dropped his arms to his sides. 'That was the _first_ time you'd used that technique? I… what!' Frustration bled through to his voice. 'How could you do something so… irresponsible! Amateur! Using a move you hadn't even _attempted_ before in a match? That's insane! You could have seriously injured yourself, let alone ruin any chance you had to win!'

Launch frowned. Amazingly, throughout this entire conversation, she was still holding her arms up in a guard. 'Yea, a Crane student would think that. You wouldn't understand the drive we Turtles have to push ourselves in combat! To defeat any enemy!' She sneered at him. 'The only thing you respect is letting a little kid be savaged by a monster.'

Tien winced- it had only happened a few hours ago, but already he deeply regretted having Chiaotzu stop Krillin from intervening in that preliminary match. _Remorse- so this is what it feels like_. _A lesson taught to me by someone else's pain._ 'I'm… sorry for that.'

Glaring, Launch continued to hold her ground, though she did let her arms down a little.

'What did you say before,' Tien asked, 'about why you performed a technique you had never tried before? Because it was-'

'Because I was pushing myself,' she cut him off, 'and that is what every good martial artist should do. When confronted with an enemy, you push yourself past your limits to defeat them… or something like that. If I'm being honest, I don't pay much attention when Master Roshi gets all philosophical.

 _That's… huh…_ Tien brought a hand to his face in thought, rubbing his jawline. _They fight to push themselves in combat. To surpass their limits. Because the act itself is noble, and the situation may demand it. Huh… I need to talk to Chiaotzu about this._ Tien met Launch's eyes, and dipped his head. 'Thank you,' he said, drawing an even more suspicious look from Launch. 'You've given me something to think about.'

'Uhh… yea, okay. Whatever. Well, if you don't want to fight… get out of my room!' she yelled.

A serene air about him, Tien nodded, and promptly exited the room.

Launch nearly collapsed to the floor the moment he had left. _Oh god, everything hurts…_ She slinked back to her cot, gingerly laying back down. _Screw that guy. He can't even give me a proper grudge match. Maybe if I ask him_ _ **after**_ _I'm healed…_

0o0o0

 _This is it._

Yamcha strutted out onto the main stage- he had loved his time in the spotlight at the last tournament, as stupid as that felt to think in his head. Truth be told, though, there really was nothing like a crowd that was cheering you on the entire way- to whatever end. Yamcha's eyes skipped across the stage, and saw an unmoving Kakarot callously regard him. _Whatever end that might be. This time, though, will be different._

Across the ring, a single thought coursed through Kakarot's mind. _This fool is done for._ _Oh yes, he'll end up at my feet, one of his limbs broken in tearful agony, before the end of this. Which one, though? Should it be the arm again? Maybe the leg…_

The announcer seemed to have been informed about Kakarot's behavior in the preliminaries- he kept his distance from the Saiyan. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, let's give a warm welcome for last tournament's runner-up, Yamcha,' he said as the crowd exploded into cheers, 'and his challenger, the newcomer, Kakarot!' Amazingly, the crowd booed at the mention of Kakarot- something that had never happened before at a Martial Arts Tournament. The announcer was visibly shocked as the crowd roared with its disdain. Uncomprehending, Yamcha glimpsed that Bulma was running around the stands and was whispering into a few attendees ears here and there. From there, these people would turn to the crowd around them and start booing, getting everyone else into it. _Did she plant booers? Bulma… you are diabolical..._ Yamcha waved warmly in Bulma's direction- she gave him back two big thumbs up.

Through all of this, Kakarot stood, unfazed by the negative attention.

'They've been told the rules in red, and are ready to go!' the announcer said as the boos died down, trying to get a semblance of order in the stadium. 'So, without further ado, the quarterfinal between Yamcha and Kakarot; begin!'

Kakarot and Yamcha immediately rushed each other, their bodies colliding in the middle with a heavy _dumm_. Kakarot tried to swing a punch at Yamcha's midsection- Yamcha caught it with his right hand. Yamcha bent his knees and brought his knee forward, but Kakarot met Yamcha's knee with his own, canceling out the strike. Their strikes slowed, then came to a full halt. Soon enough their hands were locked against each other, trapped in a mutual grapple. Yamcha pushed, pushed harder than he had ever done before in his life. _I won't be defeated, not here, not now!_ Kakarot's smaller height didn't help him in this engagement- Yamcha slowly inched forward using his superior height. When he had Kakarot arching backward, Yamcha suddenly broke off and sneakily swept a leg under Kakarot, taking his legs out from under him. The Saiyan fell to the ground, receiving a few glancing blows from a pursuing Yamcha, and rolled away at the first opportunity. Rising, Kakarot looked… unharmed. Yamcha grunted. _Well,_ _I knew what I was getting myself into._

Off to the side, Rayne stood next to Krillin, analyzing the opening moves of the match. 'You were right Krillin,' she said after a moment.

Krillin's eyes didn't budge from the match- the edges of his face showed worry. 'About what?' he asked, as he tracked the rebounding form of Yamcha, who had bounced off a block of Kakarot's.

'About Yamcha's lack of improvement- what you said to him a few months ago in West City. He's gotten stronger- and he definitely didn't slack off the past two months while we were training together- but you can only catch up so much. At this point, I think we're about even in power levels. Which is bad. If I gauged Kakarot right, there's no way I could beat him…'

Krillin's ears perked up in the middle of Rayne's analysis. 'Uhh… Yamcha said you two did some mystical stuff together- right?' he asked, trying to conceal his anxiety.

'Mystical stuff? I- oh. Yea, a witch helped us talk to a dead guy. That was a bit freaky.'

Mentally, Krillin breathed a huge sigh of relief.

In the audience, Bulma grew progressively more concerned as her imagined quick victory for Yamcha failed to materialize. Adjacent to her, Puar floated lower to the ground, frowning. 'Yamcha,' she said, 'be careful…'

Kakarot guided away a number of fast attacks from Yamcha and spun, landing his first solid hit on Yamcha. His foot slapped across Yamcha's face, sending him a few feet sideways to land on all fours. Yamcha straightened, touching a finger to a new gash that ran across his cheek. Gritting his teeth, Yamcha charged again at Kakarot, aiming a heavy elbow strike at Kakarot's head. As he approached, however, Kakarot used his height to slip under Yamcha's attack and deliver a quick, precise punch to Yamcha's chest. Yamcha was staggered mid-movement, teetering then willingly stepping a few feet back, holding a hand to where Kakarot hit him. _This… feels like broken ribs. How the hell?..._ Across from him, Kakarot smirked, and opened his mouth to talk for the first time in the match.

'I remember you, you know.'

'I remember you.'

No more words were exchanged as Yamcha changed tactics and started circling Kakarot. Amused, Kakarot held the center, his arms raised in a defensive block. Yamcha began approaching and withdrawing from the Saiyan repeatedly, as if he was playing cat and mouse with him.

'Yamcha seems to be… doing something!' the announcer said, lacking anything better to say.

Kakarot, now on the verge of laughing, started to walk forward on one such approach by Yamcha- but just as he did, Yamcha bent and flung his arms out, shooting out a hastily formed energy blast. Faint blue energy enveloped Kakarot for a second, obscuring him from the crowd.

Jumping back, Yamcha narrowly avoided a kick that emerged from the cloud. The dust cleared- Kakarot remained exactly where he was before, wholly unscathed by the attack. 'Okay, I'll admit,' Kakarot said, brushing a few particles of dirt from his brown shirt and pants, 'even _I_ don't know what you were trying to do there.'

'This is bad,' a distressed Rayne said, 'the gap between them is large and he's already running out of ideas. Eventually Kakarot will get bored and end this- on _his_ terms.'

Krillin gave no response, his eyes helplessly tuned to the battle before them.

Neither Krillin nor Rayne noticed the appraising eye of Jackie Chun to their right. Nor did they notice his hopeful smile. _That's the right idea Yamcha… what you can't make up in strength, make up with your mind..._

'You should know that I think very little of you,' Kakarot taunted. 'In fact, out of your entire bunch, you're probably the person I have the _least_ respect for. Where everyone else ran when they realized they couldn't fight toe for toe with me, and the bald one had just enough power to challenge me, _you_ \- you were just _stupid_.

Ungoaded, Yamcha hopped back a few more feet. The former bandit bent his legs and placed two cupped hands behind him. 'You're right,' he said jovially, 'I am a weakling.'

'Yeah, you are!'

Twin spheres of light formed in Yamcha's hands, shimmering in the noon's heat. One sphere was blue, cool and dense, while another was yellow, bright and sputtering. 'Everything is just a game to you,' Yamcha yelled, abruptly grimacing, 'isn't it, Kakarot?'

Kakarot said nothing and lowered himself into a guard position. _Though, if his attack is anything like his last one- hah!_

'Do you feel the amount of ki he's pushing into that attack?' Krillin asked, as his eyes darted back and forth between Yamcha and Kakarot. 'It's like… the _ki_ he's putting into his attack _surpasses_ his actual strength. He's… magnifying it somehow.'

'Could be that you can do that with _ki_ attacks,' Rayne said, squinting. 'Huh. They're still getting stronger.' It was true- Yamcha's orbs of _ki_ had expanded as much as they physically could in his hands. 'Kakarot would be foolish to take this attack head-on.'

'Yamcha!' Bulma and Puar roared, while furiously waving their banner from the last tournament, 'go Yamcha!'

In the haze of yells and cheers, Chi-Chi alone was wracked by dread. _This power won't be enough- if Kakarot made a full recovery- Yamcha, please!_

The light spilling from Yamcha's hands was increasing; his entire body was straining to hold together this amount of _ki_. _Would have been nice to test this move before this- but it's now or never._ Straining with a final push of energy, Yamcha tilted forward and flung his arms forward. The yellow sphere shot out of Yamcha's hand, expanding so the head was about a foot or two in diameter. Simultaneously, however, the blue sphere disappeared from sight.

The gold beam collided with Kakarot's block- but the beam didn't detonate. It rolled off of Kakarot's form. A faint pink aura surrounded the Saiyan, helping the beam to disperse against his block. He felt the beam peak, then slowly taper off. _The fool had even less power than I thought-_

A hand suddenly ripped through the beam, blue tendrils of _ki_ shooting out from each finger. Unprepared, Kakarot tried to wrench himself away- but the very last bits of the previous attack were still colliding with his block, preventing him from moving. He could do nothing as the visage of a giant, howling wolf rose above him and clamped down on Kakarot. A rain of swipes laced up and down Kakarot's body, barreling him backward with their concussive force. For a few moments Yamcha turned into a blue blur, wrecking absolute devastation as he raked Kakarot's body. Finishing his movement, Yamcha drew back his leg and twisted, slamming a _ki_ enhanced kick into Kakarot's gut. The Saiyan flew backward, barely succeeding in stopping himself before falling off the ring. Panting, Yamcha allowed himself a small smile as the crowd behind him burst into approving cheers. _I still got it._

'What a move!' The announcer had run parallel to Yamcha's offensive- his eyes were now trained on the edge of the ring where Kakarot was currently teetering. 'Will Kakarot be able to recover from such a savage attack?!'

Kakarot momentarily swayed on the edge, nearly toppling over on at least two occasions, before abruptly walking forward without an ounce of discomfort. He ran his hands over his body; his front was marked by a series of thin slashes, for the most part shredding his brown t-shirt. Beneath the shirt, however, there was… nothing. Kakarot grinned. 'That was it?' he called out across the ring.

Yamcha's face was unreadable, as he still struggled to catch his breath.

 _Please,_ Krillin begged to himself, _please; not again..._

In moments, Kakarot was on Yamcha, throwing punch after punch at Yamcha's hastily raised guard. Yamcha was too winded to move; he could only lower himself closer to the ground as the blows bounced painfully off his guard. The hits grew heavier- soon there was nothing Yamcha could do except to cower beneath his arms. Eventually, Kakarot knocked Yamcha's block away and landed a heavy kick to Yamcha's chest, knocking the former bandit flush to the ground. The Saiyan paused, scanning his surroundings. The crowd was dead silent. _As they should be._

On the ground, Yamcha was substantially more damaged than just a minute before. Angry bruises ran up and down his arms and chest from where Kakarot had beat on him. His orange Turtle _gi_ was torn and scuffed. Still, he panted, having been given no time to catch his breath. _Bad. This is… bad._ In one minute Kakarot had done more damage to Yamcha than he thought possible. _His strength- it's unreal!_ _How was I supposed to win this fight?..._

 _Use your head, Yamcha…_ Kakarot had momentarily turned from him, eyeing the crowd. Yamcha's eyes settled on Kakarot's tail, which was swishing behind the Saiyan idly. _That's it!_ With a desperate movement, Yamcha surged into a sitting position, wrapping his arms around Kakarot's waist and grabbing Kakarot's tail with both his hands.

A shudder ran through Kakarot. The Saiyan's head turned, his eyes glinting- not with surprise, or shock, or fear, but with malice. He snarled, swiping a hand to chop at one of Yamcha's arms. Yamcha's wrist crunched away, broken. The former bandit fell back to the ground, gasping from the sudden, unexpected pain. 'You think,' Kakarot said, placing his foot on Yamcha's chest, 'that a cheap trick like that will work on me? Who do you think I am!' He pushed his foot into Yamcha's body, bending back his ribcage in sync with a symphony of screams. Kakarot halted his foot at what he felt like was the precipice of completely caving the fool's chest; then, he drew his foot back slightly, giving Yamcha a momentary reprieve and a chance to talk. 'Did you honestly believe you stood a chance? Against _me?_ When I had beaten you before?' Kakarot taunted, propping himself up on the knee of the leg pressing down on Yamcha's chest. Even this simple shift in weight elicited a gasp of pain from the former bandit.

'I had…' Yamcha wheezed, 'to try.'

'Had to? Because you needed to stop the big, bad monster that I am? So desperate to win, are you, that you and your fellow cretins would resort to old, dishonorable tricks to defeat me? If you think that _I_ am pathetic- well, you should look at yourself in a mirror,' Kakarot ended, with a small note of satisfaction.

'You'd never understand-,' Yamcha coughed raggedly- a hackful of blood came up- and continued, '-the lengths we would go to defend our friends and our planet. From _you_.'

'Hmm.' Kakarot gazed down impassively at the fighter beneath him. 'I wouldn't understand, huh?' _Wrong. I understand completely. He fights to defend his existence. Just like how I fight to defend my existence here, on this planet, so that I may fulfill my task. I guess, in that circumstance, we aren't that different. Were the situations reversed- I would also be fighting for my life, doing whatever it took to survive._

Kakarot remembered something. _Right. I can't kill him here, now. Not until I win the tournament._ Below Kakarot, Yamcha seemed to be gaining a second wind- he was increasingly trying to worm his way out from under Kakarot's foot. _Next best thing, then._

In one motion, Kakarot jumped in the air and twisted, landing with two feet on Yamcha's right thigh. He felt the tell-tale give of a bone cracking; a millisecond later, Yamcha's anguished voice rode out across the ring. It peaked, then died off abruptly- he had, mercifully, passed out from the pain. Backing up from Yamcha's broken body, Kakarot briefly scanned the crowd again. Pure silence. _How easily terror grips you all..._

* * *

A/N: Thought some power levels would be appropriate here. So, without spoiling anything;

Krillin-165 (150ish before climbing Korin's tower)

Chiaotzu- 140 (weakened by the overuse of his psychic powers)

Launch- 120, ? when briefly magnified

Tien-?

Rayne- 145ish

Jackie Chun-?

Yamcha- 145ish

Kakarot-?

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** Kakarot is a bad dude. He provides some rationale for why he does such actions in this chapter, though.

 **Belsareth32:** Thank you for the kind words! Stuff like that really brightens my day (and incentives me to write more/faster, WINK).


	22. All Things Must Pass

Escalation

Chapter 22: All Things Must Pass

* * *

After the brutal end to Yamcha and Kakarot's match, the announcer tried to spin the situation as best as possible- which included removing Yamcha from the stage as soon as possible. For the second time this tournament, Krillin and Rayne found themselves running towards the medical wing. Out of the five of them who had decided to compete in the tournament, three were now confined to hospital beds. En route to Yamcha's room, Krillin and Rayne checked in on Retu and Launch. Retu's condition hadn't changed- he was still in a coma- but Launch gave them an enthusiastic thumbs up coupled with a grin- a grin that quickly soured when she heard the news. A minute of bickering and hopping later, Krillin and Rayne, each supporting one arm, helped Launch into Yamcha's room.

He was, surprisingly, awake. He didn't turn his head when they entered.

'Yamcha?...' a hesitant Krillin asked, uncoupling himself from Launch.

Yamcha sighed- an acknowledgment of them entering the room, and turned his head slightly in their direction. 'I'm so _dumb_.' he said, softly.

When he didn't continue, the three of them came to his bedside, concern plain in their eyes. 'Yamcha,' Rayne said, 'you gave it your all…'

'But it wasn't enough,' he interrupted, ' _nothing_ I could have done would have been enough. I tried everything I could think of, and I didn't even scratch him. And for my effort I was _rewarded_ ,' he verbally retched the last word, 'with a broken leg and wrist. My femur, snapped in two. It'll be months before I can even stand.

Yamcha exhaled the last sentence, seeming to run out of emotional energy. The room grew uncomfortably silent. Before anyone could say anything, Yamcha went on. 'Kakarot, losing to him… I don't know, it almost feels like it was _fated to happen._ Like nothing I could have done would have changed the end result.' Yamcha, disillusioned in himself, flitted his eyes towards them, then back.

None of them really knew what to say. At a few seconds, Launch hobbled forward and actually punched Yamcha in the shoulder. She nearly lost her balance from the effort but at the last second an astonished Krillin came up and steadied her.

'Hey!' Yamcha yelped, 'they gave me painkillers but that doesn't make it okay for you to hit me!'

'This is how you're going to take defeat?' she said. 'Sit and stew and say it was _destined_? Don't you have any pride in yourself!'

Taken aback, Yamcha could only frown as he tried scooting away from Launch in his cot. 'Shake yourself out of it!' she yelled, 'you fought damn well out there- if you were a bit stronger your moves would have won you the match!' Launch moved to punch Yamcha again, but this time Rayne came up behind her and grappled her, bear-hugging her and preventing Launch from raising her arms. Rayne exchanged a nod with Krillin before dragging a kicking and hissing Launch from the room. Yamcha watched them leave with a terrified expression.

'Launch's heart,' Krillin said once they were gone, sitting on Yamcha's bed near his feet, 'is always in the right place.'

The former bandit watched the door for a few more moments, as if to confirm Launch wouldn't storm in again. Satisfied, he replied to Krillin's question. 'You understand what I'm saying, though.' Yamcha's previous dourness returned to him. 'In that fight- it was barely a fight, actually- I felt so _helpless_. Like I knew what fate awaited me, and there was nothing I could do to avoid it.'

Krillin didn't reply. Yamcha was voicing concerns he himself has had in the past- concerns he would certainly have if he was in Yamcha's position, having fought an opponent so much stronger than himself. 'That's… the way things go sometimes,' he offered feebly. 'I wish I could be more upbeat than that. That might be the life of a martial artist, though; confronting bigger and bigger challenges. And there'll always be some fights that you can't win- at least, not at first.'

Yamcha seemed to consider this for a few moments, gazing past Krillin towards one of the sterile white walls of the room. 'you were right before, you know.'

'Right about what? When?'

'Way back at Capsule Corp, when we were planning the assault on the Red Ribbon Army, you said that I had slacked off in training. And you were right. In the three years between the last tournament and this one, I didn't train nearly as much. I started spending more time with Bulma. I found with her… a normalcy, a routine that I liked.'

Yamcha chewed on his lip, then went on. 'I never told anyone this, but the reason why I trained so hard for the last tournament- why I was able to surpass everyone- was because I was driven by such a fear of Kakarot. That battle with him, way back when… I would wake up from nightmares, just at the moment Kakarot would break my arm. I trained my hardest because I never wanted that to happen again. At the last tournament, when I took Jackie Chun to his limits- I felt that I had reached that level of comfort. Where I could defend myself against whatever came my way.'

'So,' Krillin said quietly, 'that's why you didn't train? Because you didn't feel the need to?'

Yamcha shook his head. 'No- I'm sorry, I'm not explaining this the right way. I did feel the need to train, but that need wasn't motivated by a desire to get stronger, or to improve myself- it was motivated by _fear_. I was afraid of getting weaker; letting myself being ravaged by people like Kakarot. Training was a means to manage my own terror.' Yamcha sighed, as if he had just relieved a burden from himself. 'That's why this next decision; effectively the decision I took with Bulma, is the right decision. Because I don't want to interact with that fear in the first place.'

Krillin furrowed his brows, confused. 'I don't understand. What decision, Yamcha?'

'I'm done, Krillin. With everything. This fight settled it. I'm giving up on being a martial artist.'

The former monk sat motionless at the foot of the bed. _Yamcha…_ Krillin wanted to say something, anything, but before he could think of something, Yamcha began again, more authoritative than before. 'I think Bulma is outside, Krillin. Her _ki_ \- Could you let us be alone? I want to talk to her.'

'But- Yamcha-'

'Krillin,' Yamcha said sternly, 'please.'

HIs eyes distant, Krillin nodded, rising and walking over to the door. Right before he placed his hand on the knob, he turned to say one last thing- but the drained expression on Yamcha's face, his hollow eyes looking at him, stopped him in his tracks. Instead, Krillin exited the room quietly.

Outside, Bulma was standing with her arms folded in concern. Her face looked ready to explode into a hundred different emotions at once. Wordlessly, Krillin gestured Bulma inside. She nodded thankfully, then entered, closing the door.

Alone in the hallway, Krillin felt a loneliness he hadn't felt in years.

0o0o0

 _This is all wrong. None of this should be happening._ Jackie Chun had watched, with agony, as another one of his students was carted away with a debilitating injury. _I enabled… all of this to happen. I trained them. I instilled in them the necessary righteousness to fight. I set them on this path of pain._

 _I have done this myself_. Understanding flooded his mind, dripping into every nook and cranny. He felt his hands tremble, even though he had balled them into fists. Concentrating, he brought his hands together behind his back and folded them. _Is this what Mutaito felt, when he watched Shen and I be decimated by the Demon King Piccolo? All those centuries ago- did he feel what I now feel? Is this how all teachers feel when their students torture themselves through their own passion? I should have learned my lesson with Gohan. Every student is just another victim._

A tide of counter-thought swelled in his mind, rising in retaliation to his last thought. _No, it's… not that simple. There's so much gray. They suffer, but for their suffering they save innocent lives. They choose a path filled with pain and hurt, but it is a path they chose for themselves. I did not force them to learn, nor did I trick them into believing they had a responsibility to protect others from harm. No- those drives were in them all along. I simply prepared them for their grim responsibilities as much as I could. If I had not taught them… another would have, for certain._

A dusting of was finality was descending on his thoughts. He had spent so much of these last three years riven by doubt, fear, and dread. But now, here at this tournament, with everything laid in front of him, he felt nothing but an acceptance and ease for the events to come. He had decided a long time ago the paths that awaited him here, should Kakarot appear and try to make good on his morbid promise. There was nothing left to do now except to wait and see.

One more fight to watch. Then, he would decide.

0o0o0

After she had forced Launch back into her bed, Rayne had walked back to the competitors' area. She had seen the dark thoughts running through Yamcha's mind- and she could tell that, whatever thoughts Yamcha was expressing to Krillin right now, he had been stewing and thinking on them for a long time. _He reminded me of myself. Makes sense, then, that I would recognize it._

This tournament felt completely different from the last one. What with the Crane students, not to mention Kakarot- everything felt _wrong_. She realized that she missed that first tournament; it was pervaded by a care-free spirit and thrill that this tournament was sorely missing. Defeat then didn't mean a crippling injury or an onslaught of pain- it was simply a verdict of your training and power when pitted against your opponent's. She wondered whether she would ever compete in a tournament like that ever again. _Seventeen years of age and I'm already reminiscing about my childhood. Jeez…_ _I guess I should consider myself lucky that I lost to a kind opponent._ She looked over at Jackie Chun, who had his hands tightly folded behind his back. He was eyeing Kakarot. _He looks… concerned? No- it's something else. Is he… anxious?_ She tried to read into whatever emotion was playing across Jackie Chun's features, but he seemed to notice her and subsequently turned away to regard the ring. _Damn_ , Rayne thought _. What was that?_

As she was running the last few moments through her head, someone tapped her on her shoulder. She turned, expecting Krillin- but it was the tall Crane fighter, Tien. He was as stoic as always- though she thought she saw his mouth twisted at one end. 'Is your fighter okay?' he asked.

Rayne eyed him suspiciously, then said, 'He broke his femur. Other than that- he's _peachy_.'

Tien frowned. 'I don't mean to be-'

'It's too late for you to "be" _anything_ ,' she snapped. 'You have some nerve asking whether one of our friends is okay when you let another one be sent into a coma.'

Tien's eyes widened at this. 'He's- he's in a coma?'

Rayne said nothing- but her glare answered his question. 'I hope you're happy with what you've done.' With that, she turned and stomped away from him.

Gears turning in his mind, Tien stood there for some time. Eventually, Chiaotzu floated over to him. He looked similarly stricken. 'Did I hear that right?' he said, 'a coma?'

Tien nodded grimly. 'A coma,' he pronounced, as if he was still coming to grips with the word itself.

Chiaotzu was silent for a moment, then said, 'this is wrong, Tien. I know Master Shen never taught us to concern ourselves with stuff like this- but we harmed these people. We owe them a debt.'

'I know, Chiaotzu, I know. I- damn it!' Tien twisted his face in anger, stopping just short of flaring his _ki_. 'I feel so manipulated! None of this feels right! Shen keeps whispering into my ear in every match- it's like he doesn't trust us. And there was no need for us to act so belligerently to the Turtle students. I feel so… dirty, like I carried out someone else's grudge at this tournament.'

'Tien,' Chiaotzu said slowly, 'we need to rectify this. We need to make things _right_. I think- I have an idea. Listen…'

0o0o0

The silence of the spectators was deafening to Chi-Chi. Not a single person had cheered or applauded Kakarot winning his match against Yamcha. Even the announcer was at a loss for words until Kakarot had fully walked off the ring. Brutality of this degree was of a sort no-one at the tournament had ever seen- needless, indifferent brutality. There were no tournament rules against such displays, of course, but everyone felt that Kakarot had violated some essential norm of fighter etiquette- really, some aspect of basic human _decency._

Chi-Chi had watched the entire fight, unflinching, from start to finish. She was not going to ignore the consequences of her actions. No- she had to observe them, for herself and others. Yamcha deserved that much, at least.

Kakarot was a monster. That was no longer arguable- it was indisputable. Any sort of redemption, reform- the damage and harm he would cause to get there was unfathomable. _How could I let myself be so blind? I saw firsthand what Kakarot did to the Red Ribbon Army- I, of all people, should understand his nature._

The chance that any of them would defeat Kakarot in the tournament seemed extremely unlikely; to make matters worse, four out of six of them, including herself, were too injured to take on Kakarot anytime soon.

Master Roshi still hadn't appeared. For the first time since meeting him, Chi-Chi began to doubt Master Roshi. _Why isn't he stopping this from happening? Why fight in the tournament at all at this rate!_

With her ruined shoulder and her boxed-in position within the stands, Chi-Chi hated feeling useless.

0o0o0

Krillin, on his walk towards the ring, was surprised to see the tall Crane fighter waiting by the exit. He was eyeing Krillin intently. As soon as he was within speaking distance, Tien said, 'I need to talk to you.'

Krillin barely brushed Tien as he walked past.

Balling his fists, Tien set off after him.

The announcer looked a bit more collected than before- he was reestablishing his ebbs-and-flows of call-and-response with the crowd. As soon as he saw Tien and Krillin emerge, he practically jumped with excitement. 'It looks like we're all set for the first semifinal match! I hope everyone is as excited to watch this as I am!' Tien and Krillin gave him their customary nods to start.

Beaming, the announcer spun to face the crowd. Some life was returning to them. 'I hope you're ready for what looks like to be a very high-quality match! Krillin and Tien, if their _gis_ are anything to go by, are the last fighters representing their schools! Who here wants to see a good, ol' fashioned grudge match?'

The crowd grew louder, somewhat rocking with approval. Krillin regarded them for a moment, then set his eyes back on Tien. _Yea, let's go with that. Grudge match._

'The first semifinal- Krillin vs. Tien- begin!'

Krillin immediately charged Tien, leading with a drawn back fist. Right before he reached him, Krillin revealed it as a feint and pivoted, swinging his left leg against Tien's lower body. Tien barely caught the blow with his right arm- but then, weirdly enough, he placed his other arm on Krillin's shoulder, as if they were talking. 'Krillin! Stop for a sec-'

Frowning, Krillin twisted away from the arm and swung a double-fist into Tien's side that, again, was barely blocked. Krillin launched into a complex, fast set of attacks; a fluid series of movements from the Turtle student kept Tien on the defensive. Every time Tien tried to speak, Krillin would cram another fist into a block, silencing the Crane fighter. Krillin's shorter stature eventually enabled him to perform an impressive move; he hopped back a few feet and then came at Tien aiming for a high elbow strike to Tien's chest. At the last moment, however, Krillin pressed down to the ground, entering a slide. Too low for Tien to counter, he was toppled forward as Krillin slid under and behind the Crane fighter. Krillin then used his _ki_ to stop himself short and propel himself up and backward. Flaring his elbows behind him, he landed two simultaneous strikes to Tien's still falling body, slamming him face first into the ring. A small amount of dust flew up from the impact- Krillin had put a lot of force into his attack.

Tien quickly climbed back to his feet and faced Krillin. Though he had been hit cleanly, he looked more angry than injured. 'Stop! Let me talk!' Tien complained.

Dismayed by his attack's ineffectiveness, Krillin figured Tien had earned a chance to speak. 'Make it quick.'

'Well, first, I'm sorry.'

Krillin glared at Tien. 'Go on.'

'Second; I want to make you an offer.'

Tien felt a buzzing sensation on the edge of his hearing- _Shen, no doubt, wondering why I've stopped fighting_ \- but he resisted it, blocking out his master. _Not now. This is our fight, our decision- not yours._ 'You can either fight me properly, and the winner between us will go on to possibly face Kakarot in the final- which is an important thing for _both_ of us, if I understand correctly- or you can beat me by resignation. In other words, I'll get out of your way so you can have Kakarot all to yourself.' Tien definitively felt Shen circling his mind now, but still, he pushed his master away.

Krillin's eyes seemed to bounce with consideration, before reassuming a hostile glint. 'And what's to stop me from simply beating you into a pulp now,' he said, 'and still getting the right to cream Kakarot in the final?'

Tien actually smiled- the first time ever Krillin had seen him do so. 'You're welcome to try- but I would bet that either of us emerging from this fight would be weaker if you had just advanced automatically to the final. You can fight me- but then both of us will be weaker for it.'

Concern crept onto Krillin's face. _That's the fear, isn't it? That we both grind each other to nothing, and there's no one left to face Kakarot. And if Kakarot wins this tournament outright- well, if I understand him right, the bloodbath begins. He_ _ **can't**_ _be allowed to win..._

 _...yet…_ Krillin glared across at the Crane fighter- a small smile still was still on his face. _As much as his offer to resign makes sense, and even though it would be_ _ **the best chance**_ _to defeat Kakarot- I can't ignore what he did to Retu. If I made a deal with him now, I'll never forgive myself for passing on the opportunity to right the wrong he did. To right the wrong_ _ **I did**_ _by letting Retu learn martial arts in the first place… He deserves justice._

Gritting his teeth, and throwing out one arm to his side in frustration- _it was such a good deal, too…_ \- Krillin barked, 'I can't let you get away with what you did! Kakarot deserves to pay- but you deserve to pay just as much! I'll beat you, here and now, and still go on to defeat Kakarot in the final!'

Tien started, making a brief expression of surprise before uglily twisted his face. 'Are you serious? You'd throw away your best chance to defeat Kakarot, just like that? Don't you understand the significance of what I'm offering? A _clean shot_ at Kakarot?!' The Crane side of Tien was in an uproar- _how could he refuse my gesture? Throw away my respect for him like that? Crane students_ _ **never**_ _abandon a mission- that idiot!_ 'If you want to be angry, fine!' He lowered himself into a distinctive Crane guard- he appeared many times more serious than he was before. 'I don't mind teaching _midgets_ their manners!'

Even though she was at least a hundred feet away, Rayne winced when she heard Tien's last insult echoing across the stadium. _This is going to be an ugly match, after all._

Practically snarling at this point, Krillin yelled as he rushed Tien. They were easily moving two to three times faster than before as knees, elbows, feet and hands disappeared into the frenzied exchange between the two. Limbs would detach from this blurring mass for moments at a time to be countered by a block or a dodge. This was easily the most visually impressive contest any of the fighters present, including Jackie Chun, had ever seen. _Damn! These youngsters have got a lot of spunk!_

It was a true display of styles- Tien's Crane style of offense, which emphasized decisive and injuring strikes, was naturally countered by Krillin's Turtle style of defense, which included tactical blocking and tanking to maximize the number of hits that could be taken in a fight. The tension between Krillin's offense and Tien's defense was similar- Krillin's flowing attack style was neutralized by Tien's continual small and quick defensive adjustments. It was no coincidence that their styles were so antagonistic to each other. As their dance continued, Jackie Chun and Shen made eye-contact with each other, each seemingly bragging on behalf of their student.

Their moment was broken by a strike that rung across the arena. Tien had dodged a palm strike aimed for his chest and had sneakily cocked his leg, releasing it in an arc to slam Krillin in his side from the left. Krillin spun for a few yards before stabilizing, falling to the ground with one knee. He held one hand to his struck side, panting.

Tien was doing the same- he breathed cautiously, trying not to agitate the multiple points where Krillin had hit him against his blocks during their last engagement. _He's proving to be a much stronger fighter than I figured… still, the fact that last tryst ended from my strike, not his, is telling. No need to get cocky, though…_

A few feet away, Krillin was having much the same thoughts. _He definitely has a slight edge over me in raw strength- that strike was just a little too strong, a little too fast, for me to counter. The gap isn't unbridgeable, though. It'll come down to the intangibles…_

The two fighters eyed each other for a handful of more heartbeats, each drawing in as much breath as they could. Then, on cue, both of them charged each other again, launching themselves back into the fray. Krillin spun around a punch and delivered a quick jab to Tien's gut, momentarily stunning him. Then, Krillin extended his hands towards Tien and yelled, 'Aha!' as tiny arcs of lightning jumped from his fingers, enlacing the Crane fighter. Tien was momentarily terrified- until his expression abruptly changed and he flared his _ki_. The arcs of lightning immediately dispersed from his body. 'Was that…' he asked, confused, 'was that supposed to hurt me?'

Frowning, Krillin meekly lowered his hands. _Damn cat! I knew that move was just for show! On to the next one, then._ Ignoring Tien's question, Krillin said, 'Wanna see something cool?'

Tien didn't even bother to respond, instead falling back behind his guard.

Krillin again raised his hands in front of him- but this time he flattened his palms, as if he was touching a wall. _Ki_ started to swirl around Krillin, curling around his body, before being drawn towards his hands. Then, the energy started to take on an outline of a wall, characterized by a blue-white color and a semi-transparent sheen. Pausing a moment to finish, Krillin fully pressed his hands to the wall of _ki_ and then started running towards Tien.

 _Crap!_ Tien braced himself, digging his feet into the ground. On impact, Tien felt- and he suspected this- the pressure from the wall greatly exceed whatever pressure Krillin had been exerting. The former monk had created a solid, wall-like _ki_ blast! Immediately, Tien felt his feet scraping against the tiles as he was quickly pushed backward by the attack. A few feet away from the edge of the ring, Tien roared, pulling one golden-edged hand of _ki_ back, and swung it into the wall. The _ki_ blade pierced the top of the wall and a great hissing sound filled the ring. The wall immediately shattered, the cohesion of the energy broken by Tien's incision. It half detonated, half dispersed, as a small blast erupted between Tien and Krillin, while a thin disk of dissipating blue energy shot out in a semi-circle to their sides. Smoke and dirt were thrown up into the air- out of which Krillin was knocked backward, skidding across the ring on his back. A thin scorch mark on his skin- the _gi_ in that spot was burned away- was prominent on his right chest. The smoke and dirt cleared a bit more; Tien was standing with one arm and finger outstretched, a wisp of smoke trailing from the smaller appendage.

Huffing, Tien emerged somewhat more out of the blast area. It was obvious he had taken the worse of the explosion- his entire surcoatwas charred and burned, completely disintegrated at the edges. Noticing the worst state of his upper clothes compared to his pants, Tien casually pulled off his surcoat and the shirt underneath, opting to go shirtless. 'I have to admit,' he said as he tossed his clothes onto the grass surrounding the ring, half-seeing Krillin climb to his feet, 'to do an attack like that, the amount of _ki_ control and _insanity_ you would have to possess… it's impressive.' Despite his injuries, Tien found himself smiling. _This is a proper fight!_

Krillin held up one hand to where Tien had point-blank blasted him. The way he probed his injury with his hand indicated that it looked worse than it actually was. _That attack blast was… surprising. Even though he threw it up with no preparation- it still managed to do some legitimate damage. I need to watch myself around this guy's ki attacks._ Leveling his gaze with Tien, Krillin regarded his opponent silently for a moment, before sliding back into a guard, encouraging Tien to continue.

Obliging, Tien ducked his head and threw himself forward.

0o0o0

The fighting resumed wholesale; evidently both fighters had decided the time for warm-up was over and were committing themselves in earnest. Krillin edged forward, losing his balance for a second- and Tien descended on him, driving home a number of jabs and chops to Krillin's body before the former monk caught a heavy punch with a forearm block. Twisting from the force of Tien's attack, Krillin spun and slammed a leg into Tien's exposed right side. Cursing, the Crane student backed off a few feet, then yelled and reengaged with Krillin.

'Chi-Chi,' Bulma said, 'do you have any idea who's winning right now?' Tien and Krillin were, to Bulma's eyes, practically god-like with their endurance in maintaining their current pace. 'They both look pretty evenly hurt.'

Chi-Chi squinted her eyes, at the same time feeling the battle out with her _ki_. It was true- both Tien and Krillin looked battle-worn. Krillin's _gi_ was tearing at the shoulders, and his arms were matted with bruises. And even though Tien had discarded his surcoat not a few minutes ago, already a number of recent welches and cuts were welling up on his torso and back. By all accounts, they looked spent.

 _Hmm…_ Chi-Chi struggled mentally, trying to latch onto their _kis_. The fight obscured their power; their auras were dispersing and mixing chaotically in the area around them. It also didn't help that Chi-Chi was injured herself. _Damn! C'mon…_

In the ring, Tien drove Krillin back with a strong elbow- but then the Crane fighter retreated, backpedaling towards his end of the ring. He held up one hand, clenching and unclenching it repeatedly, while he angled his body perpendicular to Krillin. He then held up one entire arm at Krillin, palm outstretched. Chi-Chi could feel some swirling power, _real_ power, start to emanate from Tien. _He was holding that much back?..._ A faint outline of Tien's aura appeared, oscillating between gray-white and gold in its color. Slowly, he brought his other arm to brace the original one, as golden energy started to coalesce in his palm- pointing directly at Krillin. 'You've proven yourself a capable fighter-' he yelled across the winds buffeting the ring, 'but there's more to a fight than skill!' Krillin braced his arms in front of him, feeling the waves of power roll over him. The Turtle student pressed his palms together and angled them towards the imminent attack. 'It takes power, too!' Tien screamed, as a blast ballooned in his hands. 'LANCING BLAST!' The ball of _ki_ shot out of Tien's hand, a sizable tail of gold following it across the ring. Krillin tilted his head down and leaned all his weight forward. Then, an answering blue blast of erupted from Krillin's palms, the force pushing Krillin himself back momentarily.

The blasts raced towards each other, and met in the center of the ring. Blue and Gold collided and mixed, swirling, until detonating in a brilliant show of light. Even the announcer, with his dark sunglasses, shied his eyes away from the intensity of the light produced.

The glare dissipated, revealing both Krillin and Tien haggardly facing each other, their bodies identical to how they were before launching their attacks. Both of them took a moment to catch their breath, then slipped on a mask of steely determination, approaching each other once more.

Tien couldn't fight off a rising feeling of respect for his opponent. He had never expected anyone outside of the Crane school could have challenged him as much as the Turtle student opposite him had. _I learn more with each passing minute here, it seems._ Tien was still in control, however. There was still a bit more power he was holding back- and he hadn't even used any of his _special_ techniques. _At this rate-_ Tien looked over Krillin, who looked exhausted by their previous beam collision- _this should be over in a few minutes._

Krillin stopped a few feet away from Tien, then straightened his body, ignoring the protests of his muscles. _Yep. That ki attack put me on reserves. Great…_ He had to think of something, and _soon_ , if he was going to stand any chance of winning. _Hmm… well, there is one more move I could try- though if I don't win with that-_ Krillin was jolted as Tien closed with him, thrusting down a chop that Krillin barely had enough time to block- _But I sure as hell know I'm not going to win this way!_ Krillin sidestepped an overhead elbow and backed off more, stopping about twenty feet away from Tien. Wary, Tien planted his feet in the ground, one arm extended in a block towards Krillin.

Taking a deep breath, Krillin brought his arms to his sides and began channeling his _ki._ He felt every muscle, every part of him become enlivened with energy, as he used the very last reserves of his energy to invigorate himself. Dust and small pebbles skidded away from Krillin's bent form, as his energy continued to rise. Fearing the worse, Tien began adjusting his ki to his front- he expected a powerful strike to his defenses any moment now. _He must be nearing his limit._

But Krillin's _ki_ kept rising. And _rising_. It rose far, far past what Tien expected- then it rose past his _own_ limits. Krillin remained motionless throughout this, not making the slightest indication of attacking. _This can't be right!_ Tien's mind raced, _It's like he's using the natural amplification of a ki attack to enhance his entire body._ Krillin's head lifted up- and there was a smile stretching across his face. _Wait!_ Tien mentally panicked, _NO!-_

Krillin fell to the ground, energy swirling around him. When he touched the ring, all at once the tiles rattled and shook, and then Tien saw a wall of _ki_ rise up around him, enveloping him. _It was a ruse!_ Tien was helpless as he felt his entire body be lifted and then shot into the sky. _He disguised his attack by doing that showy power-up!_ Tien found himself streaking into the sky, easily flying fifty feet into the air and rising. Tien flung his _ki_ outwards, slowing his upwards momentum. _But he should have known that I could fly!_ Tien came a stop in the air, hovering under his own power. _He saw Chiaotzu do it- and I briefly used it in the quarterfinals-_

A closing _ki_ signature screeched across Tien's mind. He looked down- and saw the back of Krillin rapidly approaching him, a small, thin blue beam shooting out from underneath him. Tien couldn't move- his body was still in the process of stabilizing his position in the sky. _He knew! He knew I'd be vulnerable!..._

Tien had no time to think anything more as Krillin's body slammed into his own, knocking him even further into the sky. Krillin's momentum was broken by Tien's body, and the former monk began to fall back to Earth. Reeling from the attack, Tien could do nothing but follow the plummeting Krillin back towards his ground. _Damn!..._ He forced out what little _ki_ he could to slow his descent, but due to his higher maximum height, he knew he would hit the ground faster than Krillin.

The two fighters plunged to the ground, their bodies crashing down one after another as Tien's body cratered into the ring a few feet and seconds away from Krillin's. The announcer hung back tentatively, as the dust thrown up by the impacts took its time clearing. A minute passed- the dust cleared- and neither fighter was standing.

One heartbeat. Two. Then, after a flurry of movement within his crater, Tien rose up, looking worse for wear but standing steadily on his own two feet. He scampered out of impact zone and edged cautiously towards the other crater. The announcer began the count.

Tien reached Krillin at the 5-count. Krillin had his eyes opened- but every indication showed that he couldn't move. He was too far embedded in the ground and too weak to free himself. Upon seeing Tien, Krillin furiously tried to pull himself clear- but a handful of fruitless moments later, it was over. Tien had won.

He wasted no time unearthing Krillin from the earth.

Pointedly- but not antagonistically- Krillin pushed Tien away once he had broken clear of the ground. His clothes were in tatters, his skin stained brown by the dirt underneath the tiles, but most of all, his face was ravaged by the strain of holding back his humiliation. It took every ounce of willpower he had to keep an even face and give the customary nod of acknowledgment to his opponent.

The announcer bounded up to them, grabbing Tien by one arm. 'Winner! We have a winner! Tien will compete for the title of the World's Strongest! Everyone, give him a hand!'

As the crowd cheered the conclusion of the match, Krillin began edging backward. He turned, but then he heard a whisper float across the ring. 'Hey'.The former monk cast a look back towards Tien, who was still at attention for the crowd. 'I meant what I said- before, that is.' he stated. 'I'll finish this. For both of us.'

Frowning, Krillin considered what to say. 'For us,' he replied after a moment, and walked off the ring.

Tien watched him go and let the announcer parade his battered body for the crowd. _I promise, Krillin..._

0o0o0

Jackie Chun had watched Krillin and Tien fall from the sky, and knew Krillin had lost before they even reached the ground. _He just didn't have enough in the end..._

 _So be it._ He had prepared himself for this moment. To his right, Rayne was tensed, glaring out towards the far-away Tien out on the ring.

Master Roshi had pieced together what was going on between Tien and Krillin during their fight; at some point, the Crane students had allowed Retu to get hurt. He did not fault them for that. Of everyone still alive, Master Roshi alone knew Shen best, and understood the machinations of his mind. If these students had been studying under Shen for a long time- then they couldn't be blamed for their actions. Losing any and all good conscience happens when you live under a wicked man for so long.

He felt the urge to pull them aside, talk to them about how Shen has poisoned their minds. Yet… he saw Tien immediately help Krillin get to his feet. The seeds were there. And, at the same time, Master Roshi could see Shen fuming in the crowd. _They begin to see the truth without my help._

Krillin hobbled past Jackie Chun, entering into a quiet conversation with Rayne. Across the room, Kakarot eyed Jackie Chun. After a moment, the Saiyan broke off and walked out onto the ring.

 _One last thing, then._ Jackie Chun strode over to Krillin and Rayne, who turned with surprise as he approached. 'You two should know,' he begun, 'that before you two- and everyone else- had come along, I was, admittedly, lost. I had spent so much time simply passing the time, seeing the world continue to change around me as I carried on as an old man. I hadn't taken on students in decades- I thought I was done with that part of my life, and was better for it.

Krillin and Rayne looked absolutely bewildered. _They'll get it eventually,_ Master Roshi thought, and went on, 'I was wrong. Training students-training _you-_ reinvigorated me. Even though we spent our time together while threatened by one of the gravest evils this world had ever seen, I don't regret a single moment of it. I am, and forever will be… proud.'

He turned then, walking out for his semifinal against Kakarot. He flashed a grin as he left them; a grin that was so characteristic that it snapped Krillin out of his utter confusion.

 _...Jackie Chun!... is Master Roshi!..._

0o0o0

Stepping into the ring, Master Roshi felt an absolute calm wrap around him. _That was easier than I thought it'd be. Though I imagine_ , he glanced towards Kakarot, crouched as if ready to pounce into action, _the worst is yet to come._

Just like before, the announcer kept his distance from Kakarot as he ran through his introductions. Kakarot wasn't even listening at this point. _Another fighter I've beaten before. I'm itching to get to the final and fight that bald one!_ He could feel adrenaline race through his veins- he yearned to get through this match as quick as possible. _No holding back, then. I'll end this fast._

Jackie Chun bent his knees and crossed his arms in front of him- he wouldn't hesitate this time. With a growling yell, he summoned his _ki,_ pulling it from his reserves and forcing it into his muscles. His body burned as an aura burst into life around him, raging and flicking the tiles with clear white tendrils. His wig flew off in the process, revealing his bald head underneath. Master Roshi crossed a threshold- and his muscles exploded outwards, shredding his black robe into ribbons and bursting from every inch of his skin. 'Haaah!' he let out one last yell as his power stabilized, pulsing through his limbs. He flexed his massive muscles, and positioned himself to clash to Kakarot.

The announcer gaped and completely forgot his planned pre-match antics. 'Begin!' he hurriedly said.

Kakarot dived forward, holding back his elbow for a heavy blow to Master Roshi's center. Master Roshi ducked underneath the strike and throttled a punch into Kakarot's block, the strength of the strike forcing Kakarot back a few steps. Grimacing, Kakarot rushed forward, but in doing so he ran straight into Master Roshi's arcing leg, taking a blow to his stomach and sending him rolling across the ring.

 _Incredible._ Master Roshi relaxed, rolling his neck and stretching a few muscles in his back and legs. _My power in this form has improved much more than I thought. I might be able to beat Kakarot in a straight-up fight, after all._

Kakarot rose from the ground, his face creased in an extremely unpleasant grimace. He hovered close to the ground- and then struck out around the ring, jumping from spot to spot around Master Roshi. His form blurred as he closed his circle of movement closer around Master Roshi.

Unimpressed, Master Roshi flung out his arms with a massive _kiai_ , momentarily halting Kakarot mid-jump. At that moment, Master Roshi surged forward, delivering a chop to Kakarot's head, stunning him. He followed that up with a cascade of punches and kicks to Kakarot's unguarded body, before kicking him away once more. Master Roshi still commanded the center of the ring.

'Chiaotzu,' Tien said, his eyes dead-set on the match in front of them, 'you see it too, don't you?'

Another blow- Kakarot's chest had been smashed to one side by Master Roshi's double-fist. 'Yes,' Chiaotzu replied, 'it wasn't clear before, when he was dominating his opponents- but Kakarot's form- it's like he doesn't even have one. Look!'

Tien saw Kakarot leap forward to try and catch Master Roshi with a heavy center kick- once Master Roshi had moved out of the way, however, it was laughably easy for the old master to deliver a quick succession of punches to Kakarot's wide-open body before he could land and properly defend himself. 'His entire fighting style- it seems cobbled together, improvised,' Tien observed, 'well suited for crushing a weaker opponent; however, against an opponent stronger in strength, then…'

Kakarot rolled away from another deceptively quick kick, a few hits glancing off his body. He stopped ten feet away from Master Roshi, who eyed him menacingly.

This wasn't going at all how he imagined. _To think he's improved this much… Yet!..._ Kakarot crouched down to the ground like a cat, voicing a nasty growl that was growing louder, _It won't be enough!..._ An aura licked out from under Kakarot, enveloping him in a sickly pink-blue aura. Yelling, he sprinted towards Master Roshi, his aura raging around him. Their attacks traded, flew faster than before, as the intensity of their fight increased. Kakarot moved through a punch from Master Roshi- it landed painfully on his shoulder- and delivered a series of quick blows to his opponent's stomach. Instead of winding him as intended, however, Master Roshi shifted forwards, pressing Kakarot's arms against his own body, and with a great roar, he brought both fists to Kakarot's head simultaneously, landing on opposite sides from each other. The Saiyan's head was momentarily squeezed with all the force of a nutcracker. Horribly disoriented from Master Roshi's attack, Kakarot was easily launched away by a jumping knee strike.

Master Roshi's mind remained completely focused on the fight in front of him- not a single moment was wasted in commentary or analysis. _I won't be distracted. Not this time._

His body a bloom of bruises, Kakarot steadied his vision as balance and sensation slowly returned to him. He was near his limits- he gazed across the ring, through his spinning sight- and his opponent didn't look damaged at all. Kakarot's blood boiled- though not from the excitement. No, he was feeling something else entirely; _indignation._

 _I am a Saiyan! How could I be bested by this fighter!_ He was outraged- the mere idea that he could be bested by a fighter he had defeated before was ludicrous! He couldn't take it- his anger and his frustration were breaking to the surface, as he half-noticed his outline reappear around him. HIs eyes scanned the stands madly. _For this to happen here- this is unacceptable! I won't allow it!_ With his arms raised in front of him and his feet level with the tiles beneath him, Kakarot noticed words were tumbling out of his mouth- ' _You're beneath me! You're all beneath me!'_ and he felt _ki_ begin to collect in his palms.

Across the ring, Master Roshi turned to the side, cupping his hands behind him. At a whisper, he began, 'ka….'

Power flared and sputtered around Kakarot- he was too enraged to try and force as much _ki_ as possible into the blast, and thus energy shone and wavered around his body, creating a miniature storm at his end of the ring.

Through it all, Master Roshi remained still, determination shining in his eyes. He continued to whisper to himself.

Krillin and Rayne covered their eyes from the light- 'Unreal!' Krillin exclaimed- to think that Jackie Chun had _this much power!_ '

Rayne instinctually thought of the _other fighter_. 'His power is unreal…'

Tien stood unfazed by the imminent clash of _ki_ , while his eyes darted back and forth between Kakarot and Master Roshi. They parked on Kakarot. He noticed Kakarot was pointing one hand downwards, farther back from the other one that was pointing towards Master Roshi. _Ki_ was welling in both hands. _He can't- no- he is!_ Leaping into action, Tien started bounding across the grass towards Kakarot's edge of the arena, focusing his mind and _ki_ on Master Roshi. _Work, damn it!_ He felt a click- then burst into Master Roshi's mind, saying, _'Kakarot's going to destroy the ring- and kill everyone watching!_

His entire body jerking from the revelation- everything became obvious to Master Roshi. Kakarot's nervous eye movements, interspersed between Master Roshi and the ring in front of him- the small light blooming behind the Saiyan. Krillin, Rayne, and Chiaotzu's growing expressions of realization- and terror. Master Roshi and Tien had a split-second to convey their actions to each other before Kakarot pounced.

A number of things happened at once. Two pink energy blasts erupted from Kakarot- one flying across the ring at Master Roshi, the other arcing downwards, aiming to burrow into the center of the ring. Master Roshi released his Kamehameha instantaneously, the amount of _ki_ contained within it easily surpassing the combined _ki_ of Kakarot's two attacks. Master Roshi then dove forwards, sliding towards the center of the ring- and where Kakarot's second blast was speeding towards. Tien stopped behind Kakarot, and braced his hands in a triangle in front of him.

The Kamehameha collided with Kakarot's first blast in the air, blue briefly intermixing with pink, before powering past Kakarot's attack- to barrel straight towards Kakarot. Kakarot, however, had obviously planned for this; he had already begun moving to one side once he had launched his attacks. His body was badly signed and burned on his right side as the Kamehameha passed by him- but he succeeded in evading most of the blast. As such, Master Roshi's attack was now hurtling towards the crowd, punctuated by spectators' cries of panic. Just then, a deafening yell of 'TRI-BEAM!" erupted out of the percussive chaos and a golden, triangular blast shot up from the Crane fighter. The Tri-Beam collided with the Kamehameha, meekly detonating against it- but the attack succeeded in nudging the arc of the Kamehameha upwards, up and away from the crowd. As it cleared the stands, Master Roshi- sliding on his back- shot two dual _ki_ blasts upwards, colliding with Kakarot's second blast. Despite their impromptu nature, Master Roshi's blasts briefly struggled and forced Kakarot's attack upwards- but eventually, Master Roshi's _ki_ attack lost steam, and began shredding itself with ribbons of pink energy. Their blasts wobbled, then shimmered and exploded ten or so feet above the ring. Because of Master Roshi's last-minute effort, the detonation spilled up into the sky- but a sizable amount exploded down and to the sides of the ring. Tien was briefly licked by the ensuing heat- closer to the blast, Kakarot was very nearly knocked off the ring as the detonation enveloped his body- but Master Roshi took the blast head-on, only having time to raise his arms in a desperate defense. A massive amount of light and wind poured out from the ring, rushing over stands and the audience. Puar had to be grabbed by Bulma so to prevent her from being blown away by the wind. Chi-Chi shook in her seat- the ground below her momentarily heaved from the blast.

Slowly, the entropy from those rapid series of events diminished, their light and sound petering off into the distance. The ring was revealed to be intact- the tiles seemed to be made out of stronger stuff than people figured- and both Kakarot and Master Roshi were present. Kakarot was in bad shape; the right side of his body- and to a lesser extent his front- was seriously scorched, blistering in some spots. Master Roshi, however, was worse- His entire front was heavily blistered, red stretches and burns pocking his still incredibly muscled body. He climbed painfully to his feet, his entire body wracked with deep-set agony. _Damn him! DAMN HIM!_ Master Roshi brought his arms to his front, seeing Kakarot shake off his own pain and approach. The pain was overwhelming- still, he forced his arms into a guard, creasing every inch of his face.

It was clear to Krillin- clear to every _ki_ -sensing fighter- that Master Roshi had lost a significant amount of his power. Unable to contain his disbelief, the former monk whimpered, 'How? How could this happen?...

Rayne twisted her face in surprise- but there was anger there, too. 'Kakarot played us,' she said bluntly. 'He manipulated our concern for the crowd to force his opponent to tank a blow that, under normal circumstances, wouldn't have hurt him. However, after spending so much energy in such a short amount of time- Master Roshi was defenseless.' She actually spat with disgust, then began striding forwards. 'I'm stopping this, _now_. I won't stand by while another one of us is brutalized by Kakarot.'

She made it a few feet before Krillin clamped down on her arm, halting her. 'Rayne, wait! If we intervene- I think Master Roshi has a plan.' He motioned towards the ring with his free hand. 'Look.'

Rayne looked back at Master Roshi. It was true- Master Roshi, despite his grievous wounds, was webbing his hands around him in some sort of ritual attack. A small rice cooker was present on the ring in front of Master Roshi. Green energy began to outline the old master.

Kakarot saw this, and charged forward- when Tien, callously and efficiently, appeared in the ring behind Kakarot. With clinical precision, Tien rammed his elbow into the Saiyan's neck. Kakarot's eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ring, unconscious. Master Roshi froze, and quickly dispersed the green aura forming around him. He said something wordless to Tien, who glared back angrily at the Turtle Hermit.

Visibly confused by this turn of events, the announcer quickly ran through a number of rules in his head, before bursting out, 'Tien is disqualified! Ten seconds have passed! Jackie Chun is winner by knockout! Thus- Jackie Chun is the winner of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament!'

When the crowd heard this pronouncement, their collective reaction was the strangest mix of anger, frustration, and cheering ever heard by human ears.

0o0o0

Yamcha hobbled down the halls of medical wing, using his _ki_ to assist him to hop on one foot. Though he was trying his best to proceed carefully, he still felt occasional agitation from his freshly casted leg. _Screw my femur, I need to know what's going on!_ He had felt Master Roshi's _ki_ drop off precipitously, accompanied by a similar- though not as large- diminishment from Kakarot. Even in his weakened state, he couldn't ignore the storm of energy that was assailing his senses.

Not a single person was wandering the halls- he assumed everyone had gone to watch the final match of the tournament, it being the final and all. It was… lonely here. He was lonely. _I could have joined them earlier, if I wasn't so obsessed with hiding in my own misery. The medics provided me with a wheelchair, after all. Kami, I was so- so stupid earlier! I should have forced Bulma to wheel me out to Krillin to apologize... so damn poisoned by my own thoughts…_

 _I can't stop fighting- I couldn't leave them on their own out there. Even if I have to fight from a freaking wheelchair, I'll-_

Yamcha dimly heard a scuffle of feet behind him. He turned, and suddenly, a pair of hands gripped his head, immobilizing him. He struggled, pressing his hands against the scaled figure holding him, until he felt a snap from somewhere in his body- though it didn't feel right. It felt like- it didn't feel like anything- he couldn't feel anything. Yamcha's mind floated away, swallowed by an all-consuming… nothing.

* * *

A/N: That's it for the Escalation Arc, folks. Next chapter we start our next arc- _King_. See you then.

 **Reviews:**

 **Guest:** Yea, she's seen too much of Kakarot to see him as 'just' a destroyer. You can see in this chapter, however, that she's starting to view his effects on the world more clearly.

 **LWexe:** I hope you like fighting because there's a whole lot more coming up.

 **KnightLawn:** Thank you for the kind review!


	23. Given and Taken

King

Chapter 23: Given and Taken

* * *

Without missing a beat, Master Roshi collected the small rice cooker laid out on the ring in front of him and stuffed it into his robes. All around him, people were running around confused and concerned- the announcer looked lost in the flurry of activity happening in the crowds and the ring. Master Roshi strode over to Tien, who stood watchfully over Kakarot's body. He looked displeased.

'You knew, then,' Master Roshi addressed Tien, as he bent over Kakarot's prone form. 'I'm surprised you recognized the technique.'

'Barely- I doubt even Shen knew what that was.'

'Then how _did_ you recognize it?'

'Your _ki_ \- it felt like you were destroying it. Your body was literally killing itself trying to resist that. I could tell that, whatever you were doing, it would kill you…' Tien trailed off, then shot his head to the side. 'Great.'

Shen had climbed over the barrier separating the stands and the ring and was stomping over to them. 'I thought you were ready for this, Tien,' he snarled, 'but I was clearly wrong. Your lack of respect and your explicit violations of my orders show that you're still that same, sniveling whelp I took in all those years ago.' Tien and Shen glared at each other before Shen broke off, sounding a note of disgust as he whirled to face Kakarot's body. 'Though I suppose I should thank you,' he said, lifting one finger towards Kakarot, 'for clearing the way for me…'

Just as a thin, gold beam shot out of Shen's finger, Tien gripped Shen's arm and wrenched it upwards, forcing the beam into the sky. Master Roshi had been prepared to do the same- but Tien had acted quicker. _Perhaps he expected his master to do something… or maybe I've found someone who has truly surpassed me,_ Master Roshi briefly reflected.

A small frown spreading across his face, Tien's disappointment for his master was clear. 'I can't believe I revered you, revered your brother. You would kill an unconscious opponent? Your cowardice is _truly_ limitless.' Tien held his grip on Shen a few moments longer, demonstrating his superior strength, then released him. Shen recoiled away, holding his wrist.

'You are banished from the Crane School!' Shen yelled, shaking with rage. 'You are never to enter my sight for as long as your pitiful existence lasts!' Lacking anything else to say, Shen spun on his heels and walked off the ring. As he was walking back into the main tournament building- the crowd was caught up in impenetrable chaos- Chiaotzu intercepted him. From a distance, Tien could see Shen's expression brighten, then tighten, then turn with anger. He angrily gesticulated at Chiaotzu, and then resumed his storming away.

Chiaotzu came up to Tien and Master Roshi; the old master was watching the announcer be swarmed by tournament organizers, who were all frantically consulting each other over whether the correct championship call, according to the rules, had been made. The announcer grew more and more self-conscious with every passing second.

Amongst this, Tien said to Chiaotzu, 'I assumed Shen tried to get you to fight me.'

The pale fighter nodded. 'I can't believe we had any respect for that guy…'

'Well, to be fair, he did teach us a lot of good techniques.'

Master Roshi turned away from the squabbling officials to face Tien and Chiaotzu. 'I understand that you two allowed one of my students to be harmed,' he said, stone-faced. As he spoke, he relaxed his _ki_ and his body shrank back to its normal proportions. 'Do you have anything to say for your actions?'

Tien and Chiaotzu glanced at each other. 'We're sorry,' Chiaotzu said, 'and we know nothing we do or say will make up for what we did. But… we refuse to act out Shen's or anyone else's wishes, and we promise to never again harm any of you.'

Master Roshi regarded them for a few moments, then nodded his head. 'If I understand Shen and the traditions of the Crane School well enough, then you choosing not to kill Kakarot- I believe that you two wish no more harm. I can't say anything on behalf of my students- whether or not they'll understand the gravity of your intentions- but I accept your apology.'

Tien seemed to sigh, as if releasing a day's worth of tension. 'Okay. That's good to hear.' He looked over at Kakarot, who remained unconscious on the floor of the ring. 'So; what do we do now?'

'You mean,' Master Roshi said with a grin, prodding an uncomfortable Tien towards the gaggle of arguing tournament officials, 'what are _you_ going to do now. As much as I would love to be the World's Strongest yet again, I have more important business to tend to right now. And, if I remember the rules correctly, if the champion refuses the title, it goes to the runner-up.'

'I disqualified myself by intervening. So that would make… either Kakarot or Krillin the champion. You can't be seriously thinking-'

Master Roshi held up one finger, silencing Tien. 'Kakarot will _not_ receive the title because he is unconscious. Age-old rule of the World Tournament- an unconscious person can't _win_ anything, not even by forfeit or disqualification. And even though you intervened in my match with Kakarot, if anyone should be disqualified, it should be me for receiving outside help. Your actions arguably made it _harder_ for you to win the tournament by ending the match quicker for one fighter, leaving them with more energy for the final.'

'So, if what you're saying is true, then- which means- if I beat Krillin-' Tien's eyes widened.

Master Roshi's grin widened as Tien connected the dots. 'You have a title to claim, champ, once I walk off this stage to talk with my students. The rest will be left to you.

'But- but I-' Tien stammered, 'I really don't want to-'

'No buts! The most pressing matter right now is for me to consult my students about what to do with Kakarot, and I can't do that as long as these baboons behind me,' he gestured with one thumb over his shoulder,' are trying to give me bundles of Zeni! You need to do this, Tien!'

Tien gulped, eyeing the mass of clamoring tournament officials roiling with outrage in front of him. This felt more challenging that every fight he's fought in his life _combined_. 'Okay,' he relented, 'fine.'

'Good!' Master Roshi said, clapping a hand on Tien. Master Roshi then moved away and crouched down to whisper in Chiaotzu's ear. 'Keep an eye on him,' Master Roshi said, watching Tien step forward, 'keep an eye on _both_ of them.'

The tall Crane fighter approached the tournament officials and explained the rules procedure as Master Roshi had conveyed it to him. He got blank stares in response. 'Nothing of what you just said is in the rulebook!' one of the officials finally said. 'Get Jackie Chun back over here!'

Tien turned, 'Okay, he's-' but Master Roshi was gone, having left incredibly fast after speaking to Chiaotzu. Tien groaned in unison with the tournament officials.

Krillin and Rayne were awed as Master Roshi came to them, bare-chested, beaten, but still very much alive. 'You're… that's- you're incredible!' Krillin exclaimed, unable to hold back his excitement. 'Master Roshi…' he couldn't finish- he was speechless. Eyes wide, Rayne kept looking over at the old man, as if trying to reconcile the idea that Jackie Chun was Master Roshi and vice versa. 'So the last tournament too- _jeez_...' she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Master Roshi smiled at them, then took them by their shoulders and led them towards the infirmary. 'Come, my pupils. We need to talk- we _all_ need to talk- about what we're going to do with Kakarot. Then, at last, we can rest.'

Barring the arena, the tournament grounds, as was their walk, was silent.

0o0o0

A buzz went off at Bulma's side. 'Huh.' she said, glancing at the device. 'Okay, this is worrying.'

Bulma, Chi-Chi, and Puar had remained sitting in the stands, letting the rest of the crowd roil around them. They were lucky that they had been seated behind Master Roshi during his beam clash with Kakarot. Some of them were still trying to come to grips with it. 'So much power…' Chi-Chi was muttering every minute or so.

Bulma shook her out of her stupor. 'We've got trouble, Chi-Chi. Someone is attacking West City!'

'What? Who? Why?'

'I don't know- about any of those questions! But we need to tell the others! Come on!' Bulma yanked Chi-Chi by her good arm, grabbed Puar by her tail, and began pushing through the unruly crowd. Elbows were thrown, bodies were shoved, but Bulma wouldn't be denied and was making steady progress through the crowd. Halfway out of the stands, Chi-Chi yelped, saying, 'Something's happening Bulma- Master Roshi's power level just shot up- we need to hurry!' With Chi-Chi's worried help, they cleared through the crowd in no time, emerging at the end of the stands close to the rest of the tournament grounds. They ducked into the main building- 'this way, they're this way!'- and followed Chi-Chi's directing.

They emerged onto the main pavilion, seeing Krillin, Rayne, and Master Roshi climbing onto a yellow cloud- odd enough as that was, they were very clearly rushing. Because Master Roshi was the first one to climb on, he looked around- and made pained eye contact with Bulma, Chi-Chi, and Puar. _No time for misery,_ he thought. _I'm sorry._

'West City! It's-!' Bulma yelled.

'We're going.' Master Roshi cut in, 'and bring as many people as you can. We have to assume the worst- someone is making for the dragonballs.' With the cloud fully loaded, Master Roshi gripped something intangible and yelled, 'NIMBUS, GO!' The cloud responded immediately and accelerated up and away, zooming at an impressive speed away from the island. As they ascended, Bulma couldn't ignore the haunting gazes Rayne and Krillin shot back at her. _I... what happened?_

'Bulma,' Chi-Chi said at a whisper at Bulma's side once the cloud had disappeared, 'I can't sense Yamcha…'

0o0o0

Out of curiosity, King Piccolo had taken the ridiculous vehicle his liberators had possessed and had driven it off the nearest cliff. Floating in mid-air, he saw the car plummet to the ground and explode in an impressive fireball. Noting this, Piccolo landed at the edge of the cliff and took in the view. Then, he extended one hand and shot a blast to the ground below. An explosion easily twice as large as the previous one consumed a patch of forest, light illustrating the macabre expression on the demon's face.

Satisfied with his current power, Piccolo set himself to work. After a few hours of preparation and meditation, he expended his _ki_ giving birth to three eggs. From the first one emerged a dinosaur-like creature, scrawny and with a small stature- though still powerful with _ki_. Piano, as King Piccolo would name him, was granted all the knowledge King Piccolo possessed.

While they were waiting for the two other eggs to hatch, Piano drew on his inherited memories and asked, 'My lord, if I may ask- why did you kill the two who released you? They seemed rightly terrified of you- perhaps they could have been valuable assets to us?'

'They knew of the rice cooker-,' Piccolo answered, his deep voice of a timbre much lower than his spawn's, 'of that potentiality. I couldn't let them live with such direct knowledge of the nature of my imprisonment.

'Then very good, my lord.'

The Demon King Piccolo regarded his newly born son, amused. 'Yes, you can't say anything other than that, can you? I didn't _create_ you to say anything else.'

'Say what, my lord?'

King Piccolo chuckled to himself. 'Nevermind.'

Another hour or so passed, and the second egg hatched. This spawn was significantly larger than Piano, muscled and nimble, green-scaled like a lizard. Tambourine crouched beneath King Piccolo, sensing an imminent command.

'Go to the World Martial Arts Tournament,' King Piccolo said, placing one hand on his newly born spawn's head, 'and kill as many finalists as you can without being discovered. We will leave the eventual, larger confrontation, for later.'

Tambourine nodded, then unfurled from his back two wide, veiny wings. A few flaps of them and he rose into the air, looking like some sort of malicious gargoyle.

King Piccolo watched his son depart, then turned back towards Piano. 'It is time we moved. Do you sense what is in that direction,' he said, pointing towards the area beyond the cliff edge, 'my son?'

'Yes my lord- it feels like a sizable human settlement.'

'Correct. It is that and _more_.' A wicked grin spread across King Piccolo's wrinkled, sagging face. 'Let's change that.'

Picking up the third egg in his hands, Piano lifted off the ground and followed King Piccolo eastwards.

0o0o0

Master Roshi was deadly silent as the three of them- himself, Krillin, and Rayne- flew over the rolling, green plains below them. A farm here and there would be sewn into this endless tapestry of succeeding scenes, then disappear as quickly as it appeared.

Krillin couldn't do anything else except listlessly watch the land run by beneath him. He couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. _Yamcha is dead. Actually dead._ He felt exhausted in every sense of the word- his physical strength had deserted him by the end of his fight with Tien; then his mind had crumpled and fallen to lay next to Yamcha's corpse.

He replayed that moment over and over in his head, the scene startlingly nightmarish in every remembrance. It was such a cliche- such a tragedy- when the heroes discovered their friend had been killed while their backs were turned dealing with another threat. It was disturbing; they had no idea Yamcha had died until they literally laid eyes on his unbreathing body. Kakarot had consumed their attention so thoroughly, acting as a poison that had seized every capacity of their minds.

' _This is what we're dealing with,'_ Master Roshi had pronounced as he stood over the body, with the hardest look Krillin had ever seen dominating his face, ' _the whims of an absolute monster. The Demon King Piccolo.'_ Krillin had the faintest, more remote sense of what that name conjured- terror, death, fear- but its meaning was so old that it had lost all acuity and relevance. It was a myth he had once heard the older monks at the Orin Temple discuss, before turning to more stupid and mundane topics. "The Demon King Piccolo" being mentioned in the same sentence as dirty laundry had a way of diminishing its importance.

Krillin knew better now. One look at Master Roshi made sure of that.

He wished he could share his master's resolve, his sentiment of utmost determination that oozed from his body. Instead, Krillin was plagued by that last conversation with Yamcha, full of self-doubt and, in a strange way, release for the former bandit. _He was going to walk away… from all of it. The fighting, the pain. He and Bulma were- they were-_

He ducked his head into his sleeve, soaking up his tears before they spilled out of his eyes. There would be time to grieve later. Until then, he had to keep himself ready for anything. Ready to fight an ancient menace- _a menace that stole my friend._

Clenching his fists, Krillin lifted his head to face the open sky ahead.

0o0o0

After being uncertainly proclaimed and celebrated as the winner of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament- due to a lack of better options and no one being able to find the somewhat more legitimate champion Jackie Chun- Tien hauled Kakarot over his back, and with Chiaotzu at his side, walked towards the main building. 'I'm guessing Master Roshi is in the infirmary still?' Tien speculated, 'otherwise he'd had come back to us by now.'

'Yea, I think- wait. Tien, do you feel that?'

Tien stopped and spread out his _ki_ sense- and was immediately bombarded by a roiling of energy far away on the planet. _This is… this power is insane! And- Master Roshi is there! What's going on?_ 'What's Master Roshi doing on the other side of the planet?'

Chiaotzu said nothing, and quickened his pace towards the infirmary. Tien did the same.

They never reached it. As they rounded a corner at the approximate half-way point, they stumbled upon a number of people huddling in a circle in the center of a hallway. Tien instantly recognized Launch, his quarterfinal opponent, standing unsteadily and facing their direction. She brought her head up from whatever she was looking at- her face was a mess of anger and strewn tears running down her features. She saw Tien, seemed to consider something for a moment, then beckoned them closer. She was uncharacteristically silent.

As Tien and Chiaotzu approached, they became aware of a low, quiet sobbing.

A girl with long black hair was standing with her back to them, her arm in a sling. She moved to the side. It was clear she had also been crying.

One blue-haired girl was strewn across the Turtle student who had been injured by Kakarot earlier; her face was pressed into his chest, as her body heaved with quiet cries. A small, floating cat, almost in a daze, was nudging Yamcha repeatedly. 'Yamcha,' she muttered, 'Yamcha, wake up…'

Yamcha's eyes were rolled over, glossy, his eyelids unnaturally open. Tien knew them as the eyes of a dead man.

'What- what happened?' Tien succeeded in choking out, as he felt all the exhaustion and strain of his previous fights settle on him.

Wordlessly, Chi-Chi gathered something from the ground next to Yamcha's body and showed it to Tien. It was a plain, white piece of a paper; on it was a single symbol painted in broad, heavy strokes. _King Piccolo_. _But- he's a legend, isn't he?_ Yet, here it was- the note was clearly used by the murderer to identify themselves. _I… how is this possible? Has he returned?_

'If you're ready,' Launch said expressionless, despite the carnage on her face, 'we four-' she gestured to herself, Chi-Chi, Tien, and Chiaotzu- 'need to go to West City, _now_.'

Tien gulped, collecting himself, and nodded. He understood now. _Master Roshi, Krillin, that other Turtle fighter aren't here… they took their strongest to stop Piccolo. And they're going to need all the help they can get._ Tien then remembered where he was, noticing the body he was carrying. 'What do we do,' he briefly lifted the shoulder Kakarot was draped over, 'with him?'

'We can't leave him,' Chiaotzu said, 'so, we need to take him, then. If he wakes up here, unsupervised- there's no telling what he would do. Master Roshi would want us to consult about what to do with him and make a decision together.'

Without wasting any time, Launch nodded in agreement and crouched down next to Bulma. 'Bulma- we need to go. We're- oh, we're sorry…' she couldn't finish what she was saying, choking back an urge to break down completely.

Even in her current state, Bulma understood what Launch was saying- without lifting her head from Yamcha's body, she thrust her hand into a pouch on her hip, rummaged in it for a moment, and chucked away from her a single capsule. Nothing more needed to be said. She remained where she was, alongside Puar.

Launch gingerly collected the capsule, checking the inscription. Satisfied, she pocketed it. 'Let's go,' she said quietly, barely reaching over the muffled cries of Bulma. She led Chi-Chi, Tien, and Chiaotzu out of the tournament building. Once outside, she clicked the capsule and threw it, revealing a helicopter.

Without saying a word, they all clambered into the helicopter, cramming into it considering it only had two large seats. The engine whirred as it flew away.

0o0o0

King Piccolo had landed in West City inconspicuously, blending it well alongside the variety of other humanoid races that inhabited the city alongside humans.

This annoyed Piccolo to no end. So he decimated ten cities blocks with a _ki_ blast. _To think they would not recognize me, of all people! They forget my wrath!_

People of all stripes- and of all injuries- scrambled out of the path of the demon, who casually walked down a stretch of a vaporized city street, his son Piano towing a large egg behind him. _They're here somewhere,_ Piccolo thought, _I can_ _ **feel**_ _them._ His permanent link to Kami- curse that bastard- was proving useful. He could sense the dragonballs nearby- and amazingly, there were all gathered together! Today would prove to be an auspicious day for his resumed campaign for world domination. _300 years late, but still- better late than never._ He held one arm sideways and fired another wave of energy to his left. Cries of pain laced up from that direction, before deafening in a buzz of energy. _How could you care for these weaklings, Kami? They can't even defend themselves._

He continued walking along a blasted boulevard, emerging onto a major highway that had been bisected by Piccolo's initial blast. In front of him, the city opened up into a flat, green space- and just beyond that, a strange half-sphere building sat squat among the taller skyscrapers around it. His senses were going mad- the dragonballs were in that building, he knew it!

Smirking, King Piccolo stepped onto the green- but paused when a small _ki_ blast flew down from above, landing in front of him and spitting dirt into the air. He instinctually brought his arms to brace against the blast- but it was pitifully weak. _Why bother with... Ah…_ He saw, through the cloud of dirt, the outlines of three figures spreading out to face him. _They just wanted a moment to land._

The dirt cleared- and across from Piccolo stood three humans, two dressed in orange _gis,_ an old man shirtless with a pair of black, baggy pants. The fighter on the old man's right was a girl with green hair- to his left was a shorter boy, bald. They were posed, ready for battle.

Their previous actions were clear enough. _They mean to fight me!_ Amused, the Demon King crossed his arms.

'Listen to me,' Master Roshi whispered to his students, not taking his eyes off King Piccolo. 'Neither of you are to fight him on your own. Only engage with him when all three of us are attacking him. Otherwise- stay out of his way and behind me. We're not going to have a second chance at this.'

Wordlessly, Krillin and Rayne nodded. Master Roshi drew in a deep breath, then exhaled, in the process summoning his _ki_. In an instant, he bulked up his body, feeling the familiar power rise within him. He wasn't as strong as when he started the tournament- none of them were- but they would have to make do. _Maybe, just maybe, we can do this the old-fashioned way…_

In a split second, they launched themselves forward, coming at King Piccolo from all angles. Unimpressed, his arms still crossed, Piccolo moved backward, evading their flurry of attacks. Piano could only gape in awe as his creator nimbly moved around the human fighters, sliding in between them with easy efficiency. Kicks and fists simply swung through air as the King kept himself continually out of their reach. As he neared the edge of the green flat they were on, he grew tired of moving and planted his feet into the dirt.

The three human fighters descended on King Piccolo like bees, buzzing around him in a swirl of strikes and attacks. Yet, despite their opponent's refusal to move his feet, he evaded every attack, shifting seemingly like a ghost in front of their eyes. After a few moments of this, King Piccolo flared his _ki_ \- and sent the three of them tumbling backward, unprepared for the strength of his aura. They landed aptly, already feeling a sense of growing dread.

As if wholly uninterested in them, King Piccolo began walking towards the Capsule Corp building. By this point, in response to the sounds of fighting and explosions coming from outside, people were evacuating the building in a frenzied panic.

Shrugging off his disorientation, Master Roshi rallied his students and led them in a charge towards King Piccolo. Now that they knew what direction he was moving towards- he crept undeterred towards the half-sphere building- they began to land hits on the King. Unfortunately, even direct hits seemed to do nothing- King Piccolo continued to walk on, undeterred by their efforts. Growling, Master Roshi called them back- gathering themselves on the other side of the park, in between Piccolo and Capsule Corp.

His students were, thankfully, silent. _No amount of despair will help us in this situation._ 'Charge your strongest _ki_ attacks!' Roshi yelled, cupping his hands behind his back 'and hit him while he can't be bothered to dodge!'

Obliging, Krillin and Rayne followed his example, forming small _blue_ ki balls behind their backs.

Curious, Piccolo stopped, observing the near synchronous movements being performed by his opponents Whatever they were doing seemed… vaguely familiar. _Odd_. He registered an uptick in their _ki- even interesting._ Piccolo thought for a moment longer, then continued his walk forward. _But not significant._

Roshi was fairly certain his students were putting everything they had into their blasts- now, however, was time to reveal the depths of his power. 'Huah!' he cried, as he forced more energy from his body. The forming Kamehameha in his hand burgeoned with energy. _You'll eat your disdain, Piccolo!_ Master Roshi flared his _ki_ , signaling his students- and on cue, the three of them thrust their arms forwards, launching three blue beams from their hands. Their attacks came into contact with each other- and amazingly, the beams merged, combining into one gigantic Kamehameha, easily twice as large than anyone watching had ever seen. The beam shone with pure energy- wisps of power and light were flying off the surface- as the beam coiled and borne towards Piccolo.

Belatedly realizing that the attack was much _, much_ stronger than it should have been, with bulging eyes Piccolo raised his guard, crossing his arms in front of him. _Clever!_ The word roared in his mind as the massive beam collided with him, detonating in a glorious explosion.

The shockwave it produced was insane- windows shattered as the sonic force of the blast rode past West City's numerous skyscrapers. Birds flapped into the sky wildly, startled by what was, to them, the single loudest sound they had ever heard. Master Roshi, Rayne, and Krillin had all protectively covered their ears. To think that a living being was at the epicenter of that sound- it was unimaginable.

A strong wind was blowing through West City on that day- for that reason, there was no suspense as whatever dust was generated by the detonation was quickly blown away. Piccolo stood in the same position as before, to the dismay of the human fighters- but he was obviously injured. Scorches ran up and down the demon's arms; they had taken nearly the full brunt of the blast. Unfortunately, he was still standing and looked considerably more annoyed than before. 'That was painful,' he said in a low tone, lowering his arms.

In a blink of an eye, Piccolo appeared before the three fighters, hammering one blow into each of them.

A jab sent Rayne gasping to her knees, gripping her ribcage in agony. Countless ribs were broken in a single strike.

Krillin was flattened by a chop to his right shoulder. He felt his clavicle snap down as he burrowed into the ground.

Master Roshi was the only one who raised their guard in time- his arms tanked the downward kick aimed at his skull. Grinning wildly, he threw off a surprised Piccolo off him and pursued him across the park. The Turtle Hermit revealed he still had quite a lot left in reserve; but like before, Piccolo seemed undisturbed, ignoring the increased pace of his opponents' attacks. A series of successful strikes from Master Roshi forced King Piccolo into a spar in earnest, their strikes indistinguishable from the next due to their speed. From where they were, Rayne and Krillin could only look on in pain as Master Roshi went toe to toe with the demon.

Master Roshi took the moment after jumping over King Piccolo's sweep kick to hop back, again putting distance between himself and King Piccolo. To everyone's surprise, he began laughing, dropping out of his guard.

Confused, King Piccolo murmured to himself.

'You wouldn't understand,' Master Roshi said after a moment, 'how lucky I feel right now.'

'Lucky?' Piccolo's voice could grind metal. 'Truly?'

'I was worried that the gap between us would be insurmountable, like before- but a lot has changed since the last time we met, Piccolo. In your old age you've grown weaker- and in _my_ old age, I've grown stronger.

 _Last time we met?... Yes, he looked familiar, didn't he?_ 'I'll admit I'm not very knowledgeable in human biology,' Piccolo spoke evenly, 'but I don't think humans live- well, I assume it's been a long time since I've last walked this planet.'

'You're correct. It has been 300 years, give or take. I should know- I've been alive every year since your reign of destruction.'

'So it is true!' Piccolo's eyes widened. 'I recognized you- I've met you before- presumably much younger, though. You should be honored.' His smile coiled snake-like. 'To survive your first encounter with the Demon King is _quite_ the accomplishment.'

'I did more than survive,' Master Roshi said tersely, 'but I guess it's the same result, in the end. Look at us; we're both old men, fighting battles that should have been decided long ago. Come now; hasn't old age tempered your less-than-good qualities? That was the certainly the case for _me._ '

Clutching his broken clavicle as best he could to prevent it from tearing up more of his insides, Krillin tortuously turned his head towards Rayne. 'We-' he croaked, 'we need to get the dragonballs, Rayne! I think that's what Piccolo is after!'

Rayne was barely able to look at Krillin- the look of utter pain put a pin in Krillin's plans. _I can barely move- and she looks worse than me. Damn it, if only we got here a bit earlier and grabbed them!..._

Piccolo stared at Master Roshi, long and hard, then snorted. 'We have no common point of reference. Your relationship to me is that of a slave to a master- _if_ I allow you the privilege of living through this encounter. I have no 'less-than-good' qualities. I have my desires- my desires to destroy, conquer, and rule- and I act on them. There is nothing more to say.' A tinge of unease was rising in the back of Piccolo's head. _Surely, he couldn't know the sealing technique. The old man who had used it originally must have died while doing it- he used far too much ki. How would he have taught anyone that technique?_

'Pity. It's important to try to talk some sense into your enemies every once in a while. Sets a good example for the students.' Master Roshi momentarily turned towards Krillin and Rayne. 'I wish I could have shown you two more. I wish I had more time- but I think I showed you two, _everyone_ , enough.' Uncomprehending, Krillin could only stare back- Rayne, though she couldn't physically face Master Roshi, listened intently. 'I guess no amount of time would have been enough. Ha.' Master Roshi chuckled, shaking his head. 'I've lived for over three hundred years, and I still didn't have enough time.' He said those last lines wistfully, as if he was thinking to himself.

Master Rosbi turned back to Piccolo. 'I'm under no illusions in this fight. I know that, even though time has made us more equal _,_ we are _not_ equal. You're still stronger than me.'

'So you acknowledge your own inferiority? How proper.' Though he was smirking, Piccolo couldn't shake that feeling of unease. _It's impossible!... Literally impossible!_

'There's another reason,' Master Roshi said, withdrawing an object from his robes, 'as to why I feel so lucky. You see, if you can believe it, there was _another_ horrible, unspeakable evil that had threatened everything I cared about earlier today. It's hard to believe that when I woke up this morning, the tournament hadn't even begun.' Master Roshi shook his head to clear his thoughts, and casually threw something onto the ground in front of him.

It was… well, Piccolo didn't know _what_ it was. 'Is that… is that a black tail on the ground behind it?' _If it's an animal, why does the end of the tail look so weird?_

'I didn't use this move earlier, against that threat,' Master Roshi pronounced, his voice deepening as he flexed his arms, 'so you're in for some trouble now, monster! You're looking at the modern day rice cooker!'

Piccolo eyes' shot open- he hurriedly extended one arm at the rice cooker, intending to vaporize it- but before he could release his energy a horrible squishing feeling enveloped him, squeezing and stretching his body. His arm was slowly forced back until it was locked in a downwards position, glued to his body. _No!_ He raged, feeling any control he retained over his body be extinguished, _NOOOOOO!_ Green swam across his vision- a vision that was rapidly stretching vertically.

Master Roshi stood amongst a storm of swirling energy that had seemed to come out of nowhere to blanket both himself and Piccolo. As if commanding a tornado, Master Roshi directed a concentrated cone of green energy towards the demon with sweeping gestures, changing the direction and intensity of the attack at will. The green cone fully enveloped Piccolo and lifted him off the ground into the larger storm above.

At this crucial juncture, Master Roshi doubled the speed of his controlling movements, his limbs forming a miniature storm around his body as King Piccolo's image folded and spilled across the storm. With a great heave, Master Roshi swung both arms downwards, driving King Piccolo straight down the chaotic center of the storm. The Turtle Hermit did this while fending off a number of resisting and buffeting waves of energy that slapped and stirred against him. Piccolo's distorted image slowed but did not stop, as Master Roshi succeeded in holding Piccolo right above the ground.

'HAAA!' With one last yell, Roshi fell to his knees, slamming both his arms down into the ground as he did. Trapped within the cone, King Piccolo sped towards the ground- where the rice cooker Master Roshi had placed before waited.

The two entities clashed together, producing a blinding flash of light as the cone released its tension and sprayed green energy off into the sky. Krillin and Rayne, still struggling to move, covered their eyes.

When the light cleared- King Piccolo was standing next to the rice cooker, panting from the adrenaline surge of the last minute. He glanced down at the electric appliance beside him and quickly pierced it with a beam of _ki_. _Too close. I underestimated him._

Master Roshi watched PIccolo appear in front of him like a haunting, mocking visage. At the last moment, he had failed and had lost control of the Evil Containment Wave. The cone had missed the rice cooker by an inch, at _most_. Sometimes, though, that was all it took. _An inch. I really do have rotten luck, don't I?_

He made a movement to stand- and his body immediately and confrontationally resisted the command. Propped off the ground by his arms, he felt his entire body shake. _I used it- I used_ _ **everything**_ _._ Unsteady, he used whatever power he had left, before every ounce of it fled his body, to stare up at King Piccolo. The demon looked more collected now- he had re-assumed his characteristic steady smirk.

Master Roshi's arm wobbled- _not yet!_ 'You'll never win!; he croaked out, coughing. His entire head shuddered, so much so that his sunglasses fell off of his face, cracking on one side as it hit the ground. Yet, the Turtle Hermit found the energy to lock eyes with Piccolo once more. 'No matter how much you destroy or kill to get what you want, one day, someone will stop you! They'll-' A clutching feeling took hold of Master Roshi's chest, dragging him towards the ground. _Never enough time…_

With a single _thump_ , Master Roshi collapsed to the ground, dead.

A/N: mm.

* * *

 **Reviews:**

 **bhlazy20:** The announcer screwed up and messed up a lot of things by his snap naming of the World's Strongest. Under what are (probably) the rules, 1) Kakarot would have lost due to KO, 2) Tien would be disqualified, 3) Jackie Chun would be disqualified. Of course, they could redo a match, but the idea of World Martial Arts Tournament, at least how I understand it, is to run it over the course of one day. If a fighter is unconscious they probably can't compete anymore on that day. So even though Kakarot was eliminated by foul play, he's still unqualified to win. Regardless, most of these rules weren't fully considered because Master Roshi skipped town. Also, Kakarot was consistently and publically cruel during the tournament. He didn't give the tournament organizers a lot of reasons to help him out in this scenario.

 **LWexe:** Uhh, RAFO. Your excitement is pretty rad- and KO'ing is definitely a word.

 **Guest #1, who asked about a bandit dude:** This is awkward.

 **Guest #2, who strongly disliked a dudette:** I'm curious if you read after chapter 11 because… well, characters change. Also, I change how I depict them. Finally, neither I nor my characters are perfect. I think I've made character development more of a focus since the beginning of this fic, though.


	24. Rally

King

Chapter 24: Rally

* * *

Rayne's mind was racing. Master Roshi was out of the fight or dead. Neither her or Krillin could fight, let alone fight this monster together.

Piccolo was quietly appraising the fallen form of Master Roshi. _Now or never!_ Using the _ki_ she had been collecting over the past few minutes, Rayne forced herself to stand in a single movement. She felt her internal organs be lanced by her broken ribs, but she ignored this as much as she could and flung a small ball of _ki_ into the ground in front of her. The resulting detonation flung up dirt in a horizontal cone in Piccolo's direction, obscuring Krillin and Rayne from his sight. Aware that she had very little time, she dashed over to Krillin and scooped him up in her arms. She then darted off to the left, exiting the flat green of their former battleground, and ducking into the first alley she saw. As their _kis_ as weak as they currently were, she wasn't worried about King Piccolo tracking them down- instead, she closed her eyes and awaited a disintegrating blast that would surely follow if King Piccolo had spotted them at any point during their escape. It was easy to do. Her entire body was ravaged by exhaustion now- not to mention that any more movement might spear her heart with a shard of rib.

One second passed. Then a handful. After a minute passed, Rayne finally opened her eyes, letting out a pained sigh of relief.

Next to her, Krillin continued to clutch his collarbone, consumed by the pain of his injury.

She had done her job. They had time now.

 _Time to do what, though? What are we going to do?..._

0o0o0

Even in death, the old man had claimed one last victory over King Piccolo. He had died with a smile on his face. _I guess he's entitled to some satisfaction. He very nearly entrapped me._

Piccolo wasn't surprised to see the old man's pupils flee after his death. He felt inclined to track them down- but everything in good time. He had more pressing matters to attend to.

Turning from the corpse, Piccolo swung towards his spawn, Piano, who had been wholly consumed with watching his creator battle. 'Piano! Is that egg nearly hatched?'

Snapping out of his daze, Piano directed his attention towards the egg he was holding. He ran his hand over the surface- still thick to the touch. 'No, my lord! Perhaps another hour or so?'

Grunting, Piccolo swung back towards his original destination- the round, circular building that rose out from the ground like a mound. _They're… there. Yes._ One hand raised, Piccolo fired a small blast, weak enough to punch a hole through an outside wall of the building. When the dust cleared, the dragonballs, all arranged in a neat group of seven, laid undisturbed.

As King Piccolo entered the building and methodically placed every ball outside, Piano crept to his creator's side, still towing the egg in his arms. He could feel it starting to warm- it wouldn't be much longer now. He thought he saw genuine excitement on his master's face; it made his wrinkled face look much more foreboding than any snarl or grimace.

'You understand, Piano,' Piccolo said as he carried the last dragonball outside, 'the significance of this.' Even now, with my reduced power, I lord over this planet- but when I regain my youth, not even _Kami_ will be able to stop me. I will become the strongest being on this planet by _far_. And, when that happens, no human nor living being will escape my rule.'

Piano gulped. His creator had a way with words.

Passing his gaze from his eldest spawn, PIccolo spread his arms horizontal, arching his entire body over the dragonballs. 'Rise, Shenron!' he commanded, 'and grant my wish!'

The wind, previously strong before, intensified even more, as the dragonballs started to glow. The latent magic of the balls exploded outwards and upwards, shooting a thick golden coil into the sky. The beam twisted, folding it on itself, darkening the sky with its otherworldly motion. Emerging from the maze of its own creation, the coil emerged into even more open air farther up in the sky, coming to a halt far above its twisted mass. Gold began to give way to green and glowing incandescence, as a dragon slowly took form, menacing before an unnatural night behind it. Across West City, citizens who were already terrified by the earlier attacks and shockwaves ran for their lives in the face of such an overwhelming sight.

Piccolo alone stood unawed; instead, his body was encased in confidence. He did not wait for the dragon to speak. 'Shenron!' he boomed, amplifying his voice with his _ki_ , 'grant my wish! Restore to me my youth!'

Unfazed by the breach in custom, Shenron swiveled his massive, light-wreathed head down towards Piccolo. After a brief moment, the dragon's eyes began to glow red.

A blanket of golden energy appeared out of nowhere and enveloped Piccolo, covering him from head to toe. A muffled, exuberant laugh rang across the ground, as the light swallowing PIccolo intensified and forced PIano to look away. Then, the light abruptly dropped away, returning the scene to the darkness of the unnatural night.

Piccolo stood triumphant, every inch of his body smooth and vibrant green. His face was no longer a web of age- now, it was youth incarnate. His eyes shone with vigor, his smile flowed across his face with easy power. He was reborn, in every sense of the word. Even his _gi_ had changed- the colors and fabric looked three hundred years younger.

Checking his jaw, Piccolo turned to face Shenron, who still lorded overhead. 'YOUR WISH HAD BEEN GRANTED,' the dragon began to say, 'GOODBYE… UNTIL-' Shenron audibly gurgled, as if his lungs had instantaneously filled with liquid.

Far below on the ground, Piccolo, still holding his gaze at the mighty dragon, had pierced one of the dragonballs with a _ki_ beam. 'You don't leave on your terms,' he shouted, once more sending his voice across West City, 'YOU DIE ON MINE!' Changing the orientation of his hand from an extended finger to a palm, he launched a massive wave of energy at the dragonballs, still arranged neatly in a group. The blast momentarily hitched on them, as if battling some sort of unseen, protective magic- but the attack was too powerful, and overwhelmed whatever initially stopped it. The wave overcame the dragonballs, blasting both them and the area around it to oblivion.

Shenron did not die, nor fall to Earth. Silently, the massive, hulking dragon, which was quite easily the most impressive thing anyone in West City had ever seen, disintegrated and faded into nothing like a passing image. The sky cleared, afternoon light returning to shine on the city. Nothing remained of the eternal dragon.

0o0o0

Across the world, several miles above the surface of the Earth, an elderly, green humanoid collapsed onto the tiled ground, gasping from pain. Holding onto his walking stick with both hands, the old man panted, an odd contrast to the absolute serenity and quiet of the flat white tiles and small gardens around him.

From a central, magnificent building, an attendant rushed out, coming to the old man's side. 'Kami! What's wrong!'

Collecting his breath, Kami brought his eyes level with his servant. 'It is not pain I feel, Mr. Popo. It is… shock, and anger. The dragon balls are no more. The wickedness of this world knows no bounds.'

Mr. Popo helped Kami to stand, ruffling his white-blue, flowing robes as he did. 'Who would do such a thing, Kami?' Mr. Popo asked, a quiver of fear in his voice.

Kami took a moment to stare off into the limitless blue sky surrounding them on all sides. 'My evil half has been released from his containment.' When he turned back to Mr. Popo, his face betrayed no fear or sorrow, but the pain in his voice was clear. 'I fear darkness is about to descend on the world once more…'

His words cut across the silence of the Lookout, turning it from one of peace to unease.

0o0o0

Like a passing breeze, Korin had felt Master Roshi leave this world, carrying with him the best chance humanity had to defeat King Piccolo. The demon's monstrous _ki_ , after briefly wavering, stabilized, then grew even more massive after the sky had clouded and darkened. Korin did not need the omnipresent sight of his superior metaphorically and literally above him- Piccolo's _ki_ now felt as strong as it had been nearly three hundred years ago, when the Demon King was in his prime. _So he has regained his strength. This day grows darker by the second._

Korin weighed what to do; he knew that Kami would be unable to leave the Lookout- just like during King Piccolo's first reign of terror- and would be forced to watch the world burn. Korin, however, was not Kami; if he so chose, he could leave this tower and fight Piccolo himself.

He had no doubt that he would lose. Only Kami himself could hope to defeat King Piccolo at his current strength.

Which left him with very few options. Stretching out _ki_ , pushing his mind out to the farthest reaches of his senses, Korin began to search.

0o0o0

After making sure Krillin would be hidden, totally consumed by his pain as he was, Rayne skulked off back towards the battlefield. It had taken a few tense moments of careful movement to establish what ways she could and _couldn't_ move. Regardless, she couldn't sit around while Piccolo continued… whatever he was doing, unobserved. She suspected that things would continue to get worse before they got better- and any knowledge she could gain in the interim would be the difference maker.

Thus, while crouching behind a chunk of building rubble, Rayne had a front row seat to witness the rebirth of Piccolo- his power, if overwhelming before, was now well and truly unfathomable. Even when he was standing motionless, waves of his _ki_ would roll off his body, sweeping over her in dread oppressiveness. It took all her bravery to even _look_ at the demon.

Piccolo had dispatched Shenron like- _like it was nothing. A passing swat of his hand, as if the eternal dragon was an insect to him._ Another crest of _ki_ swarmed over her. _That well may be true._

The Demon King was now talking with some sort of dinosaur creature- _an ally of the Demon King, perhaps?_ \- and was looking at an egg on the ground expectedly. _So, most likely, more enemies are going to pop into existence. Great._

A strange feeling passed through her head, _ki_ but not quite _ki_ , but was gone almost as quick as it came over her. Briefly panicking, she shot her eyes back towards Piccolo- but the demon hadn't reacted in any way. _So if it wasn't him, then who…_

Before Rayne could finish her thought, a voice popped into her head, oddly strained. ' _Hello! Hi, whoever you are!'_

She could _hear_ the silence in her head. _'This is… weird,'_ she thought.

' _Yes, it is,' the voice replied immediately, evidently having heard what Rayne had thought. 'Our thoughts are connected to each other right now- but we don't have a lot of time, so try to keep your mental reacting to a minimum.'_

Embarrassed at having her thoughts heard, Rayne mentally clamped her mouth shut.

' _My name is Korin; I've been watching what's been happening with… everything, over the past couple hours. King Piccolo is alive and well- and that needs to change. I'm going to help you to defeat Piccolo, but you need to do_ _ **exactly**_ _what I say. Am I clear?'_

Rayne did the equivalent of a mental nod- somehow, she felt it being conveyed to Korin.

' _Good. Krillin knows me well- I trained him for a few months before this tournament, though we never fully finished. I'm afraid we need to take drastic measures to defeat King Piccolo- not to mention save Krillin.'_

 _'What? Save Krillin?'_

 _'Use your ki sense. Feel his energy.'_

She did as Korin as he asked- and realized what Korin was referring to. Krillin's life energy was pulsing erratically, as if it was clinging to life. Wrapped up in all the terror and chaos of the day, she hadn't even noticed. ' _What- what are we going to do?' Rayne asked, panic creeping into her voice._

 _A soothing calm descended upon her- it didn't totally disquiet her fears, but she felt her mind clear somewhat. 'Krillin will be fine,' Korin assured her, 'as long as you do what I'm about to tell you. We don't have much time. Do you remember what you rode on to get to West City?'_

 _How could I forget? It was a solid, speeding yellow cloud._

 _'Remember what I said before? No mental reacting?'_

 _'Sorry,' Rayne said, remembering the dynamics of their conversation._

 _'You need to summon that cloud and convey to it to bring Krillin to me in my tower. It should remember where the tower is well enough- you just need to give it a little nudge. Do you understand?'_

 _Again, Rayne mentally nodded. 'How am I going to summon it, though?'_

 _'That should be easy. Just call its name and it'll come to you, as long as you have a good and honest heart. You remember the name, right?'_

 _Nimbus. Yea…_

 _'That's it,' Korin confirmed. 'Summon Nimbus and get it to bring Krillin to me- and_ _ **only**_ _Krillin. Speed is of the essence- I'm afraid you'll have to stay there to make Nimbus as light and quick as possible.'_

 _'Not a problem. Someone needs to keep an eye on Piccolo, anyway.'_

 _'Good. Best case scenario, we have a very real chance of beating Piccolo today. However, it is critical to keep everyone in the fight until you can make a combined attack on Piccolo! As we speak your allies are rushing towards you, no doubt eager to fight Piccolo himself. You_ _ **cannot**_ _let that happen, at least right away. Take advantage of Piccolo's confidence- let him send his minions after you first, so that you can defeat them one-by-one before taking Piccolo himself on.'_

 _Rayne's head was spinning. 'Allies? What allies? Like Launch? She should be in the infirmary!'_

 _'You'll see soon enough- but please, send Krillin to me now! Hurry!'_ The connection between them cut out- she felt Korin's energy fail at the last moment, collapsing their mental link. Rayne took a moment to mentally catalog everything that was dictated to her, screwing her face with thought. _Okay. Time to get to work._

Rayne crept back towards Krillin, checking one last time that Piccolo was still consumed by his egg-watching; he was. She came to the side of the former monk. Knowing what she knew now, it was much easier to see the signs of creeping death- the damage to his clavicle was deceptive. She saw Krillin, even in his limited, pain-shot consciousness, gripping his upper chest and torso in agony. _Korin, whoever you are, you better be up to the task of healing him…_

With a heavy heart, she swung on her heels, facing an open alleyway behind them. _Alright. I need to say the name- not too loud though._ Taking in a deep breath, she expanded her chest, bringing in as much air as possible into her lungs. Then, with a great, yet quiet, exhale, she said in a loud whisper, 'Nimbus!...'

Again, she awaited a disintegrating blast to consume both her and Krillin. Nothing. _I guess even evil monsters can be distracted._

A handful of seconds later, a yellow blip appeared at the end of the alleyway. threading peacefully towards them. Like a loyal dog, Nimbus came to a stop just before them and lowered itself slightly to the ground. Rayne carefully picked up Krillin and laid him on the cloud. She then placed her hand on Nimbus- _so soft and fluffy, yet solid-_ and closed her eyes, stretching out her _ki_. She focused on the idea Korin had conveyed to her, a tower of refuge and observation, from which to look down on the world below. Like a part clicking into place, she felt something jolt through the cloud. Nimbus began to back away from her, rising up into the sky. A few moments later, once it had cleared the low buildings surrounding them, it sped off into the sky, heading south-west.

 _Solving one crisis at a time_ , she mused. _That's how we'll win. Right..._

 _A day ago Yamcha was alive. Time is cruel._

0o0o0

With all the pride of a new father, Piccolo watched with a smile as the egg before him began to shake and crack. Another vaguely reptilian and dinosaur-like spawn rose before him, dark green, winged, and round like a ball. _I really must be out of practice. None of these spawns look even remotely like me._ 'Cymbal,' the Demon King pronounced, even though the demon spawn already knew its name innately, 'I will confess, I had created you with the purpose of finding the dragonballs. However, as you well can see…' he gestured to himself, highlighting his youthful, vigorous appearance, 'that purpose has been served. So I ask you- what is it you would like to do instead?'

Strange bordering on comical, the dragon-esque creatures fell to one knee. 'I desire, my lord,' Cymbal said, with a deep hissing voice a horribly obese snake might produce, 'to decimate this world by your side.'

'Hah!' Piccolo chuckled. 'Quite! Indeed, you are my spawn. Would you like to start with this city, then? If you don't mind finishing my work.'

'My lord, nothing would please me more.'

With a wave of his hand, Piccolo directed Cymbal into the sky. The wings behind the creature moved for the first time, propelling the beast into the sky with heavy flaps. The spawn then came to a stop fifty feet in the air, and turned to face one end of the city. Maliciously, he brought up one hand, pointing down towards the city grid below. A pink glow began to surround the creature.

Something very strange, to Piccolo's eyes, happened then. A small blue ball of _ki_ flew into the sky and exploded against Cymbal. The dragon creature was momentarily stunned, such that it started falling to the ground, cratering into the ground twenty feet in front of the Demon Lord.

Admittedly amused, Piccolo cast his eyes in the direction of the blast. The girl from before, holding one hand to where Piccolo had hit her, was panting with arm pointed towards the sky. _Oh. Yes. I forgot about her._

More angry than injured, Cymbal climbed out of the crater, snarling with annoyance. 'My lord,' Cymbal asked, a nasty tone running through his voice, 'should I kill this pest?'

Piccolo gestured agreeably, saying, 'Please- by all means.' The Demon King made sure to make eye contact with the girl as he said this. She flinched.

Stomping his feet, Cymbal prepared himself like a bucking bronco, making deep runnels in the ground. For her part, Rayne hesitantly brought up her arms in a guard- if she was going to die, she figured, she might as well go down for a good cause. _Delaying the death of a couple thousand people is definitely up there, but damn it, why did this have to take place in a city?_

Cymbal charged her, brutishly swinging his arm horizontally. She dodged, ducking under the swing, and hammered a few blows into Cymbal's midsection. Her initial attacks seemed to do nothing as Cymbal brought his other massive arm around for a punch. Again, Rayne dodged, this time to the right and out of his range. She then stepped forward and hammered at Cymbal's legs with her own. A few hits this time was enough, as eventually the dragon creature stumbled backward as his legs were kicked out from under him. Rayne rushed after him, trying to land a follow-up elbow, but Cymbal flapped his wings and flew into the sky, up and away from her strike. Somewhat surprised at her strength, Cymbal took his time gaining his second wind while airborne.

Rayne frowned. _Fighting flying opponents is such a pain. I really need to figure out how to do that._ She glanced towards Piccolo- he made no indication that he would intervene, choosing to stand in place with his arms crossed and an easy smile on his face. _Well, at least I have that going for me right now._ A sudden spasm of pain shot through Rayne; she was barely able to stop herself from physically recoiling. _Argh!... Hold it together Rayne, make them think I can keep this up for a while... I just wish I wasn't so injured!..._

The sun was continuing to dip lower in the sky- the day was slowly but surely coming to an end. Rayne wondered whether she would live to see the night.

Cymbal's monstrous wings suddenly extended to their full length, cresting the creature downwards to his opponent. Rayne nimbly dodged as Cymbal swooped past her, trying to rake her with one of his claws. He deftly circled in the air and slammed into an unexpecting Rayne, who was slow to move from the last dodge. She was thrust to the ground face-first as dirt filled her mouth. Spitting, she rolled, avoiding a stomp from Cymbal. This game of whack of mole continued for a few heartbeats until Rayne unintentionally rolled down a gentle sloping hill at the edge of the flat green.

Piccolo and Piano appeared on the edge of the flat behind Cymbal, collectively staring down at Rayne, tangled in a heap of limbs at the base of the slope. Grimacing, she pulled herself to her feet. This time, she couldn't disguise her pain- her left arm was hanging loosely at her side. _My entire body is failing, piece by piece!..._

As if sensing her pain, Piccolo barked a laugh. 'This is the best these Earthlings can do? Truly? It seems that the old masters have deserted humanity- or,' he focused his gaze on Rayne, 'in your case, died.'

Glaring at Piccolo, Rayne forced herself to bring her arms up.

Cymbal flew down the hill at her, moving faster- _no, that wasn't it, I'm slowing down-_ as Rayne found it much harder than just a few minutes before to defend herself. It took all her concentration and training to prevent Cymbal from landing a clean, devastating blow to her already weakened body. Her counter-attacks were weak, done more out of habit than to achieve anything. She moved backward to avoid a curving elbow strike, but then she was clotheslined as all of Cymbal's mass slammed into her through an arm crashing into her chest. Like before, he had used his wings to accelerate his speed to deliver a brutal blow. Her vision swam, her entire rib cage buckled and nearly caved in, as air flew out of her body as if driven by an irresistible gust of wind. Unable to even think, she fell backward onto the ground, motionless except for a few odd fingers or extremities.

Satisfied, Cymbal flew backward to land about ten feet away from his fallen opponent.

'Cymbal,' the Demon King said from the top of the hill, seeming to look straight through Rayne, 'you can end this. I think our brave defender has nothing left to offer us.'

Rayne desperately tried to prove him wrong- with every ounce of energy she compelled her body to rise- but it was hopeless. She couldn't even move any of her limbs. Lamely, she continued to lay supine on the ground.

Grinning maliciously, Cymbal stomped over to Rayne's beaten body. Rayne saw, through barely focused vision, a hand stretching down to point at her. Sickly pink energy welled in its center. A perverse feeling of injustice seeped through Rayne's body. _If I was at full strength, if I wasn't so injured…_

 _I'll meet you in the afterlife, Master Roshi, after all…_ Closing her eyes to accept her fate, she willed calm to her mind.

Even through her pained, beleaguered sensation, Rayne heard a distinct _smacckk_ ride across the battlefield, as she felt the immense pressure lording over her be replaced with another. She opened her eyes.

Flexing his hand, Tien extended out his whole arm, as if the decisive blow he had delivered to Cymbal was part of his warm-up routine.

'Ready to the fight the World Champion, monster?'

0o0o0

Tien stood protectively over Rayne's body, positioned between the former red ribbon officer and King Piccolo. His earlier statement hadn't been directed to Cymbal- his cutting gaze towards King Piccolo made that clear enough.

To Rayne's relief, Piccolo laughed instead of immediately attacking Tien. 'So there _are_ more of you! This should be interesting!' His eyes shot to the side, examining the other two newcomers- a medium-height yellow-haired girl and a pale, short… something. He had seen them approach, of course, but until now he _hadn't_ seen the boy flung over one of the girl's shoulders. A boy with a curious, swishing tail behind him. 'So you're bringing fighters who aren't even conscious to fight me?' Piccolo said, bringing their attention to Kakarot draped over Launch's shoulder.

Ignoring the Demon King's question, Tien bent his knees, settling into his austere Crane School guard. Again, this looked… familiar to King Piccolo. For the first time since nearly being entrapped within the Evil Containment Wave, PIccolo felt genuine displeasure. 'I grow tired of pathetic fighters seeking to defeat me,' he said, half out of honesty and half out of fear, 'so I offer this; defeat my minions and you shall have a chance to fight me.' _And, perhaps, I can find out which of these fools actually poses a threat, and dispatch them accordingly._

Rayne couldn't believe what she was hearing. A swell of hope took hold of her. _We might stand a chance, if we keep him on the sidelines initially!_ She still hadn't collected the energy to talk- but she looked encouragingly at Tien regardless.

He obviously missed whatever she was trying to convey- he wasn't even looking at her.'Are you that afraid of us you'll hide behind your spawns!' Tien said, somewhat outraged of playing this game as he saw it. 'There's three of us and two of your 'children'; you would let us gang up on them?' While they were talking, Cymbal had painfully flown back over from the crater Tien had launched him into a hundred odd feet away.

It was then when everyone present saw the smile that had precipitated so much death, destruction, and ruin three hundred years past. In a quiet voice, Piccolo said, 'Count again.'

Tien began turning, to face the rest of the battlefield-

And a foot slammed into his sternum, knocking him into the dirt.

A winged creature, more slender and humanoid than Cymbal, descended from the sky, its power apparent

from that one move.

'Let me present my middle child, Tambourine,' Piccolo mewed, 'who has just returned from watching an entertaining tournament.'

The implication was clear- Tambourine's actions clicked into focus in everyone's minds- and Tien retaliated against the winged humanoid, colliding with the spawn and sending them tumbling further away from the crest of the slope.

Warily, Launch and Chiaotzu prepared for a fight.

'Uh, not to question you, my lord,' Piano asked, tugging at the side of Piccolo's _gi_ , 'but I admit I'm not much of a _fighter_ … _'_

King Piccolo swung his gaze over Piano with a cruel air of indifference. 'Very well, then.' Twisting his face, Piccolo suddenly shot an egg out of his mouth, embedding itself in the nearby ground. 'That shall be your relief- whenever it hatches. Until then, you must prove your worth as a spawn of the Demon King Piccolo.'

Gulping, Piano nodded towards his creator, and walked down the slope to join Cymbal at the bottom. Cymbal himself was rubbing the side of his head. Angry welts ran up and down one entire side of his body, making the damage from Tien's strike clear. He was somewhat relieved he wasn't fighting the tall, bald one.

Launch and Chiaotzu wordlessly gestured to each other, then in a flash, broke off. Launch slammed into Cymbal, leading their fight away to Chiaotzu space. As this happened, Chiaotzu brought up his finger at lightning-fast speed, yelling, 'DODON RAY!' as it spiraled out across the battlefield. Piano hastily countered with his own dark purple, spinning blast. The Dodon Ray was barely stopped by the last-second attack; it detonated a mere few feet away from Piano. Seeing his first attack be canceled, Chiaotzu jumped away to find another angle.

Carnage was raging all around Rayne. She could do nothing but uselessly lay in the center of the battlefield, hoping against all odds that she wouldn't be caught in some errant attack. Things were happening too quickly for her to make sense of. _The Crane students are helping us now? Why?_ Her brain wanted to strategize- but her heart was raging with anger, still. _After all they did, all the harm they caused, they're- helping us! What kind of sick game are they playing!_ Incensed, she began to rise off of the ground; immediately, her body failed, as she fell back to the ground kicking up her own private cloud of dust. Her previous weariness now felt twice as strong. _There's nothing I can do, then. Might as well accept any fate that comes to me now…_

Strangely, at that moment Rayne felt a pair of hands tugging her off the ground, pulling her away from the center of the battlefield. Too tired to even open her eyes, she could only mentally murmur, _What?..._

0o0o0

Tien spun to avoid a jumping smash from Tambourine, then planted his foot in the ground and pushed off it, crashing into the winged monster. Fists and legs mercilessly pounded on each other before, forced by his injuries, Tambourine scraped his way clean, using his wings to float off of the ground. _This human is legitimately powerful,_ the spawn of Piccolo thought, _much, much stronger than I gave him credit for at the tournament. Still, as long as I can fly-_

'Huahhh!' Tien lifted off the ground, flying up to where Tambourine was hovering and slamming a knee to the spawn's midsection. Reeling, Tambourine was helpless as Tien grabbed him in mid-air and twisted, knocking him back towards the ground with a heavy downwards kick. A small _phoom_ rang through the air as Tambourine's collision with the plain threw up dirt a few meters overhead. Tien landed a few moments later.

Taking his time to climb out, Tambourine grimaced at his opponent. _A human that can fly? Impossible! Not even the imprisoner could do that!_

Noticing the disbelief clear on his opponent's face, Tien spat, 'are you surprised that an injured fighter can defend themselves, monster?' Unconsciously, Tien found himself flexing and releasing his fists- Yamcha's earlier death had affected him more than he would have expected. _I barely knew him, and in the time I_ _ **did**_ _know him, I thought of him as an enemy. But for him to die in such a way- unforgivable!..._

Savoring the brief lull in fighting to regain his strength, Tambourine stated matter-of-fact, 'King Piccolo commanded me to eliminate any and all fighters at the World Martial Arts Tournament without being detected. I did as such.' Stealthily, Tambourine brought from behind him a hand full of _ki_. 'And I'll die,' he clenched his teeth, then flung his arm forward, releasing a golden, jagged beam of energy, 'BEFORE I TELL YOU WHY!'

 _Ki_ rushed out of the spawn, enveloping Tien's form briefly. Any hope of success Tambourine had was quickly extinguished, however, as Tien's aura crashed through the beam, driving Tien forward to slam a fist into Tambourine's stomach. 'You're not allowed to die until I know WHY!' Tien punted a gasping Tambourine away and pursued.

Nearby, Launch was ducking and diving in between Cymbal's heavy attacks. She was nowhere near her full strength- a few hours lying in bed was basically taking a quick breather- but luckily for her, her opponent seemed to be in the same situation. Cymbal appeared to be significantly weaker than he was earlier in the day- if his obvious injuries and panting were anything to go by. Still, Launch found herself pushing her energy to its limit to simply avoid any one of the brute's lumbering attacks. _If I can just land one good blow, I'm_ _ **sure**_ _I can gain the upper hand!..._

Cymbal abruptly jumped up, flapping his wings as he did to elongate his upward arc. He vertically peaked and curled into a ball, obviously intending to smash into the area where they were fighting with maximum force. An idea popped into Launch's head. _Oh, that could work WELL._ She was going to have to dip into that reservoir like before- _sorry, other me!-_ but if she used it momentarily, she was sure she wouldn't suffer that much. Pretty sure. Fifty-fifty. _Alright, it's risky, but_ _ **we**_ _like risks!_

Digging her feet into the ground, she pulled on her _ki_ , sensing the familiar _pop!_ as she felt her energy intermix with another source. Cutting it off immediately, she shot that extra _ki_ through her body. Just as Cymbal was about twenty feet above the ground, Launch made her move. Using her enhanced speed, she appeared above a surprised Cymbal, crashing her feet into his doughy core and accelerating him faster to the ground. One blow, and the spawn easily impacted the ground with twice as much force than he had planned. Satisfied, Launch jumped clear of the impact- understandably, she landed a few feet away awkwardly, rolling on her ankle. She also felt the familiar sense of exhaustion sweep over her like before- though nowhere near as pronounced. Straightening, Launch examined the crater.

Disappointingly, Cymbal emerged, damaged but still very much alive. 'You do know I was planning on hitting the ground fast, right? So it would make sense I would push all my _ki_ to my front?' True to his word, his front looked undamaged by his collision with the ground. Launch did notice, however, something else.

'Your back isn't looking so good, _friend_.'

Grimacing, Cymbal took his time- cautiously- testing the range of motion in his back. 'Could be better. But you hadn't planned on damaging me there, did you?'

'Looks like both of us are pretty lousy tacticians'

'Yea, but at the end of this I'll be alive and you'll-'

Their conversation was cut off as a massive shockwave swept over their section of West City..

0o0o0

Piccolo was, if nothing else, intrigued by these fighters. The fact that they were standing up to his spawns, one-on-one, was impressive. Though perhaps he shouldn't be _too_ surprised- they were born before he regained his insurmountable strength back. He glanced warmly at the egg half-submerged in the ground next to him. _Him, though, he'll be an entirely different beast._

 _I wonder what I should call him? Something fearsome. Maybe- Hmm?_

Piccolo's attention was wrenched away to a beam clash involving Piano and the pale, short fighter. He saw that his spawn was hemmed into a corner of the battlefield- _I never did care to give him any fighting IQ_ \- and thus, with nowhere else to go, Piano was forced to make a stand where he was. A swirling pink and yellow beam was rolling out of his eldest spawn's hands. Two thin, golden beams were blasting out of the pale fighter's fingers, one from each index finger. Their attacks met in the middle between them; their combined energy didn't disperse, nor detonate, but was instead roiling together in an ever growing sphere of white, volatile energy. _Exemplary_ _ **ki**_ _control from both of them to keep their energy that rigid so to merge like that. Perhaps I underestimated Piano._

Piccolo saw his eldest spawn resisting fiercely, even as the wind raged against them and the air around them grew hot from the resulting entropy. Sweat was staining each of their clothes- and yet, both of them pressed on, unrelenting. Not that they had much choice. For either of them to stop at this point would be ensuring their own death in the resulting explosion. _One of them will die from this._

Piccolo swung his gaze back towards the pale fighter- and shockingly, the short one had floated up a few feet above his previous position, and had shot a thinner, gold beam, from one finger. His other hand was raised as well- and yet no _ki_ was coming out of it. _Piano can easily avoid this, if the pale one broke off the attack. He just needs to-_

He heard a blood-curdling yell ring out across the battlefield. Piccolo twisted his head to see his eldest spawn be pierced by the gold, thin beam. Oddly, Piano's entire body was frozen in place, as if his entire body had stopped functioning at the moment of the pale one's attack. Piccolo only had a moment to process what he had seen when the pale fighter flung one final energy wave at the mixing sphere of energy between them. While it was initially creeping towards the pale fighter, the ball was flung away his final attack back down at Piano. Still motionless, Piano could only look on with terrified eyes as the blast consumed him, blotting out the outline of his body. The smoke cleared- not a single trace of Piano remained.

Three things were made apparent to Piccolo then. One: that his spawn was defeated by telekinesis, used by the pale fighter to prevent Piano from moving away from the piercing beam, and then once shocked, to prevent Piano from moving away from their combined blast. Two: telekinesis is perhaps the one thing that could guarantee his capture by the Evil Containment Wave, if used in conjunction. Three: Piano had served his purpose.

With a blinding flash of movement, Piccolo appeared in front of a winded Chiaotzu and simply _swung_ his clawed hand in front of him, right to left. Chiaotzu's body was viciously raked, blood flying out, and would have fallen to the ground if not for Piccolo immediately hurtling a gold wave of energy at the fighter's defenseless body. It was over in less than five seconds- Chiaotzu was ash.

Far across the battlefield, a single, anguished voice cried out, 'Chiaotzu, NO!'

0o0o0

* * *

A/N: yep.

 **Reviews** :

 **LWexe:** I figure there's always gonna be 'that person' who disregards the ancient, evil legends in every DBZ timeline. Thus, poof; Piccolo is out and ready to play! And thanks for reviewing for the gazillionth time! I imagine you are the mouthpiece of the 10 people who like this fic and want me to keep writing.

 **Lala:** Thanks for the review! Even a few words can become my 'look at this when concerned about the quality of my writing' resource.

Ahh yes, Kakarot is here, isn't he...


	25. A Bitter Taste

King

Chapter 25: A Bitter Taste

A/N: Something must be in the water because I got a butt-load of wonderful reviews! My 10 fans delivered! As always, my somewhat thought-out responses to them are at the bottom.

* * *

The wind was unrelenting. A few scattered trees in West City were bent slightly, their leaves tumbling off in a disorderly procession.

In a matter of seconds, any visible trace left of Chiaotzu was scattered by that same wind.

Tien stood opposite of Tambourine, clutching his chest with his right hand. His anger- his _madness_ \- was welling up inside him with a ferocity he had never felt before. His teammate- his friend- was completely erased by two motions of an arm. Like _that_. The sheer ease of the act-

Tambourine lunged for Tien, taking advantage of his opponent's momentary daze. He closed, ten, five feet-

And the Crane fighter pivoted and swung a kick into his body, easily twice as strong as anything he had hit him with before. Tambourine felt the anatomical equivalent of his ribs crack, as his body was sent spinning away to crash into a wall of a nearby building. The one attack had utterly stunned him.

With a ferocious yell, Tien ran and flew into the air, his body outstretched like a pillar as he sped towards Piccolo. Bug-eyed as he turned away from his killing motion just moments before, King Piccolo was rammed by Tien's body, as the two of them tumbled out of the sky towards the ground. Even as they descended, Tien was pummeling into Piccolo with every ounce of energy he had. They hit the ground on the opposite side of the battlefield, out of sight up and beyond at the small hillside slope where everyone else was currently fighting.

Launch and Cymbal were momentarily distracted by that turn of events, but as soon as Piccolo and Tien dropped out of sight, Cymbal turned to the human fighter with a wicked grin. 'The King killed one of your fool friends. Do you know what that means? He has grown bored of you all. This is the beginning of the end.'

'Yea?' Launch shot back, 'we'll see whether that's true in a few minutes,' she said as she bent her knees, preparing to go toe-to-toe with the monster again.

'You don't understand,' Cymbal rumbled again, lifting his arms in front of him, his fingers glowing blue-white 'this is _your_ end…'

Like a storm cloud, blue strands of electricity shot out of Cymbal's fingers, arcing towards Launch. She instinctively braced her arms- and was immediately wracked with pain as the attack collided with her block. Slowly, she felt her voluntary grasp on her muscles slip, as her arms and legs slackened, causing her to drop haggardly to the ground. Her body began to shake uncontrollably form the electricity, as she repeatedly began to rise and collapse in rhythm. It felt like every inch of her body was being cordoned and cut everywhere, every second.

Cymbal approached her, arcs still spitting from his fingers, as his shadow came to envelop Launch's fallen form. 'Like I said,' he grinned wickedly, intensifying his attack and eliciting a stronger cry of pain from Launch, 'the beginning of the end- though more like _the_ end, now.'

The pain climbed, growing stronger than anything Launch could have ever imagined. She felt blissful, soothing darkness start to wrap itself around her mind- _please, no more pain, please_ \- but halfway through, that blanketing approach halted, then abruptly withdrew. She belatedly realized she was panting on the ground, still a tangled mass. Cymbal still stood over her- clawing at a massive hole that had appeared in his abdomen.

0o0o0

Rayne, in response to a hand slapping her face, slowly opened her eyes. She realized she was in an alley, much like where she had ferried Krillin to earlier. The thought of the former monk suddenly alerted her, as she forced her eyes to focus on the person above her- _is that- Krillin?-_

Sight returned to her in earnest. Chi-Chi was kneeling beside her, resting the hand of her good arm just above Rayne's chest. Dimly, Rayne felt a smidgen of _ki_ ease into her- and for the first time in hours, she found she was able to take a deep breath, sparkling and refreshing in its length. The pain eviscerating her chest- which had nearly stopped her from breathing- was gone.

'There,' Chi-Chi knelt back, sitting on her legs. 'That should have moved your ribs a little closer back to their original positions. Breathing better?'

Rayne nodded vigorously. 'Chi-Chi, I- what are you doing here?'

'Helping out, what else?' she said, smiling.

'But- your arm-'

Chi-Chi briefly looked at her arm, then turned back towards Rayne with a grin. 'You'd be surprised what I can do with one arm. Speaking of which- stay here.'

Even though she was breathing better, Rayne was in no position to move, much less fight. 'Don't have to tell me twice,' she exhaled, shifting her eyes to the sky above her.

With a flourish of movement, Chi-Chi skulked out of the alleyway, making her way back to the battlefield. From her position behind a piece of rubble, she was able to watch all three fights happening simultaneously- Tien trading blow for blow against that slim, winged green monster, Launch fighting against that bulging, winged green monster, and Chiaotzu locked in a distance duel with that pale, dinosaur figure. It disturbed Chi-Chi that, throughout all of this, Piccolo's calm and measured surveying of the battles never wavered. Like… he was waiting for something.

He was- when the moment arose, Chi-Chi was powerless. Piccolo moved far too quick, far too fast- as Chiaotzu's life was extinguished in a few brief moments.

Tien charged after Piccolo in righteous rage- they passed out of her sight. It was lucky that, before he had done that, he had planted Tambourine into a building wall. A minute had passed, and still, the winged humanoid was struggling to get back on his feet.

When Launch started to crumble against Cymbal's electric attack, Chi-Chi's role, as advised to her by the others when they arrived, came into focus. _Stay undetected. Support us from the sidelines. Intervene_ _ **only**_ _if someone's life depends on it, and end it quickly._ She had done well so far by pulling Rayne out and stabilizing her. Now, faced with Launch's possible last moments among the living, Chi-Chi knew it was time to decisively act. She had been focusing her _ki_ since she had got here in preparation for this exact scenario.

Moving quickly, Chi-Chi scampered to a distance of about fifty feet away from Cymbal, his back to her. With her good hand, she seemed to grasp something in the air, her fingers curling against the invisible object. Her eyes locked on the small of Cymbal's back. Then, in one smooth movement, she extended her hand, visualizing the fighter who had fought Kakarot- what now felt like ages ago- in that snowy field outside Jingle Village. From her hand a thick, blue beam, emerged, the _ki_ coming to a point at the edge of its head. The beam loped across the battlefield, hitting a turned-away Cymbal square in the back- and passing through him like he was paper. As it exited, the beam safely dissipated instead of detonating.

Cymbal stood for a moment, the electricity draining from his fingers like a spigot of water being tightened. Then, without any fanfare, he collapsed sideways to the ground, unmoving. Launch, breathless, was only able to glance across the battlefield at the waving Chi-Chi. She forced a small smile through her exhausted exterior and flashed a weary thumbs up.

Chi-Chi walked over and helped Launch to her feet. There was no time to talk before another figure descended from the sky to face them. Tambourine had finally removed himself from the building- the bruise spreading across his body only seemed to highlight the anger playing across his face. He regarded his fallen brother for a second before turning away in disgust and sliding into a guard.

Hesitantly, Launch and Chi-Chi did the same.

0o0o0

A fist slammed into Piccolo's block, driving him deeper into the dirt. Before he could react, another fist crashed into him, then another, as a cascade of strikes fell upon him. Beneath his steady block, Piccolo found himself growing _angry_. _Here I am, at my peak power- and this fool is actually moving me! Unacceptable!_ 'HRAAAH!' Snarling, Piccolo flared his _ki_ , buffeting Tien back a few feet even as his feet struggled to find purchase, Tien's face burned with the intensity of a hundred firestorms. As he was pushed backward, he lifted one hand and shot out an impromptu _ki_ blast. Piccolo easily batted it away- though, like before, he had to move back to deal with Tien's attack. They came to stand about ten feet from each other.

Even though Tien was tall, Piccolo seemed to tower over him, his stature menacing. Tien's muscled, shirtless body gleaned in the light of the now setting sun- shadows of the West City skyscrapers were now drifting lazily across the ground. If Tien was exhausted, he didn't feel it- his rage was all consuming.

Snarling, Piccolo charged Tien after their brief break, driving a knee into Tien's cross-block. He then tried to swipe at the Crane fighter with his fanged hands- but they passed through air as Tien nimbly dodged back. Tien ducked under a follow-up punch and swung out his leg, sweeping Piccolo off his feet. As the demon king fell, Tien raised both of his hands over his head, their combined grasp sparkling with gold energy.. 'TAKE THIS! HAAAH!' he yelled as he slammed the blast downwards, exploding against Piccolo point-blank and driving him deeper into the ground. Tien followed up the attack by jumping into the resulting smoke, aiming a stomp towards Piccolo's downtrodden body- but he hit the ground instead. A fist collided with Tien's back, sending him sprawling out of the smoke, dust wreathing around his limbs like wisps of fabric. He spun once, twice in the air, before he righted himself and landed unsteadily on the ground. From the dust, Piccolo emerged relatively unscathed. 'Come now. ' the demon taunted, 'Haven't you seen the afterimage before?'

'I- I hit you, though? My blast clearly hit you…'

'Oh, that blip? Of course that hit me. I was referring to the follow-up attack.' Piccolo didn't bother to speak condescendingly- he let his unscathed exterior speak for itself.

Growling, Tien brought his arms to his sides, looking like he was going to power-up. 'You'll pay! I swear you'll pay!' With every world, Tien's body shimmered, as if it was passing in and out of existence. Then, abruptly, two arms shot out of Tien's back. His third eye was wide open, small red veins running across it like a spider web.

Before Piccolo could wrap around his head about what was happening, Tien charged him, literally doubling his attack with his two extra arms. Despite Tien's relative weakness compared to himself, Piccolo found himself hard pressed to move fast enough to counter the number of strikes coming from four arms. Blows increasingly slipped past his guard, ramming painfully against his chest and shoulders. Piccolo started using his knees to defend- but Tien simply employed his own in response, disrupting any steady defense Piccolo would try to maintain. After a blow hit him squarely across the face, Piccolo roared and revealed brought out a hand behind his back, crackling with violent, gold energy, light spraying from it. 'DEMON BLAST!' he yelled as he brought it forward to launch it at close-quarters at Tien.

Piccolo's arm was stopped in its tracks as Tien used his two forward arms to grasp it, bending it upwards. The blast erupted from a startled Piccolo, shooting out towards the sky harmlessly. With his two other free arms, Tien swung at Piccolo- one arm solidly struck Piccolo in the jaw, but the other one was grasped by Piccolo's free arm. They grappled against each other, Tien using two arms to hold Piccolo's right arm, Piccolo using his other arm to hold one of Tien's arms, and Tien's free arm continuing to hammer away at the demon. Piccolo, however, was unfazed by the assault of Tien's solitary free limb, and began launching a flurry of knee strikes at Tien, simultaneously crunching the arm he held. Tien winced, trying to maintain his advantage; eventually, however, Piccolo landed a solid knee to Tien's abdomen. The Crane fighter lurched back, gasping, as Piccolo delivered a devastating series of punches to Tien's exposed front. He finished with a quick energy blast that sent Tien toppling backward. He landed painfully on his back- the arms coming out of his back shimmered, then disappeared.

 _Odd._ Piccolo thought as he watched his opponent painfully rise, _very odd._

Tien felt the anger fueling him start to wane- lacking that, his mind unwillingly tuned to his exhaustion. He gazed across at King Piccolo- although there was some obvious damage done to his clothes, he looked largely unscathed. _He… he must be toying with me. Toying with me, even as I try to avenge Chiaotzu!..._ He shut his eyes, feeling a wave of despair rush over him. _If only I had more time- maybe I could have learned the Evil Containment Wave, trained_ _ **harder**_ _… but as it is now…_ He glanced across the field. Like a statue, Piccolo stood, waiting for Tien to throw himself at him once more. _This is hopeless._

He clenched his hands, his face twisting. _But there's only me!..._ When Tien, Chiaotzu, and Launch had arrived, they had only seen Rayne on her death-bed. Master Roshi and Krillin were nowhere in sight. For all they knew, they were dead. _I'm the best we have left…_ _ **I can't fail**_ _!_

Tien glared across at Piccolo, then exhaled, letting out a hundred different emotions. _Focus on the anger. The clear purpose it gives._ Without another thought, Tien charged Piccolo once more.

0o0o0

Launch and Chi-Chi circled Tambourine cautiously, momentarily distracted by the series of explosions coming from the direction Tien and Piccolo were fighting. _Glad I'm not fighting him,_ Launch thought. _Then again, I would really like to be fighting Cymbal again…_

The difference in _ki_ between Cymbal and Tambourine was palpable, not to mention the former's clear talent in martial arts. _Cymbal reminded me of a pack mule. Tambourine? He's a killer._

At some unseen signal, Launch and Chi-Chi charged the winged humanoid, attacking him from opposite angles, Between their attacks- the attacks of 1 and ½ people, considering Chi-Chi's injuries- Tambourine seemed at ease ducking this way and that. As they struggled to land a hit, he landed tiny blows here and there, momentarily staggering them mid-movement. On one such attack by Launch, where her leg was jolted and stopped mid-swing, Tambourine followed up and cleanly drove his fist into Launch's chest, flinging her backward. Chi-Chi tried to take advantage of his momentary dismissal of her, swinging with one _ki_ blast formed in her hand, but without another usable arm, Tambourine easily grasped Chi-Chi's free arm at the wrist, halting its movement. She struggled against his grip for a few moments before Tambourine, smiling, flew into the air, taking Chi-Chi with her. Dangling by her good arm, she was helpless to do anything as she was pulled farther and farther into the air.

On the ground, Launch clambered to her feet, huffing. She glimpsed Chi-Chi being whisked away by what looked like a gargoyle from her position. She couldn't launch a _ki_ attack as long as Tambourine held Chi-Chi as a meat shield, so she resolved to do the next best thing; Launch scrambled across the ground to keep herself underneath the two of them, so that she would be ready to catch Chi-Chi when Tambourine inevitably dropped her.

Tambourine flew higher into the air, the female fighter swinging wildly underneath him. He saw Launch move underneath him. _Perfect._ About 200 hundred feet into the air, equal to the midpoint of some of the smaller multi-story buildings in West City, Tambourine let Chi-Chi slip from his grasp. She started plummeting to the ground, screaming as she did.

Launch saw a faint outline appear around Chi-Chi- but she doubted whatever power she was using would be enough to stop her from receiving serious injuries. Launch also knew that, if she was underneath Chi-Chi when she landed… it would be bad. Sighing, Launch raised both her arms to the sky, trying to form a buffering field of _ki_ above her. _I need to return the favor._

It took about ten seconds for Chi-Chi to reach the ground, traveling at a horrifically fast speed. Chi-Chi and Launch's _auras_ , both extended outwards towards each other like padding, clashed violently, as Chi-Chi crashed into Launch and the ground. The resulting collision impacted the Earth, shaking the nearby ground, and throwing up chunks of grass and soil into the sky.

When the rain of debris stopped, and Tambourine had flown back down to hover just above them, he saw that their limbs were tangled together- both of them laid unconscious in a pile. _Hah! And I didn't even need to use my ki_. Victorious, Tambourine flew back down to the ground, examining the two human fighters. He regarded them for a second, then extended his hand, prepared to deliver a killing blast of pink _ki_.

He was halfway through collecting his energy when a leg slammed into his side, crashing him into a building for the second time today.

0o0o0

Krillin's sensation came back to him all at once, as an overwhelming sense of energy powered through his body. He shot up off the ground to sit, searching for Piccolo's _ki-_ but Krillin was no longer in West City. Instead, he found himself sitting on a floor of white tiles. The blue sky stretched endlessly around him. _Korin's Tower. But-_

'Just let me explain everything,' Korin cut in from behind Krillin, 'a lot has happened.'

The cat explained how Krillin had arrived via Nimbus half-dead, and Korin had scrambled to heal him in time. 'Though, to be honest… I just had to run down to get these-' he said, as he held up a brown bag. He withdrew a green bean from it. 'This saved your life, not me.'

Krillin eyed the bean suspiciously. 'That saved my life? Really? It just looks like a normal bean.'

'This isn't just your run-of-the-mill bean. This is a _sensu_ bean. It takes nearly a year for these things to grow- I should know, I have to water them!'

'A whole year?' Krillin asked, confused. 'Why so long?'

'A single bean contains ten days of nutrition- ten full meals. When you consume one, that energy floods your system, bringing you back to full strength. Feel your own _ki_ for yourself.'

Krillin did so- he felt strong- maybe even stronger than he was at the beginning of the tournament. 'Woah! I guess all the fighting at the tournament trained me a little bit. I-' Krillin remembered what had happened at the tournament, what had happened at West City- and guessed what was most likely happening right now. 'Korin, I need to get back to West City. Rayne is in trouble- Piccolo is probably destroying city blocks as we speak-'

The immortal cat held up a hand, stopping Krillin's babbling. 'You needn't worry at the moment. As I understand, some other friends of yours are fighting Piccolo at this very moment. Use your _ki-_ sense it.'

Krillin did as he was told- and indeed, he felt his fellow Turtle students, and the Crane fighters, engaged with a number of opponents. 'Seems like our numbers have increased- but theirs have, as well.' Krillin surged to a standing position, checking that his _gi_ would hold together for another fight. 'Korin, thank you for healing me, but if I get back there now, at full strength, then-'

'You can't beat Piccolo at your current strength,' the cat said gravely, halting Krillin in his tracks. 'He's simply too powerful. While you've been unconscious he has regained his youth with the help of the dragonballs- as a result, he is now much stronger than he was before. If you run back now, healing you would have been for nothing- you would still die.'

Frowning, Krillin mulled Korin's words in his head. 'What do you mean by "healing me would have been for nothing"- you have something else in mind?'

Korin nodded solemnly. 'There's another option in front of you. At your current strength, you are perhaps equal in strength with the stronger Crane fighter, but even if you two joined forces at your full strength, you would still be no match for Piccolo. You need more power.'

'How am I supposed to do that? Piccolo is fighting us _right now._ I doubt he would let us retreat and train to surpass him- and I refuse to abandon anyone, even the Crane fighters.' Krillin glared at Korin harshly, refusing to even entertain the idea of abandoning his allies. 'We need all the help we can get.'

'Calm yourself, Krillin. I'm not suggesting anything of the sort. I'm offering you a one-time way to increase your strength.' Korin pulled a cloth off a nearby object- it revealed an unglazed ceramic vessel, open at the top and filled with what looked like water. 'This is the Ultra Divine Water. If you drink it, it will increase your power _substantially._ '

Krillin eyed the vessel, then turned to Korin. 'That's it?' he confirmed. 'I just drink it and increase my power? If that's the case... let's get this over with, then.'

'Hold on. You need to know the risks. The water could potentially _kill_ you- it is called the Ultra Divine Water for a reason. If you do not possess enough strength, the divine essence of the water will overwhelm you, shutting down your body. I cannot ask you to drink this water- you must choose for yourself.'

'Korin, if what you've told me about Piccolo is true, then I _have_ to do this- otherwise, we won't stand a chance, correct?'

'Unfortunately, that is true.' Korin chewed on his lip. 'I wish circumstances were different.'

Krillin felt, for perhaps the first time in his life, a genuine sense of responsibility settle over him. 'Me too.' Krillin approached and picked up the vessel. In a single movement, he downed the contents of the vessel. And he knew _pain_.

0o0o0

A short time later, Krillin landed riding Nimbus and promptly smacked Tambourine into a wall. Letting out a breath of relief, he turned towards his allies. He crouched down and pressed a finger to Chi-Chi and Launch's necks- _still alive. Jeez! That was close!_ Krillin then spread out his _ki_ to sense the surrounding area- he clearly felt Tien and Piccolo's _kis_ waging war against each other. He even felt Rayne's weakened and hidden, yet still recognizable, _ki_ somewhere deeper in the city.

Krillin could sense nothing of Chiaotzu. _Let's assume the worse, then._

 _He's dead._

 _Master Roshi and Chiaotzu, both dead._

Krillin was beginning to understand why Master Roshi had acted so drastically, sacrificing his own life on a chance to end the threat of King Piccolo. _To end it before it began._ He shook his head- he didn't have to think right now. With a light step, he crept towards Tien and Piccolo's battle.

0o0o0

Tien panted, trying desperately to fill his lungs with air. Piccolo stood nearby, grinning from his latest assault that had repeatedly knocked the breath of the human fighter. Tien was battered- it looked like he had just emerged from a day-long cage fight. By contrast, Piccolo looked fresh, disregarding some scratches and marks on his _gi_. _I think the old man was more powerful than this_ , the demon thought, _but, then again, their power levels are so far beneath me it's hard to tell. Can you really judge whether one ant is stronger than another, after all?_

Piccolo approached the human fighter. Ignoring his exhaustion, Tien raised his arms in defiance. _Pitiful. Absolutely piti-_

The Demon King was staggered to the right as a blast of energy crested over him, knocking him off balance. He raged, turning to face whoever had blindsided him- but a blow crashed against his head, knocking him to the ground. He rolled, firing a _ki_ blast as he did, which passed through the air around him. _Where did that pest go?_

Nearby, Krillin stood next to Tien, whispering something into the Crane fighter's ear. Nodding gravely, Tien promptly lifted into the sky and flew towards the other end to the battlefield. _I'm not quite sure how you got all that power, Krillin,_ Tien thought, twisting his head to look one last time at Krillin staring down a rising Piccolo, _but use it well. For Chiaotzu's sake._

Tien landed where Krillin had directed him- next to the unconscious pile of Launch and Chi-Chi. Tambourine's wings flapped in the distance, steadily approaching them. With a snarl, the winged humanoid landed forcefully a few strides away. Tien settled into a defensive stance. _This, though? I can handle on my own._

0o0o0

Krillin paused as a particularly strong wind blew through the green clearing surrounding him. Blades of grass fluttered in the dusk, like spectral heralders of the approaching darkness of night. Piccolo looked neither disturbed nor pleased by the change in light- he stood unaffected. Whatever anger he might have shown towards Krillin's intervention was hidden by a neutral expression.

Gathering his courage, Krillin bent, twisting slightly towards the demon. He willed himself to remember everything- _everyone_ \- that had been hurt by the monster in front of him. _Yamcha. Tien. Rayne, Launch, Chi-Chi…_ _and all the innocent people in this city!_ In the distance, cars continued their unceasing alarm ringing- an eerie auditory reminder of the people who would never return to quiet their vehicles. _The dead people_. Krillin had never trusted rage in the past- but here, in this moment, nothing felt better suited. He would become an avenger.

With a simple exhale, Krillin dashed straight at the Demon King.

They met in the center of the clearing, air buffeting around their bodies, as blow after blow rang off their defenses. Krillin had jumped at the last moment, trying to slam a knee into Piccolo's midsection. In response, Piccolo grabbed Krillin's leading knee with his green, clawed hand. Krillin used this temporary momentum killer, however, to pivot on that knee to the right, slamming his right elbow into Piccolo's chest. Stunned, Piccolo released Krillin and opened himself up to a series of quick, cutting strikes lancing his body. With a snarl, Piccolo yelled, flaring his _ki_ and pushing back Krillin. Krillin tried to point-blank blast Piccolo, but he dismissed the attack with a swing of his hand. 'Even with two arms, you're stronger than the one with four… still- you can sense this is futile…'

They had barely started fighting- and Krillin found himself agreeing with the demon. _I'm closer… but still not close enough!..._ Reflexively, Krillin's thoughts snapped to Master Roshi. _Brain it is._

At that moment, Piccolo charged Krillin, trying to clothesline the former monk. Krillin used his short stature and flattened himself to the ground. The Demon King sped right past Krillin, completely missing his mark. As Piccolo rushed past him, Krillin rolled and sat up slightly, revealing an immense pool of energy crackling from his hands. 'DEMON FLAYER!' he yelled, as a thin, gold beam shot out of his palms. It's thin, deadly edge collided with Piccolo's back, toppling the demon and sending him sprawling to the ground.

The attack hadn't been very powerful- but Krillin had spent a lot of energy making sure the edge of it was sharp as nails.

True to his attack, Piccolo staggered up off the ground, his back a marred, bloody mess from the piercing damage Krillin had inflicted. He even thought he saw _bones_ jutting out from the demon's back. Piccolo turned to Krillin, his face a mix of pain and… something else. Glee?

All at once, Piccolo's skin shot out from its ragged, raw edges, covering and merging with his flesh to fully cover his back again. His body was by no means fully healed- but the worst of the damage had been completely rejuvenated like it had never happened. Krillin's jaw dropped as Piccolo resumed a cocky smirk he had held earlier in the day. 'Stronger for _sure_. But there's more to a fight than just strength, though…'

0o0o0

Sensation came to him in starts and fits- then bursts- then full stretches as Kakarot understood where he was. _This isn't the tournament._ His hand ran over the green grass beneath him. _Or is this the out-of-bounds?..._ _Did I lose?..._ He craned his head upwards- he was in the middle of a clearing, which was in the middle of the city. _This isn't the tournament._

 _Which means… I lost._

The words felt wrong- the idea felt foreign- but even though he had no memory of it, he was sure of it. He was… is… beatable.

Once was a fluke. Twice? That was a pattern.

As Kakarot was coming to grips with this shattering determination, a shockwave rang through the area. He turned; to his right, far away at the center of the clearing, were two figures. One tall, green, indomitable… the other- _him. The bald one… So if we're not at the tournament…_

They charged each other once more, ki blasts screeching away from them. Their fight ravaged the area around them, wholly ignorant of any stray buildings or trees that might get in their way. Rage began to burn within Kakarot. _I refuse to be ignored, defeated! I refuse to be a_ _ **weakling!**_

Without another rational thought, Kakarot ran off to face them.

0o0o0

A shockwave stumbled Tien midway through a downwards stomp onto Tambourine's exposed back. His brief loss of control allowed the spawn to roll and sweep Tien off one of his feet. He began to fall forwards before being hit backward by an errant punch. He quickly guided away a series of follow-up attacks and dual-palm struck his opponent to give him some space. Tambourine hopped backward, grimacing.

Tien had lost a lot of power. _Far too much against Piccolo, for the little good it did. I was dominating this guy before- now, though…_ He moved to avoid a swinging fist, ramming a fist of his own against a cross-block. _We're frustratingly even. At this rate, there's going to nothing left of either of us._

Tambourine spun, surprising Tien with a lightning-quick leg that lashed out at him. Tien was struck cleanly on his arm. He stumbled to the side, seeing stars from the deceptively powerful attack. Tambourine snarled, raising one hand above his head. Energy circled around the fingers- Tien immediately sensed that there was enough power in that hand to kill him unguarded. Panicking, he pulled out the last, best trick he had. 'SOLAR FLARE!' he yelled, as he brought up his unhit good arm, flattening his hand just a few inches from his face.

Despite the setting sun, Tambourine was instantaneously blinded by an impossibly bright wave of light that stained his retina, drowning his entire vision with buzzing white. The momentary image was so intense the memory of it burned within his mind; Tambourine screamed, psychological pain wracking his body. Tien quickly kicked the temporarily blinded fighter away- but before he could do anything else, a spasm of pain from his hit arm made him fall to one knee. _Damn it! I'm not going to be able to use this arm for the rest of this fight…_ Tien dimly noted the sun finally set behind the last skyscraper in West City- night was now steadily descending on the battlefield. _Guess it was lucky I used the solar flare before the sun set, huh…_

Nearby, Tambourine continued his anguished thrashing on the ground. Tien grimaced, bringing up his good arm to his side. Clenching it, Tien whipped his power into the air, kicking away small pebbles. _He'll be down for another minute, at least… more than enough time for me to finish this._

0o0o0

Krillin gasped as Piccolo's fist drove into his stomach, winding him. Before he could move away, Piccolo smashed a clawed fist into his head, rocking it upwards; Krillin's sight blurred together with every color imaginable. He rose slightly into the air and fell to the ground. In a matter of few seconds, he was splayed out, twitching. Piccolo drew back his leading leg and grinned. 'Yes… I think I've made the point clear enough,' he half-taunted, half-mused out loud. 'None of you humans can face me, sad as it is…' Drawing closer, Piccolo came to stand next to Krillin's prone body. The former monk had his eyes closed in discomfort, trying to steady his pain.

The would-be ruler of the world raised one palm towards the warrior, letting _ki_ flicker in and out of existence on his palm. _Yes… and when there's nothing left for them to give, when their hope is lowest… I snuff it out like a candle. In the exact opposite way you yourself would do, Kami. Even now, I can feel your eyes watching me, mangled as they are from seeing the atrocities amass on this planet over the centuries. You see, despite what you may think, my_ _ **better**_ _half, you are wrong about me. I do not represent your evil; I represent_ _ **this**_ _ **world's**_ _evil._ Piccolo's eyes focused on the human beneath him. _And that is why I must fulfill my role- I must destroy good wherever it may arise…_

A soft _crackk_ caught Piccolo's attention. Curious, he half turned his head. A few strides away- it was his fourth egg. It was hatching alongside the last gasps of day. Of light. A massive, hulking green figure shot out from the shell, rising to nearly the same height as Piccolo. A low, guttural bellow cascaded through the night, like a drum announcing the arrival of an army. _Drum. Yes._

With one hand, Piccolo waved towards his spawn, mentally impressing upon him his name and function. Drum nodded and strode over to Krillin, who was just picking himself off the ground. Satisfied, Piccolo withdrew to a safe watching distance. _This seems appropriate, doesn't it, Kami? The progeny of my evil against the good you foolishly inspire._

Silence. It was always silent between the two of them, even though Piccolo knew that every single thought he wished to impart to Kami was imparted, regardless if the old fool decided to respond. _Our… relationship._

Krillin staggered upright, bracing himself against a rapidly approaching enemy that was at least three times his size.

 _Even that, born of us._ A flicker of movement to his side caught Piccolo's attention. _Hmm?_

0o0o0

Tien felt every muscle in his body scream in protest, but he pushed through that fleeting sensation in the face of the new monstrous _ki_ he had felt appear _. Just like that. Is Piccolo so strong that he can simply create nightmares out of thin air?_

Now more than ever, Krillin would need his help. And Tien had no intention of failing another comrade this day.

Tambourine was back on his feet, his face alive with fury. 'You'll pay for that! You'll pay for that pain!' The winged humanoid beat his wings, rising into the air to hover thirty feet off the ground. 'I am the spawn of pure darkness! You are nothing! HAAAAA… TAKE THIS!' Tambourine gagged, then hinged his jaw out like a snake, shouting, 'EVIL CANNON!' A dark purple beam shot out of Tambourine's mouth, racing downwards with all the velocity of a rocket.

The Crane student had no intention of dodging. 'TRI-BEAM!' he screamed, as the same move he had used at the tournament erupted from one hand, speeding through the air as a golden, half-solid triangle.

The Tri-Beam wasn't even phased by the Evil Cannon, concentrated as much as it was. It simply passed through and dispersed it.

Tambourine was consumed by shock and light as he was struck head-on by the blast. His face, twisted in inhuman manifestations of dread and terror, was briefly illuminated before being totally consumed by the Kikoho's detonation. In a matter of seconds, the wind scattered whatever was left of the winged humanoid farther into the city.

Tien sighed, releasing all the tension in his body. _It was- it was close-_ a shockwave rang out nearby. He turned his head and saw Krillin plastered to the ground, Drum lording over him and readying an executing _ki_ blast.

'Krillin!' Tien blasted off at Drum, surprising the beast well enough to knock him off of Krillin. Free of the massive weight pinning him, Krillin extricated himself from the dirt.

Drum stopped his momentum and smirked, wiping at the corner of his mouth, and charged them both.

0o0o0

Rayne couldn't help herself. She could breathe again- so she crept back towards everyone else. Returning to a familiar, person-sized piece of rubble, she watched with equal parts hope and dread the battle unfold. Poorly. Tien was trading even with an enemy he was dominating before, and Krillin, even with his newfound strength, could do… nothing against Piccolo. Now it was taking everything the bald fighter had to stay alive against one of Piccolo's spawns.

And then- something incredible happened. Kakarot had appeared out of nowhere and rammed into Piccolo, challenging the demon to fight one-on-one. Tien had defeated his opponent with one attack and subsequently joined together with Krillin to put Piccolo's new spawn on the defensive.

Yet, they would still lose.

It was a realization that was immediate and intuitive, considering all the evidence in front of her. Kakarot, despite his rage and his anger, was just as helpless against Piccolo as Tien and Krillin. There was-

A chilling scream sawed across her thoughts.

0o0o0

A nearby lump of rubble seemed to jump as a cry of utter agony rose out from Kakarot. Piccolo had stomped on his chest, cracking ribs, just like- Kakarot realized right before passing out- he himself had done to his victims so many times before. The demon's attack had been so strong that he had actually created a tiny crater beneath Kakarot, half-submerging the Saiyan in the dirt.

Piccolo stepped back, losing interest in the simultaneous surprising and disappointing opponent that had attacked him. For the briefest moment, Piccolo thought he had sensed something… more- but a few minutes of sparring revealed the gross difference between them. Kakarot seemed to be continually gaining and losing consciousness, the pain preventing him from keeping himself cognizant any longer than a few moments. Piccolo decided he would let the fool wallow in his torment.

Wanting a better perspective of the battlefield, Piccolo flew several feet into the air and scanned his surroundings. Drum was battling across the grassy flat, pushing the two human fighters farther and farther back. Even together, their strength was no match against his fourth spawn. _Fitting._

Darkness had enveloped the city. Piccolo was alight with excitement for the ruin he would inflict here this night.

0o0o0

Out of utter fear and hopelessness, Rayne looked towards the sky, appealing to any divine entity that might help them. The sky was dark, not showing a single star, save-

Above West City, peeking through a thick stormcloud, was the moon- a full moon. It appeared for a moment, then was swallowed again by the dark, grey clouds overhead.

The most remote, seemingly irrelevant piece of information rocketed to the surface of Rayne's mind. _Gohan was killed by a giant ape, Kakarot transformed, on the night of the full moon. Tonight… there is a full moon._

A thousand things came into focus at once, helping to create a plan born out of intuitiveness and desperation. _Would I really be able to live with myself if Kakarot destroyed… everything here?..._ _But this may be the only way to survive. What else can I do?…_

With a huff, Rayne stood up fully, then backed away carefully from her hiding spot. She eyed the dark, heavy clouds above, which were on the verge of releasing a downpour onto the ruined landscape below. Rayne knew enough about _ki_ to know her plan was insane- but feasible. Raising her hands, she pointed both palms towards the clouds above, pooling the little _ki_ she had left into her hands. She focused on that energy, trying to shape it into a very specific form of _ki_. _Not force or light, but something else…_

 _Please, everyone, forgive me._

Twisting with her attack, she launched her _ki_ into the sky, maintaining the consistency of it for as long as possible. It rose higher, rising past the city skyscrapers, then started to stall. When she couldn't hold the _ki_ together any longer, the blast bloomed into a massive wave of heat. A very small section of the storm cloud overhead disappeared, as it disintegrated into vapor and falling rainfall for a few brief moments.

From his position rammed into the ground nearby- nearly unconscious- Kakarot had a prime view of the clear sky above him. He sighted the full moon, and felt something in his body split, like a great chain being broken within him.

A bestial roar echoed across the battlefield. Drum, Krillin, and Tien turned mid-swings, as Kakarot's form momentarily disappeared from sight beneath the rise of his crater. A few heartbeats passed before an incomprehensibly large black mass rose out from the ground, furred and dog-snouted, yet shaped like an ape. The beast grew to 2, 3, 4… times larger than even Piccolo, and kept growing. The Demon King began to shudder- he was unable to take his eyes off of the gargantuan beast emerging before him. 'What's this?…'

* * *

A/N: So I realized that the one-year of this fanfic passed by on the 4th. Eh. Catch me at the two-year anniversary and maybe I'll have something REALLY COOL.

 **Reviews:**

 **Lala:** Everyone is roughly around their same power levels here than they had in canon, with a few differences. Krillin drank the Ultra Divine Water but he wasn't as strong as Goku at the same point of the story in DBZ. Goku was able to nearly beat Tien at the Tournament while Krillin was fighting from behind for their entire match. Additionally, the fight with Piccolo began right after the tournament- there was no time for everyone to recover to full strength. I might post a list of power levels for the past two arcs once they're completed to clarify where I pegged everyone. We'll see.

And Kakarot is fighting. Yep.

 **Guest (chapter 1, who flattered me):** Now you have 25 chapters to binge.

 **DendeDaughter:** Aww jeez. I don't know what to say! Thanks for the super kind words. And it's nice to hear someone likes my sort-of-weird OC (though that's a discussion for another time).

 **WritersBlvd:** Thank you for the review! Nice to see some Krillin love- I freakin' love the guy. Same for all the humans- they should have been given more chances to spread their wings in the original series.

 **Wawa:** I think Chi-Chi and Rayne would definitely hang out. Ignoring how they interact with each other on a one-on-one basis (because describing their relationship and the nuances of their personalities with words is daunting!), shared experiences of all the stuff they've done and seen would bring them back to each other to reminiscence and remember.

Also, is your name by any chance referring to a combo convenience store/gas station? Because if so: nice.

 **LWexe:** Death is weird in DB/DBZ. Kinda meaningless but also super meaningful? I'm hoping to hone in on the latter. You'll see what I mean in a few chapters

 **One of Ten:** I automatically smile every time I look at this review (and your name).

 **Kal-Karrot:** So your comment prompted me to do a little research and investigation; turns out Puar's gender is very much up in the air. While Toriyama stated that Puar is a man/male/whatever, most of the English dubs have passing moments where they refer to him as a her. Maybe they did this because Puar was always voiced by a woman in these dubs? Regardless, knowing what I know now, if I started this fic over again I would make Puar male. Too late to change that now, though.

 **Silenthawk170:** Too kind! But I'm glad to hear you're diggin' what I'm putting down. As for Krillin, I deferred to canon and had him drink some **l** water. And then, just like canon, I had Kakarot turn into a giant monkey, and-

wait.

And I am right there with you- I cannot wait to dive into DBZ.


	26. Rage and Ruin

King

Chapter 26: Rage and Ruin

* * *

Rayne watched the clouds rapidly close around the gap in the sky she had made- but it had been enough. For a few brief moments, the moon shone through to the ground, unnaturally brilliant. Right before her eyes, a monster was rising. Dark, sibilant fur covered it from head to toe, ending only at a pointed, fanged mouth that could crush a car in its jaw.

She fell back to the ground, not realizing how little energy she had left. Dimly, she noticed a few raindrops were starting to fall from the sky.

Letting her eyelids droop, Rayne fell into a deep sleep.

0o0o0

Krillin had a moment to gape at the beast Kakarot had turned into bellowing towards the skies before Tien rammed into him, knocking him away- and from an energy blast Drum had shot. 'Stay focused!' the Crane fighter yelled, as he brought both of them to a stop.

He couldn't take his eyes off the gigantic monster, much less drown out his deafening roar. 'Tien, what's about to happen with Kakarot and Piccolo-'

'Is none of our concern right now! It doesn't matter what damage they do if we die here! Down!' Tien pushed both of them to the ground, just as the outline of one of Drum's legs swung above them.

In sync, both of them rolled and rose up, slamming their cocked punches into Drum's gut. The Namekian spawn staggered back one step, then was roundhouse kicked away by Tien. In a disturbingly short amount of time, Drum stopped his momentum, smiling.

'This is bad,' Tien muttered, 'he's not even fazed! How are we supposed to beat this guy _and_ Piccolo?'

'No, Tien,' Krillin directed Tien's attention to their left, 'look.'

Across the battlefield, Kakarot was rampaging across the ruined cityscape, chasing after a darting Piccolo. The demon would fly around and blast the beast at long range from different angles, but if these attacks did any damage, it didn't show. Seemingly irritated, Kakarot swiveled his snout and launched from his mouth a golden pillar of energy at Piccolo, blasting the demon to the ground out of a small explosive cloud. The giant beast roared and beat his chest in dominance. Undeterred, Piccolo flew out of his crater and continued launching _ki_ attacks at Kakarot.

'I feel very insignificant at the moment,' Tien admitted, his face pale.

Krillin's face hardened; he swung his attention back towards their immediate enemy, Drum. 'Kakarot turned into a massive monkey, and _somehow_ , he's buying us time. Time for us to put this guy down.'

Drum bent his knees, ready to spring forward at a moment's notice.

'This fight would be going a lot differently if we were at full power,' Tien said morosely.

Krillin continued to stare at their opponent. 'Tien, I know I can end this.' he said, not taking his eyes off Drum. 'I just need you to distract him for a minute…'

Tien looked from Krillin to Drum and back, then nodded. 'One minute. Alright.' Digging his feet into the ground, Tien summoned whatever _ki_ he had left to the surface. Two arms shot out from his back just as before when he was fighting Piccolo. 'Alright,' he yelled at Drum, 'come and get it!'

0o0o0

Piccolo dived in the air below a swatting hand, unintentionally flying into a rising knee that slammed into his body. Everything became horribly blurry as he careened through the air, his body smarting from the strike. Snarling, Piccolo forced his movement to a stop with an aggravated snarl. He brought his hand up to fire again at the massive beast- but Kakarot had turned away from him and was stomping towards the center of West City.

It took a second for Piccolo to realize what was happening. _He's… lost interest in me._ A vein throbbed on Piccolo's forehead. Being ignored was something he had never, ever, suffered in the centuries he had lived. _Fine. It'll be the last thing he does!_

Clenching one hand, Piccolo summoned the deepest recesses of his _ki_ , feeling darkened, twisted energy swarm around him. He leveled one hand towards the monster's back, aiming down the length of his arm like a gun. With one simple blast, a crackling surge of pink energy shot out like a pike, spearing into the center of Kakarot's back. The beast froze, feet slamming down to stop its movement. Then, with a single, violent movement, it twisted and threw back with one hand a snaring web of energy, snapping like a net towards Piccolo.

Puffing his chest, Piccolo let loose a mighty howl. It barrelled towards the wave; when the blasts met Piccolo's move sliced out a neat hole in Kakarot's attack that the demon nimbly flew through. Kakarot widely swung his fist at the demon, but Piccolo dodged in mid-air and flew underneath it, ramming a kick into the beast's abdomen. Kakarot roared and twisted his giant form away, swatting Piccolo back a few feet away into the air with his body in the process.

The Demon King steadied himself and examined the current state of affairs. _We are… stubbornly even. But he was obviously hurt by that last attack- though, myself-_ Piccolo examined his own body; in the space of a few minutes his clothes had been utterly ruined; streaks of blood poked through his garments and ran down his skin in thin streams. Growling, he waved one hand over himself and regenerated his clothing, in part hiding the damage underneath it. _Nothing I can't regenerate. But still…_

Kakarot had again lost interest in Piccolo, wandering further into the outskirts of the city where Piccolo had initially attacked. _This beast's lack of concentration is proving… useful._ Bracing himself, Piccolo flew off after the beast, thrusting a jab into the monster's lower back. Roaring, it swung, but Piccolo learned from the previous row of combat and dodged backward and swung around, slamming a knee into the monster's upper thigh. Kakarot clutched at his leg and let out a primal groan- it was the first time he had shown any real discomfort from Piccolo's attacks.

Piccolo swung away again to fly high above the monster. Raising one braced hand, he leveled it towards Kakarot. 'No one can oppose the Demon King Piccolo!' he yelled down, 'Submit or DIE!' A golden, spiraling blast of energy erupted from Piccolo's braced arm, curling down at Kakarot.

Recognition- or maybe instinct- flickered across Kakarot's animal face; the beast opened its mouth and shot out an answering pink blast.

The two attacks met head-on, detonating and flooding the area with light.

0o0o0

Tien sped at Drum with renewed vigor, surprising the spawn with his increased offensive output. His strikes did as little damage as they did before, but landing two or three hits as opposed to one in the space of a second had a way of helping him gain the advantage. Tien ducked to the side, avoiding a vertical upwards kick, and drove two of his palms into Drum's diaphragm. With the wind knocked out of him, Drum was helpless as Tien used his two extra limbs to uppercut him in the jaw, wrenching the spawn upwards a few feet.

Taking a step back, Tien bent his arms, revealing a dangerous glow consuming his four palms. 'HYAAAH!' The crane fighter rushed forward and slammed all four palms against the outstretched body of Drum simultaneously, centering on the right arm of Drum. The four hits landed- and the arm immediately snapped and drooped, distending to twice its length. Tien hopped back, satisfied as Drum's body vibrated from the synchronized attack. To Tien's surprise, however, Drum didn't react in the slightest once he touched back down the ground. The spawn closed his eyes and in moments his arm straightened, then pulled upwards, as if the flesh and bones were knitting back together.

Tien was too stunned to react. He stood uncomprehending while Drum finished his regenerative process. Noticing his opponent's expression, Drum chuckled and said, 'Are you beginning to understand how hopeless this is? You're going to die here.' Once that last word left his mouth, the spawn charged, leading with his fully healed arm. Tien bent his legs and blocked the arm with his two front limbs. Drum followed up by swinging forward his other limb. The Crane fighter twisted, hoping to catch the second attack with his two back limbs- but the attack was never caught and Drum plowed into Tien, crashing into the human fighter's shoulder and dislocating it. As the human fighter spun head-over-heels through the air and collided with the grassy ground, he realized his extra limbs were gone. _I should have known doing that twice in one day was pushing it… damn…_ Tien propped his head on his chest, unable to do anything else at the moment while fresh waves of pain pulsed from his damaged shoulder. Thankfully, Tien saw Drum was turned away from him- and was looking at Krillin, who was holding what looked like…

 _...what is that?..._

0o0o0

Krillin felt his _ki_ rage before him, spilling out in the tiniest increments along the edge of the flat disc he had created. This thing was going to drain his energy fast- he needed to act quickly. Feeling out the surface of the construct to make sure it would survive being moved, Krillin hesitantly took one step, then two, and started trotting towards Drum.

For his part, Drum held his ground, arms thrown out to his sides, obviously preparing something. _Please let it be a ki attack,_ Krillin mentally begged as he picked up his speed, _please…_

They closed on each other, the gleaming disc held to Krillin's palm like a massive gear parallel to his body. The edges of it became visibly sharper, licking and spinning like a slow-moving saw. Krillin shifted as he got closer, edging the disc out in front of him like he aimed to push right through Drum. Ten feet, then five-

Drum blurred as his form seemed to disappear from where he was standing, just as Krillin had released the disc from his hand horizontal to the ground. The hulking, massive form of Drum reappeared behind Krillin, menacing, as the spawn raised one massive arm, ready to smash the former monk into the Earth's core-

'GET DOWN!' a cry rang out across the battlefield. Instinctually, Krillin flattened to the ground, letting his slow-moving disc continue to edge forward, rapidly disintegrating-

A pair of legs slammed into Drum's back, knocking the massive body of the spawn a few feet forward, unprepared for an attack from behind-

And Drum passed through the disc. For a moment, Drum continued his forward motion, obscuring whether the disc had actually _done_ anything to him; but then the spawn's body incrementally separated horizontally at the abdomen. Drum's two freshly made halves separated a few inches before his momentum took him over a small ridge, vanishing from sight.

Krillin rose hesitantly, then inched over to where the spawn had tumbled over. One glance confirmed what he suspected- the former monk quickly twisted away in queasiness.

'He's dead, then?' a voice called from behind Krillin. Tien walked over, one hand protectively holding his shoulder. Intermittent winces made it clear how much pain he was feeling.

Krillin nodded. 'It worked better than I expected.'

Tien raised an eyebrow. 'Did you expect that attack to _almost_ catastrophically fail?'

'To be honest? I did.'

'Couldn't you have just thrown it?'

'Thrown? Huh. Now, that would have be-'

A blinding flash of light covered the area, followed by the tell-tale sound of an explosion.

0o0o0

The beam clash momentarily obscured everything, unimaginably bright as it was. The excess energy from the attacks lingered in the air, causing a brief patter of rain to fall. The added moisture dropping from the sky made the night even darker than it was before. 'HAAAH!' Piccolo sped through the air, crashing into the beast's body and resuming his darting, diving attack. Kakarot roared and crushed countless pieces of rubble under-foot as he attempted to knock Piccolo out of the sky.

0o0o0

Krillin and Tien's gaze was invariably drawn to the titanic clash nearby. Even from their distance, they could make out the dim glow of _ki_ surrounding King Piccolo as he zig-zagged through the sky, drawing close enough to the massive form of Kakarot to deliver a heavy blow before retreating from a swinging limb. From what they saw, they both looked pretty even.

'Alright,' Tien said through pain and clenched teeth as he popped his shoulder back into place, 'this is our first chance to breathe since we started fighting. What are we going to do,' he gestured to the deathmatch in front of them with his good arm, 'about this?'

Krillin swung his head to scan their surroundings. Not a soul was in sight- it seemed that all of the combat of the past couple hours had driven every sane and living person away. 'We're lucky that everyone is out of the way.'

'Which means?'

'We can bring out our strongest moves. You… you uh, have some stronger moves, right?'

Tien stared at Krillin, his lack of any expression answering for him.

'Okay…' Krillin mumbled, 'so what can we do?'

In the distance Piccolo howled as a foot stomped down on him. As soon as the ape-like leg collided with the ground, however, Kakarot bestially cried and lifted his foot in pain. Piccolo had driven one _ki-_ edged hand into Kakarot's foot like a push pin, stubbing Kakarot's feet.

'I know what we can't do- we're not running,' Tien said gravely, 'we have to end this now, for everyone who gave their lives to get us here. Somehow, we need to take out _both_ of them.'

'They seem to be evenly matched,' Krillin commented, matching Tien's tone, 'but one of them will win out eventually. At that point, we should strike.'

'So then we hold back, figure out-' Tien verbally stuttered, as he saw a harsher glow start to emerge from Kakarot's furred body. 'Krillin, he's pointed-'

'At the city, I know!' Krillin shouted. They both broke into a run towards the battle.

0o0o0

Piccolo swerved to avoid another arm swing and sped upwards, using his entire body to smack into the arm's elbow. He felt a give and slight crunch as the bones scraped against each other. _Not enough force to break, but I'm getting there._ The tide was turning in Piccolo's favor. Even though outwardly their battle looked much the same, Piccolo felt the monster's attacks slow, accompanied by a gradual drop in defensive resilience. His strikes were, slowly but surely, wearing the beast down. And he felt nearly as strong as he was at the start of the fight. _Well, close enough. This ape pushed me farther than I thought possible- but this fight was decided once it became obvious it acted on feral animal instinct._ Piccolo hopped off a piece of debris to avoid a stomp and shot a quick blast into the wound he had opened on the beast's back, eliciting a roar of pain. _When it's not attacking it's liable to turn around and leave itself exposed._

Jumping upwards, Piccolo flew up the backside of the monster, then with a mighty thrust, smashed his double-fist into the top of Kakarot's skull, dazing him and toppling him to the ground. Piccolo hopped again and landed several paces away from the stunned monster.

The ground rumbled as the monster fell into a sitting position. It briefly shuddered, then climbed to its feet with a different glint in its eyes than before.

Unconcerned, Piccolo charged the monster once again, intending to dart to the left and ram a knee into the side of Kakarot's arm. As he dodged, however, Kakarot followed, gripping the demon with two massive hands and completely entrapping Piccolo from his neck to his toes. The King raged against his bonds before an overwhelming pressure began to consume his body. His face became a desperate depiction of inexpressible pain, as he felt every single part of his body shrink and collapse to fit in half its normal space.

Just when the pressure became unbearable, Piccolo shot two parallel beams from his eyes into the eyes of Kakarot. The monster howled and immediately released Piccolo.

Stunned, Piccolo crashed into the ground, panting from the unimaginable pain of all his internal organs instantaneously moving back to their usual positions. Through blurred vision, he looked up- and saw a glow start to emerge from the monster. _What's this!?_

The wind kicked up as the great ape was enveloped by a rippling pink outline. Piccolo only had a moment to get to his feet before a massive blast of energy erupted from the beast. A pink wave shot out from Kakarot in every direction, forming an expanding cone of energy around him.

Krillin and Tien stopped at the edge of the blast radius, blown back by jagged blasts of wind.

When the chaos cleared, Piccolo was cratered into a nearby collapsed building, unmoving.

'KRILLIN!' The monk turned in response to Tien's shout- a massive leg was rushing down to crush him. Barrelling out of the way, Krillin tumbled to the side.

'He's weakened but he'll still flatten us like pancakes!' Krillin yelled as he hopped out of the way of a series of angry stomps. 'How are we going to stop him?'

'Do you know anything about his transformation?' Tien belted across the battlefield as he flew to the left to avoid a grasping ape-hand. 'How to turn him back to normal _,_ maybe?'

'No idea!' Krillin ran between Kakarot's legs, sprinting out of a pair of chasing hands. 'Plan B then- wail on him!'

Tien gave a fast nod and brought his arms to his side. 'I've got one more trick! MULTI-FORM!' A poof of smoke surrounded Tien; when it cleared there were _two_ of him. 'I'll distract the ape- charge your attack from before!' They said in unison before blasting off the ground to fly around Kakarot.

The monster whirled and swiped through the air unsuccessfully, unaware that Tien was purposely keeping his distance. On the ground, Krillin started to recall the familiar sense of power from before. _Charge it into a point- push it out in front of me- then-_

'Krillin! Behind you!'

The Turtle student didn't even have enough time to look over his shoulder before he was backhanded away by an angry looking Piccolo. Injuries shone in Piccolo's every movement- there was no denying now that the King had been seriously injured. One of Tien's copies sped towards Piccolo to help Krillin. but he was intercepted and smacked away by Kakarot. When that copy landed, it disappeared from existence.

Livid, Piccolo lifted into the air, eyeing Kakarot. The beast had its back turned to Piccolo, consumed with chasing the one remaining Tien that desperately zoomed away from a frenzied series of attacks. 'THIS IS OVER!' Piccolo announced, momentarily drawing Tien's attention before the Crane Student braced his arms for a full-on punch from Kakarot. Tien's body slingshotted to the ground, throwing up dirt as it did. 'YOUR ENEMY IS RIGHT HERE, APE!' Satisfied with knocking the human to the ground, the beast turned towards Piccolo, unleashing a savage roar of bloodlust. Energy flummoxed within Piccolo- two golden balls formed in his hands. 'I AM RULER OF THIS PLANET-' he shifted, then flew high into the air- 'AND I WILL NOT BE DENIED!'

Kakarot beat his chest and jumped into the air when Piccolo launched one of his blasts at the monster's feet. The Demon King had intended this, however; with Kakarot off the ground, Piccolo was able to put on a burst of speed and fly underneath and behind Kakarot. Once there, he throttled both hands towards the backside of the beast. 'HAAAAAH!' A golden lance of energy shot out, shaped like a spear. When the blast hit Kakarot's back, however, the blast splintered in a number of small, sharpened blasts, radiating out in a circle from the impact. These blasts raked and dug into Kakarot's flesh- a bestial cry of pain filled the city- before one of the blasts, on chance, skimmed across where Kakarot's massive tail was connected to his body. It cut through the tail like butter and dispersed, launching the appendage tail spinning away from the monster.

Immediately something began to happen. Kakarot's bestial cry cut off abruptly; then his body started to shrink before Piccolo's eyes. The severed tail shrank to its normal size in an instant, losing all its weight and floating peacefully back to the ground. Fur, fangs, and snouts receded; in a startlingly short amount of time, the terrible ravager of West City had been reduced to a naked child. That child crashed into the ground, unconscious.

Panting, Piccolo rose even higher in the sky, triumph momentarily distracting him from his utter exhaustion. _As it…_ he breathed harshly… _should be. None can withstand me._ He glanced around him- no one rose to meet him. _Then… I should have enough power to_ _ **erase**_ _this entire blasted day…_ Raising one hand, he aimed his palm towards the center of the battlefield, charging a destructive blast in his hand. In the darkness of night, his form was illuminating, like a beacon of hatred for all to see. The brief, earlier rainfall had ceased- all was quiet save for the steady wind threading through the rubble.

The longer he looked over the battlefield, the more Piccolo noted the many interlopers lying unconscious on the ground. _That tailed-boy. The tall bald one. Those two girls in a useless pile._ Exhaustion consumed every part of him. _Yes… everyone will die here-_ he set his hand in a claw, his taloned fingers gripping the blast- _now_ -

A whoosh of energy abruptly filtered through to his brain. Spinning, he turned in mid-air, sighting the shorter bald one- _him! I forgot him!_ \- being held in the air by the taller bald one- _but I saw him- no-_

Blue light filled his vision- before he knew it, a massive wave of energy rammed into his body, stinging like hellfire itself.

0o0o0

Tien and Krillin both watched Piccolo's body be carried away by Krillin's Kamehameha, crashing into a ruined skyscraper on the periphery of the battlefield. Already weakened by the series of earlier attacks and shockwaves, the building lost all structural stability and collapsed, throwing up a storm of dust and debris into the city air. Krillin and Tien landed soon after. As soon as they were back on the ground, another Tien emerged from the dust storm and merged with the first. Not wasting a moment, the two fighters exchanged hard looks and crept into the storm.

It took a few minutes of blind wandering before they were able to find him.

The self-proclaimed King of the World was laid upon a flat section of concrete, his limbs splayed out to his sides. In addition to his numerous injuries, the center of his body was dominated by a giant black mark, scorched, charred skin that seemed to reach feet into him. A few rattling breaths wheezed from the demon; Piccolo was dying.

Krillin and Tien looked to each other, each unsure what to do. 'You've won,' the demon weakly interrupted their silent conversation, 'is that, _huaahk_ , what you want to hear? Do you want-' the demon broke into a series of bloody, ragged coughs, looking like for a moment he would die right there and then. He eventually stopped, however, and resumed. 'Do want to kill me? For all that I've done? For everyone I've _killed_?'

Grimacing, Tien stepped forward, leveling a finger at Piccolo's chest. 'You- you killed Chiaotzu!'

Piccolo stared blankly at Tien. 'Yes... I did.' Blood loss was making thinking hard; Piccolo could barely remember the beginning of today. 'I started… but… someone else will finish…'

Tears ran down Tien's face- 'HAAH!' A golden beam shot out of his finger, skewering Piccolo in the chest. The Demon King inhaled, and breathed his last.

Krillin clambered over and placed his hand on Piccolo's body. He felt no pulse, no energy. A sigh escaped from him, laden with heavy relief.

'It's done.'

0o0o0

Dr. Gero whistled, leaning back in his chair as his instruments before him slowly whirred back down to their zero states. He had been worried for a few moments there that they would explode from the massive amount of energy being emitted half-way across the planet. _Ki_ , as he had come to know it, was much less mystical than he first surmised. It was like any other phenomenon in the natural world; it could be discovered, studied, and measured, much like the amount of pollution in the air or the dinosaur populations in the southern islands. Lastly, like with any domain of science, once enough information was collected on _ki_ , that data could be used to build complex projections and algorithms, depending on the intent of the designer. It was, after all, no coincidence that he had decided to upgrade the maximum capacity of his _ki_ measuring instruments just a few months ago.

The last 24 hours had left Dr. Gero months, maybe even years, of compelling data to analyze, intrigued as he was by both the expected readings from the World Tournament and the unexpected readings from West City. Even now he awaited his prototype drone to return to the lab, disguised as a small, common bug, to provide him the much needed visual context for his collected data. Yes, he had much to parse through… although…

While he was still fully committed to eliminating the original four infiltrators that had set into motion the collapse of the Red Ribbon Army, he was becoming more and more intrigued by the fifth one who had destroyed Muscle Tower by himself. Though his creations were left in pieces at that ruined base, he had snippets of what they had recorded before their untimely expiration. Further analysis of their last moments had proved… intriguing.

Through painstaking work he had distinguished the fifth's _ki_ as… qualitatively different, in some way, from the four other interlopers. This difference manifested in an easily observable way; This fifth could use _ki_ attacks possessing a distinctly pink hue, something the other four had never done. This fact coupled with the fifth's tail- something indisputably abnormal- had led to many hours of speculation on the origin of such a difference. Dr. Gero suspected that the video logs he would soon receive would help to unravel this mystery.

Alone in his lab, the good doctor chuckled, souring the tranquil air. _Wondrous. My work is never done..._

0o0o0

Initially, Krillin and Tien were unsure of what to do with Piccolo's body, but they eventually decided that even a deprived would-be ruler of Earth didn't deserve to rot away exposed to the elements. They dug a quick hole and dumped the demon in it.

A short time later- dawn was finally rising on a new day- they had wakened their still living friends and explained to them what had happened. They all sat in a circle from exhaustion, the darkened, deserted rubble around them their only accompaniment.

'So Kakarot ended up saving the day, huh?' Launch was rubbing her legs, trying to return some feeling to them after they were trapped under her own unconscious body for a few hours. 'Wow.'

'You're serious about what you said earlier?' Chi-Chi asked, 'about him turning into a _giant ape_? That seems a- well a bit-'

'Unbelievable?' Krillin finished.

'Yea.'

'I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't seen it,' Krillin said, stretching forward briefly before leaning back on his hands, 'but, well, I saw it. Once transformed, he was able to face Piccolo all on his own. Though... he seemed pretty mindless throughout the whole thing. Kakarot only retaliated against Piccolo when he was attacked- otherwise, he was rampaging through the ruins of West City, destroying everything in sight.' _Though, at the end… he did seem more focused… hmm…_

'How come we've never seen this before now,' Chi-Chi questioned, 'considering how often we've run into Kakarot in the past?'

Krillin shrugged. 'Beats me.'

'It's the full moon,' Rayne cut in uncharacteristically monotone, as if her mind was focused on something else, 'he transforms when he sees the full moon. That was one of the things Yamcha and I learned about Kakarot in the time leading up to the tournament.'

'That would make sense,' Chi-Chi thought out loud, alternating between scratching her jaw and darting her eyes up towards the sky, 'we never kept detailed tabs on him- and we never encountered him at night, let alone during a full moon. Super easy for us to miss something like that.' Internally, Chi-Chi debated whether to share what she knew of the tailed boy with everyone; but something held her back. She felt sick from being so secretive with her closest friends, but still, her instincts cried out for her to wait. She resolved to listen to them, if only for a little bit longer.

'Mm.'

A moment passed. 'We're lucky to be alive,' Tien broke in, his eyes downcast. 'If it weren't for Kakarot weakening Piccolo, then we would have lost.'

'That seems a bit dramatic,' Launch joked, 'I'm sure that we would have-'

'No,' Tien interrupted, staring straight into Launch's eyes, 'you weren't fighting with us at the end. You don't comprehend just how far _above_ us Kakarot and Piccolo were. Krillin and I were barely able to defeat one of Piccolo's minions, even when we were fighting together. If it weren't for that transformation…' Tien shook his head, then said, 'I'll be honest- we owe Kakarot our _lives._ '

Krillin didn't rebut what Tien said, implicitly agreeing. Everyone was quiet for a few moments, letting Tien's blunt assessment sink in. The idea of owing anything _good_ to Kakarot was disquieting.

Throughout this pause and the preceding conversation, Rayne was, for the most part, silent. Abruptly, she rose, ignoring her own unsteady footing, and began to walk away from the group.

'Uhh, Rayne?' Chi-Chi asked, 'Where are you going?'

She stumbled forward a step.'Going to kill Kakarot.'

The sitting circle frantically broke apart, as everyone rose from the ground at different speeds depending on their injuries. As it was, Tien ended up reaching Rayne first, restraining her. 'Slow down! We need to talk about this!'

Rayne thrashed in his grip. 'What's there to talk about!? With Piccolo dead he's the biggest threat to this planet! You remember what he was like at the tournament! He sent Retu into a coma! And if it wasn't for him crippling Yamcha, he never would have died!'

'Rayne,' Krillin said, choosing his words carefully, 'we don't know how things might have played out. As it is, we should happy _any_ of us are alive…'

'You really think that Yamcha wouldn't have run away or defended himself long enough for us to help if he hadn't been injured? _You really think that_?' Rayne succeeded in slipping out of Tien's grip- but she didn't advance any further towards Kakarot's unconscious body just a few yards away.

Krillin frowned. 'What you say might be true, but we can fix-' he gestured to the ruined landscape around him, '-we can fix _all_ of this. We just need to use the dragonballs Bulma gathered together-'

'No!' she snapped, tears spilling from the corners of her eyes, 'we can't! The dragonballs were destroyed by Piccolo! Everyone who died is dead- _for good!_ '

Rayne's words obliterated whatever relief everyone was feeling- instead, a creeping dread descended on them, confirming the deepest, most damaging fears they had shunned.

Tien realized he would never see Chiaotzu again, his one and only tether to his past, denying him a chance to express to him how much their friendship had meant to him.

Krillin remembered the sad, broken moments he had shared with an injured Yamcha, and realized that would be the last memory of his dear friend.

Chi-Chi felt a whole section of her life fall away- the training, questing and scrambling she had done with Yamcha, Master Roshi, and all the others just a few years ago would now be stained with unresolvable grief.

Launch understood that she would never get to mess with Master Roshi again. This… hit her much harder than she thought it would.

'We can't fix everything,' Rayne's voice cut through their silence, her words heavy, bordering on despondent, 'which is why we need to take steps to protect what we have _left._ If we let Kakarot live now…' she trailed off, genuinely unsure if she should say any more. _I take no joy in this. But someone needs to speak truthfully._ Rayne resumed her walk towards Kakarot, shambling without any energy. No one moved to stop her. _Thank you,_ she thought, feeling a strange sense of relief, _thank-_

'Wait!' Chi-Chi cried out, startling everyone with her outburst. Rayne turned, confusion apparent on her face. Chi-Chi looked embarrassed, then frightened, but then took a deep breath to calm herself. 'You- everyone- needs to know what I know. About Kakarot.' Chi-Chi glanced around, gauging their reactions. _Okay. No anger so far…_

'A few months before the World Martial Arts Tournament, I… basically tracked down Kakarot. I followed him to the north- from what I gathered, he was hunting down a high-ranking Red Ribbon officer.'

'So that was why you never met up with us at West City before we attacked Red Ribbon HQ, then.' Rayne stated, inflectionless. 'And why Muscle Tower was mysteriously destroyed. It was _Kakarot_.'

To the side, Tien and Launch hung back, feeling a tension rise into the air.

Chi-Chi nodded. 'He decimated the base. In an hour it was a pile of rubble.'

'Did you intervene?' Rayne spoke a bit sharper this time, 'is that why your arm is in a sling? Did you try to fight Kakarot by yourself?'

'No- No, I…' Chi-Chi verbally danced around something, then said, 'I saved his life.'

Just like before, silence enveloped them. A dark look was in Rayne's eyes. Even Krillin looked disturbed by this news.

'It wasn't an easy thing to do,' Chi-Chi went on, 'but Kakarot was going to be killed by…' Chi-Chi shuddered. 'Killed by an incredibly evil man. Kakarot was essentially being tortured as he fought to survive. The way his opponent fought screamed cold-hearted assassin.'

'Wait…' Tien muttered. 'Pink surcoat, ponytail?'

'That's what he looked like, yea.'

'You're talking about Tao, then. He's- he was- the brother of my former master, Shen. Together they comprised the leadership of the Crane school. If you hadn't stopped Tao, and he had fulfilled his contract…' Tien's eyes widened, 'then Chiaotzu and I would have never gone to the World Tournament to hunt down Kakarot- or at least, it wouldn't have been as likely. You saving Kakarot put all this into motion…' he trailed off, shocked by how consequential Chi-Chi had been to all the events of the past day. _I can't believe it…_

Rayne was decidedly uninterested in Tien's revelation. 'Why!... Why would you let Kakarot live? Why wouldn't you tell us that you tracked him down!'' Rayne felt her face redden from anger. 'You were saving Kakarot's life while we were fighting for our lives against the Red Ribbon Army?!'

The accusation of betrayal was clear enough- Chi-Chi felt her cheeks burn from shame. 'Please try to understand! I didn't know any of this would happen beforehand! Things just… happened! Before I knew it, I was able to capture him. I had to know why he was doing what he was doing- why he was randomly killing and destroying!'

Krillin blinked, a mixture of surprise and profound hurt on his face 'I can't believe you would do this,' he murmured, his eyes never leaving Chi-Chi. 'You don't trust us.'

'No! It's not that! I- I just needed privacy for this. To question him on my terms. I can't describe it… but I felt the need to talk with him one-on-one, to get my own understanding of why he did such inhumane things. I… learned that-'

'I don't care what you learned!' Rayne yelled, throwing out her arm to the side, 'doing any of what you just said without asking us first isn't okay, Chi-Chi! You can't make these unilateral decisions on your own!' Rayne missed the harsh glance from Krillin in response to her last sentence.

Something in Rayne's tone and Krillin's look began to bug Chi-Chi- for the first time in this conversation, she felt the need to defend herself. 'Who says I can't? You?' Rayne glared at Chi-Chi, but she continued regardless. 'At the end of the day, I have to make decisions that I can live with. I think I'm starting to understand that now.' Chi-Chi raised a finger accusingly at Krillin and Rayne- 'You two don't care about the why- to you two, I bet Kakarot looks like a black-and-white monster, totally and indisputably evil! But he's not! If you even _once_ stopped trying to kill him you would see that he's a horribly conflicted person. He fights and thinks in ways he himself doesn't even understand…'

'What exactly do you mean?' Launch probed.

But Chi-Chi seemed spent by her last outburst. 'None of you understand… You can't kill him…'

Krillin looked at Chi-Chi for a long time before turning around to face their topic of conversation. Kakarot was in the same position as before; naked, unconscious, face-down in the dirt. _The thought of killing someone like that…_

'Tien,' Krillin asked, 'how strong do you think Kakarot was when he transformed? Around the same level as Piccolo?'

The Crane fighter narrowed his eyes in thought. 'More or less.'

'And how strong do you think he was before he transformed?'

'A bit stronger than he was against Master Roshi in the tournament- but easily beaten if we both took him on.'

Krillin seemed to mull over that last statement from Tien. 'I think,' Krillin said, 'we do as Chi-Chi says. Not that I agree with anything she's saying-' he glared once more at her- 'but because, as it is, Kakarot isn't a threat.'

'How is he not a threat?' Rayne rebutted. 'He can transform into a giant, hulking ape that's as strong as Piccolo, if you and Tien are to be believed!'

Krillin stared at Rayne. 'I don't think Kakarot can transform as long as he doesn't have a tail. Both Tien and I saw him revert to his current state when Piccolo unintentionally severed his tail from his body. Look,' Krillin directed everyone's attention briefly to Kakarot, 'he's tailless and normal. I think it was the key to his transformation. It might explain why it was such a weakness a few years back- it's the source of his power, but because of that, it's vulnerable.'

Rayne rolled her eyes. 'Even if I _did_ believe you, he's still _Kakarot_.'

'Meaning?'

'What if he rampages through another town, killing everyone?'

'Then we kill him.' Krillin said the words with such finality that he startled even himself. Chi-Chi scowled at him.

Rayne chose to squint at him. 'Seriously? You're going to gamble with human lives that easily?'

Krillin held her gaze. 'I'm not going to kill someone who can't defend themselves. I spent a long time doubting myself over choosing this stance towards Kakarot after that first battle, way back when. At a certain point, I have to accept who I am. I don't think Kakarot will change- but I won't kill him like this.'

'Master Roshi was decisive,' Rayne spat, 'he would have done what needed to be done.'

'Master Roshi was considerate,' Krillin replied, 'and he would have chosen both the smart and moral option.'

'You're both wrong.' Rayne and Krillin swung their heads to Chi-Chi, who exuded disappointment. 'Above all else, Master Roshi was kind. He would have helped someone who had lost their way.'

The three of them exchanged looks with each other for a few more moments; all the while, Tien and Launch stood to the side, white as sheets.

'So it looks like we disagree, then,' Rayne commented.

'Seems like it,' Krillin said mirthlessly.

After a few moments of posturing, Chi-Chi stepped over to Kakarot's body and hauled him onto one shoulder. The pain coursing through her body made her wince- her battle injuries were still way too fresh- but she had committed to her statement. She broadly looked once more at the group, and then began a slow walk away from them. Half a minute later she swung around a corner of a partially collapsed building and disappeared from sight. At no point during this did anyone move to stop her.

Rayne had her fists balled- but her eyes betrayed her. They showcased her internal anguish for the world to see. Regardless, she shook her head, and after throwing one more nasty look at Krillin, walked away as well, fading into the urban wasteland.

Tien and Launch were turned in opposite directions, each one facing a different path one of their friends had left by. Krillin stood alone, his eyes running over the nascent shadows forming underneath the early morning sun. He seemed to examine every crack, crater, and pile that had come about due to their fight with Piccolo.

'This can't be how it ends,' Krillin said suddenly, resolve surging into his voice.

'How what ends? The fight?' Launch asked, trying to clarify. 'Because as things go, that went pretty well…'

'No, I- I know what I need to do.' Krillin took in a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, 'NIMBUUUS!' In a matter of seconds, the yellow cloud of that namesake appeared, coming to a stop before Krillin. He hastily climbed on.

'I don't understand,' Tien said bewildered, 'what are you doing? And what is that thing?'

'We'll talk very soon! I promise!' With that, Krillin twisted forward on the cloud- it responded immediately, zooming up and away from the blasted ground beneath it.

 _I won't accept this! I won't!_

* * *

A/N: We're closing in on the end of this shorter-than-normal arc. Next week wraps up _King._ See you then.

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** Ah, but things turned out well in the end, right? Right?...

 **Guest:** I'm not sure what you were trying to accomplish by leaving that review, but if it makes you feel any better your comment inspired me to write.

 **Malak18:** Thank you! I plan on it :')

 **Luke:** You were right on the money. Piccolo, quite literally, got squashed. And if your comment was hinting that you were suspecting some conflict- well done.


	27. We'll Meet Again

King

Chapter 27: We'll Meet Again

A/N: I came down with some funky sickness towards the end of this week, so if this chapter didn't go out on time, now you know.

edit: It came out on time. As always, I respond to reviews at the bottom. And there were a lot of reviews this week.

* * *

'So… what was that about?'

Tien snorted. 'What part? The fight, the fight _after_ that fight, or Krillin riding off into the sunrise on a solid yellow cloud.'

'To be fair, Krillin rode away from the sunrise, not into it,' Launch corrected him.

Tien glanced over at her, then shook his head in disbelief.

'What's wrong?'

'Nothing, just… thinking.'

'About Chiaotzu?'

Tien frowned. 'Yeah. About Chiaotzu.'

0o0o0

Night had fallen like a receding curtain, slowly blanketing the light of day. After placing Yamcha's body in a capsule, Bulma had remained at the World Tournament long after the other officials and spectators had left. She stood on the edge of the ring- officially, the grounds would be shuttered tomorrow until the next tournament- watching her surroundings for any and all motion. The area was familiarly dead. She knew she should have been concerned for her friends who had all run off to fight and defeat whoever had killed Yamcha, but she couldn't pull herself away from… whatever she was doing. _What am I doing? This isn't me- I should be fixing my problems, not submerging myself in them…_

Then again, there was nothing to fix here. She held the capsule in her hand, threading it back-and-forth between her fingers. _This is beyond my power to fix._

She heard someone approach her from behind. _Must be Puar again. Thought she went off to skulk-_

When Bulma turned, she was greeted by a tall, dark-skinned man. He looked- _familiar-_ 'Nam? Are you Nam?'

The man relaxed at being recognized. 'I was worried that you would not know who I am.'

'I remember you from the last tournament- and Krillin always spoke very highly of you.'

Nam seemed to simultaneously smile and sadden, but quickly pushed whatever he felt behind his inexpressive face. 'And I will always speak highly of him, even though…' he shook his head, fully dispelling whatever was lingering in his thoughts. 'Forgive me, this has been a trying day.'

'You're- you're Retu's uncle, right?'

He regarded her with deep-set eyes, looking old beyond his years. 'I am. It is because of him I am still here, waiting to take him home- and, fortunately, it is because of him I am able to speak to you now. The monster who killed your friend, Yamcha, is dead, as well as his evil allies and the demon that created them. Yamcha has been avenged.'

Bulma stared at Nam. She consciously stopped fidgeting with the capsule. 'So you mean?...'

'It's done. Throughout the night I attuned my senses to an undergoing fight halfway to the north. It finished not too long ago. It was a close thing- but your friends are made out of stronger stuff that I could have ever imagined.' Nam paused, thinking. 'That is all I wanted to say. I hope by the dawn you have found some solace in my words.'

'I- thank you.'

Nam nodded, bowed, and walked away.

Bulma watched him leave, then turned again to face the ring. A stillness had descended on the area- _or am I noticing for it for the first time?_ \- giving the area an aspect of surreal beauty.

She pocketed the capsule. _Time to go._

0o0o0

Krillin actually fell asleep on the way to Korin's tower- he awoke to the sun holding itself high in the sky. He nearly scared himself off Nimbus when he realized he was miles above the ground. One wrong move in his sleep- _nope, nope,_ _ **nope**_ _, not thinking about this until I'm back on solid ground. Man, I really need to learn how to fly…_

Korin's tower appeared before him, dividing a low-lying cloud like a knife. Nimbus deftly flew to the edge, allowing Krillin to climb over the railing. Korin awaited him, his signature staff in one hand. 'You're alive. Not that I didn't know this… but it's good to see you in the flesh,' The cat smiled, puffing out his white fur cheeks as he did.

Krillin had practiced what he was about to do in his mind ad nauseam- as such, his execution was perfect. 'Korin,' he said, falling to one knee and hanging his head in respect. 'Kami, I beg you- please revive everyone killed by King Piccolo.'

'Kami? God? Me?' Korin's whiskers bristled.

'Yes!' Krillin gazed up at Korin in awe. 'I didn't realize it at first, but then I started thinking; you're immortal, you can speak to people telepathically, you possess an incredible awareness of what's going on in the world-'

'Krillin-'

'-your tower, like yourself, looks over everything around us for hundreds of miles, metaphorically _and_ literally-'

'Krillin…'

'I mean, it makes sense why you would pose as a short, pudgy cat, no one would suspect-'

'Krillin!' Korin smacked his staff into the tiles, producing a shockingly loud _pommp. '_ I'm not god!' he yelled, 'I'm just a short, pudgy cat, apparently!'

Startled, Krillin quickly rose. 'I'm sorry!' he apologized profusely, 'I- you had all the answers- I just thought-'

Korin sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose, cutting Krillin off. 'Just… take this.' Korin produced a simple pole from behind him, its wood a deep red. 'You'll need it to get to the Lookout.'

'The Lookout?' Krillin accepted the object, inspecting the roughly one-meter pole. What's that?'

Korin flashed a grin. 'Where Kami lives, of course.'

0o0o0

Bulma found Puar easily enough- she had already been told the news by Nam- and together, they flew to West City in silence via a spare helicopter Bulma found in a spare capsule at the bottom of her bag. The sun was rising as they entered the city limits.

They didn't expect to find Bulma's hometown to look like a war zone. 'What happened?' Bulma mumbled, as her eyes scanned the devastated landscape before.

'Bulma,' Puar said, pointing with one tiny paw, 'look ahead.'

They had been flying towards Bulma's dedicated helipad on Capsule Corp. property- but they found not only that gone, but an entire third of the building missing. Bulma hastily landed the helicopter in the first flat piece of land she saw, fearing the worst.

As soon as they landed, a middle-aged man and woman sprung out of nowhere and tackled Bulma. 'Bulma! You're okay!' the woman said, holding back her tears. 'We weren't sure you were in the building- oh, we were so scared-'

'Mom-' Bulma decoupled herself from her parents, still holding their hands, 'Dad, what happened?'

Dr. Briefs, the illustrious head of Capsule Corp. dabbed at his teary eyes with a handkerchief. 'There was an attack. It all happened so quickly. Someone just went _through_ our entire security force. Your mother and I had barely any time at all to escape…'

As the reunited Brief family broke into relieved chatter, Puar looked over the area around them. There was no mistaking a massive clash had taken place. Eerily, she noted some massive footprints scattered around the area. _I don't wanna know. I think… I don't want to know about anything that happened here._

Not fifty feet away, Tien and Launch were creeping closer with that same heavy knowledge.

0o0o0

Krillin did as Korin requested- he climbed to the very top of the tower, stuck the pole in a round, thin hole, and yelled at it to expand. His expectations of anything happening were very low. To be honest, he hoped using the pole wouldn't work so he could take Nimbus up to the Lookout in spite of Korin's protests. _Nimbus will disintegrate above this tower,_ Korin had lectured Krillin, _and when that happens, you'll drop to your death. This pole is the only way to get up there._ Something to do with Nimbus being linked to Korin's power, if Krillin remembered correctly. _Whatever._ Krillin kicked at the pole, fulfilling the last step Korin had told him to perform.

Mere moments after Krillin carried out these instructions, the pole shot upwards like a magic beanstalk, rocketing into the sky. Soon enough, Krillin was faced with another never-ending ascending pillar that, presumably, he had to climb. Looking up, he couldn't even see the pole _end-_ it went up for so long that it simply disappeared from sight. _Of course. It's exactly like climbing Korin's tower. Why would I expect anything different?_

Resigning himself to his fate, Krillin began the second most arduous climb of his life. The wind blew stronger up here, whipping clouds past Krillin at random intervals. Rain and hail struck at him from any and all directions, ranging from a minor annoyance to a serious hindrance. Luckily for Krillin, he had grown a lot stronger since his last endless climb. The real issue was figuring out how to climb onto the Lookout once he got there- the base of it was much wider than that of Korin's tower.

As Krillin scurried up the side of the floating building at a 45-degree angle, he abruptly came to an edge without a railing. With a clasp of his arms, he pulled himself up onto level ground. Panting, he rolled over onto his back.

When Krillin opened his eyes, he was very nearly scared out of his skin to see a smiling figure with skin as black as tar standing over him. 'Aaah!' he quickly scooted himself away in surprise- right off the edge. He would have fallen off the Lookout if not for the figure grabbing him by his shirt.

'You're late,' the figure said with a hint of mirth in their voice, as they pulled Krillin back to a standing position. 'You should have arrived hours ago.'

Once Krillin had steadied himself, he inspected the figure. He noticed that they weren't just dark-skinned- they were entirely one shade of black, like stepping into a room with no light. They wore a white turban and white, puffy pants, complemented by a red vest. They seemed- they were- Krillin tried to focus on the figure's outline- but it was almost like they were continually shifting before his eyes, never holding one shape for more than a second at a time. Krillin rubbed his eyes, refocusing. 'Sorry, what did you say? I'm late?'

The figure cocked their head to one side. 'Did you not ride the pole to the top?'

'Ride- ride the pole?...' Krillin felt embarrassment flood his body as his brain caught up. _I was supposed to_ _ **ride**_ _that thing? Crap… I thought I might have missed something Korin said at the end..._ He suddenly felt the urge to walk off the edge again.

Krillin's emotions must have been sprayed all over his face because the figure gave him a small, sympathetic smile. 'No worries. The guardian of Earth does not sleep- you could have visited at any time.'

Despite his incident with Korin earlier, Krillin wanted to be 100% sure- 'are… you the Guardian of Earth? Are you Kami?'

The figure shook their head, 'I am but a humble servant-' they shimmered once more- 'and my master is ready to see you.' In the blink of an eye, they disappeared from Krillin's sight, then appeared off to the side to his left. Their head was bowed in what seemed like reverence. Due to them moving, Krillin for the first time had an unobstructed view of his surroundings. He gaped.

White, gleaming tiles covered every square inch of the Lookout. It stretched on for an insane distance- the Lookout was easily ten times as large as Korin's tower. Already, he felt importance and sanctity permeate the air. Gardens lined what seemed like a central pathway down the middle of the Lookout, plants of what looked like every ilk living peacefully among each other. Krillin even thought he saw some butterflies moving in between them. Beyond this, a massive complex occupied most of the opposite side of the Lookout from Krillin, a central yellow domish platform poking out of its center flanked by smaller white ones.

Of all this, however, Krillin's sight was captured by a solitary person standing still in the dead center of the Lookout. Even at this distance, Krillin could feel an unimaginable burden of duty seize him; as respectfully as he could, he started to walk forward.

The person's features came into focus slowly. Billowing white and blue robes fluttered about them, like branches from a tree. In their hands was a solid wooden staff, more majestic and aged than anything Krillin had ever seen his teachers possess. He came closer. Their face- _no-_

Krillin staggered mid-step, about twenty feet away, and slowly began to backpedal. 'No…' he muttered, 'that can't be right… I saw you die…'

Green antenna stuck out of a green, wrinkled forehead, which rose out of a green, wrinkled body. There was no mistaking it- _King Piccolo!_

Right before Krillin could decide what he would do- _run? fight? hide?_ The person spoke. 'You have nothing to fear from me, Krillin,' the voice said, infused with an immediately comforting sense of wisdom, 'I am not the one you fear. I am the one you seek- Kami.'

Krillin blinked, then directed his eyes at the figure again. A closer look confirmed what the voice had said- small differences in clothing and appearance made it clear that this was indeed a different person, and if they were to be totally believed, God. 'You're… Kami?'

'I am him, yes.' Kami's eyes seemed to pierce through Krillin, as they were watching a hundred things occur beyond him. 'I understand that you have a request of me.'

Remembering his mission and temporarily putting aside his questions, Krillin bowed his head. 'Kami, please, I beg of you- revive everyone killed by King Piccolo. None of them deserved the death they received.'

Silence hung in the air. Krillin lifted his head, and unlike before, he found Kami definitively looking at him. 'You understand little,' he said bluntly, 'and you see even less. I see that a few truths must be made clear to you.' Kami lifted his staff and tapped it to the ground, as if he was thinking how to proceed. 'Your friends- and everyone else killed by King Piccolo- are not in their proper places in death. King Piccolo was not just physically powerful; he also possessed great spiritual prowess. He used his power to send any and all victims of his rampage to a spiritual dimension of limbo, where they could be kept in between this world and the next. Even now, they linger there.'

Krillin couldn't understand, nor believe, what he was hearing. 'How is that possible?' he asked. 'How could King Piccolo even do something like that?'

'Hmm.' Kami grunted softly. 'It is not a coincidence that I look similar to the monster you defeated. He and I were one, once. Because of this, he possessed much of my own knowledge of the spiritual. As it stands, now that he is dead, the only thing that would rescue these people would be their full resurrection.'

'And you can do that-'

Kami _thumped_ this staff to the tiles, cutting off Krillin. 'I cannot directly resurrect the victims of King Piccolo. Only the dragonballs could do such a thing. And, as you know, King Piccolo destroyed them.' Kami abruptly turned from Krillin. 'Such as it is, there is nothing I can do.'

A jolt went through Krillin's body. He had expected needing to beg, maybe even threatening Kami- doing _anything_ to convince the Earth's guardian to revive everyone who had died. He hadn't expected… futility. As he was coming to grips with this realization, the figure who greeted Krillin earlier just _appeared_ at the side of Kami. Unlike before, they weren't smiling. 'Kami,' they spoke to the half-turned guardian, 'I know you have your reasons-'

'Mr. Popo…'

'-but to withhold information in this circumstance would be unbecoming of your title as Guardian.'

Kami turned to his assistant, a mix of hurt and annoyance playing on his features, then sighed. He turned back to face Krillin. 'Mr. Popo is right. You have come this far; you deserve the hear the full truth.'

Krillin frowned, waiting for Kami to go on.

'It is true that the dragonballs were destroyed. What you do not know, however, is that the dragonballs were, for all intents and purposes, a part of me.'

'A part of you?' Krillin asked, trying to decipher the cryptic statement, 'You mean… Shenron is within you, or something?'

'It is not that as simple as that. Shenron is separate from me, yet wholly dependant on my will to exist. It is through my power the dragonballs are created and maintained, and from where they receive their power to grant the wishes asked of Shenron. I am the font, if you will.'

Krillin began to look at Kami differently; mentally, he had to accommodate the image of the old, green humanoid with the strength to summon an entity as majestic and fantastical as Shenron. He gulped, half-believing the dragon could emerge from Kami at any moment now to destroy him for asking a stupid question. 'So you created the dragonballs?'

'That is correct, yes.'

'Then that means you can create them again!' Krillin perked up at his own realization. 'Or, at the very least, you have the power within yourself to do everything the dragon could!'

'It is not that simple,' Kami said with a gloominess in his voice. 'I cannot do what the dragonballs do- and even if I could, I would not want it that way.' He opened his mouth to say something, then shut it, apparently deciding against elaborating further.

'...Well, if that's the case, you can create the dragonballs again, right?' Krillin offered. 'And then we can use them to fix everything?'

It must have been a trick of the day's light, but for a brief moment, Krillin saw Kami's head dip. Briefly, the entire top half of the head became shaded in darkness. Then, as soon as it had come on, the darkness dispersed as Kami tilted up his head again. Krillin made eye contact- his eyes were of a totally different severity than before. 'I refuse,' Kami announced.

This time, Mr. Popo did not react in the slightest- they continued to stand at Kami's side, hands folded behind their back.

Confusion roped across Krillin's brain. 'You refuse, or you don't have the power to do so?'

'I refuse,' Kami said a second time. 'This people of this planet have proved themselves unworthy of the immense responsibility and power of the dragonballs.'

Krillin was flabbergasted. 'But- after all you said- you're going to leave them there? In the _private twilight_ you described them in? _All of them?!_ What kind of guardian are you!?' Krillin found that his fists were clenched and shaking with anger. _How can he stand there and do nothing, when he has the power to fix this!..._

Kami didn't flinch from Krillin's angry gaze. 'Perhaps I… was being too dramatic. The realm your friends are trapped in is not unpleasant- it is simply blank, like the mind of a newborn. Souls that exist there experience nothing. For a being such as I, the idea of the absence of _anything_ \- any sensation, or judgment on the individuals who pass on to the realm beyond death- is abhorrent. I believe King Piccolo created this dimension to purposefully torture me, knowing it was so grievously upset me.' Kami finished quietly, as if for the first time considering the truth of his statements.

'Alright,' Krillin exhaled, trying to calm himself, 'even if that's the case, why now? Why refuse to recreate the dragonballs, here and now?'

'Surely you are aware of how they were last used. Before he destroyed them. Piccolo had Shenron restore him to his youth. He used my own creation to bolster his own power. And he was not the first to use the dragonballs in such a selfish, detrimental manner. I may not be omnipotent, but from this place, I possess near omniscience for all matters on Earth. I have seen countless evil persons attempt to use the dragonballs for their own nefarious purposes.' Kami hardened his gaze, and like before, seemed to stare right through Krillin. 'Commander Red was one such man.' The Guardian's sight refocused on Krillin a few moments later. 'You, of all of the inhabitants of the Earth, have the most experience with these evil individuals- twice you have stopped the unmistakable evil the dragonballs have either directly or indirectly caused. They motivated the Red Ribbon Army to wage a campaign of destruction and intimidation across the globe, uprooting the lives of many innocent people. They allowed King Piccolo to nearly eradicate every good person who would oppose him in this world- if not for your intervention. At this juncture, creating the dragonballs again would invite even more misery to descend on Earth,' Kami finished. He looked at Krillin for a moment, and when the former monk seemed to have nothing to say, he turned to walk towards the main building of the Lookout. 'You know how to leave. Please, do not linger-'

Kami was halted, both verbally and physically, by Krillin's voice calling out, 'but we stopped them, didn't we?'

The Guardian of Earth faced Krillin again- in just a few seconds, the posture of the human had changed entirely. Whereas before he seemed hesitant, now he beamed with confidence. 'You can't dispute that, can you?' Krillin went on. 'Piccolo regained his youth and _we still beat him._ Even with the power of the dragonballs behind him.'

Kami looked over Krillin strangely. 'You are aware I observed that entire fight. You were able to defeat Piccolo largely because he spent himself trying to destroy another enemy of yours. Tell me; would you really call Kakarot an ally of yours beyond that fight?'

Krillin wasn't fazed by the question. 'So what if he's not? Sometimes it makes sense to let two enemies wear each other out. When fighting for the survival of the Earth as we know it, wouldn't you do the same?'

Kami… felt inclined to agree. 'You may have a point,' he responded after a moment, 'but that does not change the facts. The dragonballs play into the worst desires of the sentient beings that live on Earth- the possibilities they entail overwhelm all conscience and morals.'

'What about us? We used the dragonballs for good. Master Roshi-' Krillin remembered- his master was dead. It still didn't feel real.

'There will always be... outliers,' Kami said, ignoring Krillin's momentary verbal hitch. 'You and your friends using the dragonballs nobly does not influence how they will be used in the future. Can you guarantee their proper use?'

Krillin did not shrink in the face of a such a consequential question; he responded immediately. 'Yes.'

Neither of them saw Mr. Popo smile at Kami's side, consumed as they were with their face-to-face discussion.

A few moments passed as Kami studied Krillin's expression, determining the truth of his reply. The Guardian of Earth eventually relaxed, murmuring to himself. 'Perhaps I misjudged you. I sense no doubt in your mind- you intend to carry through your promise.'

'Of course,' Krillin held his gaze, 'if it means everyone can be revived.'

'Answer me this one question,' Kami asked, his sight trained on Krillin. 'How can you guarantee the dragonballs will never be used improperly again if you lacked the strength to protect them this time? You may be committed… but I doubt whether you can uphold such a responsibility.'

'I'll train for however long or hard it takes for me to achieve the amount of power needed to fulfill my promise. And if that doesn't work out, I know my friends will be doing the same. All of us together… we're stronger than any one of us on our own.

Kami furrowed his brows. 'Hmm… Then I will offer you a deal. Stay here and train under me. I will teach you all that I know so to guarantee the safety of the dragonballs. You will attempt to achieve the strength required to hold to your promise. You… are unaware of the continuation of a threat to this world, correct?'

Krillin cocked an eyebrow. 'Continuing threat? You mean Kakarot?'

'Hmmph. You will understand what I am referring to in time. And as for Kakarot-' Kami turned his head away for a moment, peering out over the edge of the Lookout. 'He continues to live, but his fate is… up in the air, so to speak. But I digress. Do you accept my deal?'

'Yes.'

Kami extended one graceful arm, placing his hand on Krillin's head. 'Then I declare you my pupil. Now; you might want to move back.' With his other hand, Kami gestured to Mr. Popo with his staff, who out of nowhere produced a small, unremarkable statue. 'This will be a bit bright.'

Krillin barely had enough time to walk back five steps before the entire Lookout was bathed in iridescent light.

0o0o0

'It's really over, then?' Supported by her parents- one at each side- Bulma sought out confirmation with her eyes.

Tien nodded. 'Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Master Roshi… no one died needlessly or unavenged. We did what they would have wanted us to do.'

He spoke with a finality that reminded them of the new reality they lived in- a reality without dragonballs. 'It… doesn't feel real,' Bulma said quietly, more to herself than to anyone else. 'Everyone was alive twenty-four hours ago. How could this happen? How could _all_ of this happen?'

No one really knew how to answer- everyone stood around, unable or unwilling to respond.

Bulma' nose wrinkled, like a thought crossed her mind. Carefully, she started to decouple from her parents. 'I need to check something. Mom and Dad, is my room still… there?'

Mrs. Briefs nodded. 'Most of the building is still standing.'

'I'm going to go get something,' Bulma excused herself, 'I'll just be a moment.' At a speed a bit too fast to be characterized as casual interest, she rushed off.

'So…' Tien spoke, trying to fill in the awkward silence between Bulma's parents and everyone else now that Bulma was gone, 'you're Bulma's parents?'

'In the flesh. I am Dr. Briefs, president of Capsule Corporation.'

'And I'm Mrs. Briefs,' She extended a hand, shaking with an uncomfortable looking Tien. 'You must all be friends of Bulma, then?'

'Uhh, sure…' Tien replied haltingly.

'Capsule Corp, huh?' Launch scrunched up her face, trying to remember where she had heard that before. 'You guys… uh... make cars?'

Dr. Briefs flicked his eyes to Tien, but he looked just as confused as Launch.

'Er… no,' Dr. Briefs replied. 'We make capsules. Hence the name, "Capsule Corp".'

'Oh. Do you make them yourself?'

'Not really. I just make the schematics and prototypes. Normally I'd be in my lab right about now... but I think they're still putting out the fires.'

'Oh.'

More silence. Tien couldn't bear it- he was about to ask about their hobbies when he heard the tell-tale sound of running. _Oh thank Kami._ Bulma joined them once more, out of breath but eagerly grasping something in her hands. She came to a stop, panting, and revealed in between her hands the dragon radar.

'Guys!' she exclaimed between breaths, 'The Dragon Radar! It's…'

'What?' Tien said, 'What's it doing?'

Bulma spun the device around, showing it to everyone. Seven small yellow dots were present on its grid. 'It's _working!'_

0o0o0

'It is done.' Kami lowered his hands as the flaring of light died down. Using the dragon statue as a model, seven dragonballs had been created out of seven spheres of _ki_ \- then, they had been lifted and repelled away from each other, like a bunch of un-like magnets grouped too close together. The dragonballs sped off the Lookout, falling down to the Earth below. Throughout the entire process, Krillin couldn't take his eyes off of Kami, who had remained expressionless and resolute as he worked literal magic.

The calm and tranquility that had defined the Lookout earlier returned to it once more.

'Your friends may now do what they seek,' Kami said, accepting his staff from Mr. Popo, who had held it for him while he was preoccupied. 'The dragon will do all that it can to carry out their wishes.'

Something in Kami's tone flagged that last statement in Krillin's mind. 'You sound like something went wrong,' Krillin said.

Kami stared at Krillin silently, then turned his head away, shaking it. 'In my old age, I've forgotten the limits of my own power, as ironic as that is for me to experience. Shenron will not be able to revive everyone killed by King Piccolo.'

Krillin was immediately irritated, feeling like he'd been misled again. 'What do you mean, Shenron can't revive everyone? You promised that you'd be able to do that!'

'I know what I promised,' Kami said, 'but my power has its limits. As you know, the Shenron can only grant one wish when summoned, though that wish can be used to revive any number of people if it is worded correctly. The dragonballs _cannot_ , however, revive the same person twice. It is beyond my power to do so.

'If they can't revive the same person twice-' Krillin's mind was whirring- 'which means- _that_ means-'

 _Master Roshi. He can't be brought back._

He didn't feel sad or heartbroken. Instead, he felt like a part of him had been lost- maybe his childhood or innocence- and never again would it be regained. A whole chunk of him had crumbled with the utterance of a single sentence.

Kami looked on with sadness, despite having seen this type of realization- that a loved one would never be seen again- thousands of times during his tenure as Guardian of Earth. Searching for words of consolement, he said, 'I am sorry, but this is the way death is sometimes. We do not always know when we will last see the ones we care about, nor will we always receive a chance to say a final farewell- in this world, at least.'

Krillin looked up at the much taller guardian, his eyes twisted with anguished realization. 'So… one day, I will meet him again, is what you're saying?'

'In a way, yes. Even I one day will pass beyond this world. It is the fate of all living beings.'

Taking a deep breath, Krillin wiped away a single tear running down his cheek. 'That… puts things in perspective, then.'

Kami paused a moment to let Krillin have a moment before changing topics. Eventually, he asked, 'Do you still intend on being my pupil, even though I cannot fulfill my promise in full? I would understand if this changes things.'

Krillin rubbed away another tear. 'No, I- I think, if Master Roshi were here now, he would want me to do this. To become stronger to continue to face down evil whenever and wherever it may arise. If you say there is a threat out there waiting to strike, I can't sit by idly. I need to be prepared for whatever may come.'

'Mmm.' Kami studied Krillin with his eminently wise eyes. 'So be it. You are committed.' Abruptly, Kami turned away from Krillin, staking his staff into the ground as he walked away.

'Uhh… Kami?' Krillin asked, 'are we going to train now, or later?...'

'Me? Train you? You misunderstand. You will train with my assistant,' Kami motioned to Mr. Popo, who was standing and smiling exactly like he had been doing for the past hour, 'until they deem you ready to be trained by me.' With a flourish of his robes, Kami turned and walked into the main building on the Lookout. 'They will show you to your chambers. Good luck.' he called back, clacking the tiles with his staff as he went.

Krillin turned to Mr. Popo- whose expression had gone entirely unchanged. _This should be… an interesting few years._ 'I will return to watering my plants,' Mr. Popo announced, sensing Krillin wanted some alone time. 'Talk to me whenever you are ready to be shown to your living quarters.'

The Turtle student nodded gratefully to Mr. Popo as they produced a watering can out of thin air and happily turned to their plants. Left alone, Krillin walked out to the edge of the Lookout. Instead of looking at the vast space below, however, he looked up.

 _Master Roshi, I hope... you're happy, and satisfied with what's going on up there and what's going on down here. I wish I knew you better… I wish I knew how much you were prepared to give up to protect this world, for all its flaws. Not that I would have tried to stop you… but then, maybe I could have told you everything that's running through my mind right now. Before the end... I… I'm not sure…_

 _Hmm._

 _I'll tell you when I see you next. We'll meet again, someday. I promise._

0o0o0

Imbued with newfound hope, everyone pitched in to help Bulma gather the dragonballs as soon as possible. They weren't quite sure _what_ had happened to cause them to seemingly come back into existence- but no one was going to question the miracle. They managed to gather the dragonballs in just a few hours. Again, they didn't question the geographically bunching of the dragonballs.

'We're getting pretty good at this, aren't we!' Bulma enthused as she placed the last dragonball among the others in the remains of the garden surrounding Capsule Corp. Her excitement was obvious. _Yamcha's coming back!_. In preparation, she had clicked Yamcha's capsule and had thrown it behind the nearest pile of rubble. _I just need to ignore that there's a dead body there for a few more minutes. Out of sight, out of mind, right?_

Weary from yesterday's fight and utterly exhausted from rushing to gather all the dragonballs as quick as they could, Tien and Launch sat nearby. Regardless, they still looked on with weak smiles. Puar nodded happily to Bulma's statement.

It was just the four of them; Bulma's parents had reentered the damaged Capsule Corp to fully catalog what the Briefs family still had left.

Bulma looked over at her companions once more, then turned to the dragonballs, her arms spread wide. 'Rise, Shenron!' she yelled.

Nothing would ever seem familiar or boring about summoning the dragon, as it turns out- Bulma and Puar looked on with the same newfound awe Tien and Launch had as Shenron weaved and grew right before their eyes, forming a massive, spectacular figure towering over West City. Even Bulma appeared as a fantastical figure as golden light outlined her silhouette. 'I AM THE ETERNAL DRAGON,' Shenron boomed once fully unwound, 'SPEAK YOUR WISH.'

'Dragon!' Bulma proclaimed, 'Bring back to life everyone killed by King Piccolo! That is our wish!'

Shenron swung his massive head down to regard Bulma, his long, strand-like whiskers wreathing through the air. Briefly, Shenron's eyes began to glow red, but this light faded after a few moments. 'I CAN GRANT THIS WISH WITH BUT ONE EXCEPTION.'

Everyone in attendance snapped to attention- Tien actually went so far as to stand up. 'Wh-' Bulma stammered, 'what is this exception?'

'THE ONE KNOWN AS MASTER ROSHI, WHO DIED AS A RESULT OF TRYING TO DEFEAT PICCOLO, CANNOT BE REVIVED. HE HAS ALREADY BEEN REVIVED ONCE.'

'You mean… you can't revive the same person twice with the dragonballs?...' Bulma paled. 'Is that what you're saying?'

'THIS IS CORRECT. ANY ONE PERSON CAN ONLY BE REVIVED ONCE UNDER MY POWER. I AM SORRY YOU WERE NOT AWARE OF THIS LIMITATION.'

Bulma glanced back at everyone else. Relief and sadness were mixed into one uninterpretable mess. _Everything wasn't fixed in the end, after all. I guess there are always a few things that can't be fixed._ _For everything else, though…_ 'Shenron… this wish is acceptable.'

'VERY WELL.' Shenron's eyes glowed red once more- and his will was done.

* * *

A/N: That wraps up this arc (and a good chunk of a lot of this story so far, actually). It was a blast, huh? Huh!? Moving forward we're going to be delving into a 'peacetime' section of the story; the only reason that I'm mentioning this now is because, looking back, I don't think there was ever really a point where things calmed down and shit wasn't flying everywhere at once. Now that we've reached a major narrative point of pause (and I have a lot more characters to play off one another), I'm going to take this time to do some fleshing out of the world and the people that live in it. Probably. We'll see how it goes.

And we're closing in on the end of DB- which is something I honestly can't believe is happening! I am beyond excited to get to all the crazy ideas I have for DBZ- but all in good time. I cannot express how grateful I am for everyone's support. Every person at every stage of this story who has interacted with it some way deserves a world of thanks. During my looooonng hiatus from September '17 to April '18, I was convinced I was never going to pick up this story again. Yet here we are, 18 chapters into the resumption and going strong. This is all because of _you_ , the reader. You all make me super proud to be a writer doing what I'm doing. I hope you're as excited as I am for the next arc!

Oh, and power levels for all you curious souls, with the qualifier that this is accept-at-your-own-discretion. Keep in mind that unless stated otherwise, these numbers represent full strength and aren't accurate for the majority of the fights (as everyone involved was weakened at some point or another).

 _22nd World Tournament:_

Kakarot-175

Master Roshi-190

Krillin-165 (150ish before climbing the tower and being trained by Korin)

Chi-Chi, injured- 120

Rayne- 145

Yamcha- 145

Launch- 120 (200ish briefly during her fight with Tien)

Retu- 115

Nam- 120

General Blue- 120

Tien- 180

Chiaotzu- 140

 _West City Battle Royale:_

Piccolo (old)-200

Piccolo (young)-260

Kakarot (full power oozaru)-1,750

Kakarot (weakened oozaru)- 300

Piano- 150

Cymbal- 150, 120 weakened

Drum- 220

Tambourine- 170

Post-Water Krillin-230, much lower by the latter stages

 **Reviews:**

 **Luke, #1 and #2:** Who knows what Piccolo's referring to? I guess we'll find out in a few chapters… hehe.

 **LWexe:** Oh man, if I had everyone fight each other at the end of the battle with Piccolo… that would have been so strange.

 **Wawa:** All accurate observations. Things tend to escalate when Kakarot is involved. He has been, to some degree, the neverending nightmare for most of those characters.

If only there was a wise master who could have steered this discussion in the right direction… hmm…

I just re-read your review for the second time and I thought of a convoluted explanation for how Chi-Chi caused King Piccolo to be summoned. Humor me.

Chi-Chi was at Muscle Tower tracking Kakarot. If she had gone to West City instead, she would have joined in on the inevitable assault on Red Ribbon HQ. Because they had another person with them, the gang is able to get to Commander Red's building before Staff Officer Black has a chance to pull off his coup d'etat. They face and easily overpower General Blue with their numbers, and convince him of the error of his ways. Reformed, Colonel Blue bonds with Colonel Violet over their shared experiences and they eventually marry, living happily ever after. Piccolo's rice cooker continues to rest within a forgotten Red Ribbon Army stash.

So yea, Chi-Chi basically ruined everything.

 **WritersBlvd:** Thanks for the kind words! Awesome that you're digging the characters! I'm sorry there aren't clearer resolutions to your wondering in this chapter but they're coming! In terms of narrative, I felt it made more sense to address certain events in the next arc.

 **DendeDaughter:** Krillin has done it. Sort of. And yea, Chi-Chi's gotta do something...

 **CleMackey9697:** Sometimes I wonder whether I leaned too hard into the 'psychopath' mindset with Kakarot early in this story. I mean, realistically, how much can an on-flight recording on his space pod mess him up?

But now that I think about it, actually...

 **Lala:** There's definitely some sort of psychological thing going on. Yamcha is back though!

 **Guest #1 and #2, who both said nice things:** Thank you! I'm pumping out the words with gusto now! And I love the human characters too!

 **Mirai:** Holy text, Batman, that's a detailed review! My thoughts as I read through;

I didn't know that the fandom usually leaned into that 'uber-smart' approach to Saiyan Kakarot. Like you said, bumping his head caused his 'saiyanness' to be expressed but it didn't cause some sort of radical IQ boost. Saiyans do a lot of stupid things in canon so I agree that depicting them as tactically/ anything-else intelligent all the time would be unrealistic. Every single major Saiyan in canon I can think of nearly destroyed the world at some point by playing into their 'Saiyan' instincts. But to get back to your main question; I wasn't consciously trying to buck the fandom with how I depicted Kakarot- it just seemed natural considering what I know of DBZ.

On your second topic; you make a good point about Vegeta/Nappa (and by extension a lot of other Saiyan- Saiyan relationships). Saiyans are pretty insular and unsocial with other people in general. Vegeta disposed of Nappa- who was to Vegeta's knowledge literally the only other Saiyan in existence other than Kakarot- _-_ as soon as it was obvious that he wouldn't be useful anymore. The only positive relationships we see between Saiyans in DBZ either happen early on (and involves a non-Saiyan Saiyan Goku being a father to Gohan) or develop over the course of many years of the story (like Goku and Vegeta's friendly rivalry). Considering that Kakarot has been trying to come to grips with an unclear goal of eliminating all life on Earth… making friends isn't easy.

Your kind words are super kind! Thank you!


	28. Corners of the World

Sins of the Father

Chapter 28: Corners of the World

A/N: New arc time. _Sins of the Father._ I wonder what that refers to!

* * *

Her determination burned much longer, propelled her much further, than she would have guessed. In a daze she walked for hours on end, blocking out every feeling that sought to affect her. Her wounds and exhaustion caught up to her eventually, though. After walking for who knows how long, Chi-Chi collapsed to the ground sometime around midday, flopping Kakarot down as gracefully as she could in the process. She was in the forest- appropriately, she shimmied up to a tree stump and sat against it, regaining her strength. Regrettably, this gave her the time to think about what she had done.

 _I can't believe… I threw away everything with everyone… over him._ A few feet away from Chi-Chi Kakarot remained unconscious. He breathed as peacefully as someone in his state could, the gentle rise and fall of his chest the only indication that he was still alive after the previous day's events. He was also… _oh jeez, he's naked…_ Blushing, Chi-Chi looked around at her surroundings for something to cover up the Saiyan with. She settled on a large, still-leaved tree branch, and draped it over the bottom half of his body. It would undoubtedly slide off once he started to stir, but thankfully, Chi-Chi didn't intend to stick around that long. Her eyes lingered on him. _I'm not a fool. I may have saved his life out of mercy, but no one sticks around a sick dog longer than they have to if the dog likes to bite._

 _I'm falling into this useless discussion with myself again, huh? Alright..._

 _Kakarot could be taught better; there's no doubt in my mind. He's not destined to be who he is now forever… but I'm just not sure I, or anyone else, can help him change. He needs to start down that path first of his own will. If I understand him as well as I think I do… then any outside nudging would just convince him he was doing the wrong thing._

Her thought process never felt clear when it involved Kakarot. Barely any time had passed and already Chi-Chi was thinking she would have handled her previous stand-off with Rayne and Krillin differently. She should have been calm, considerate, confident in her belief- but in that moment she was motivated by fear, blinding her to any other course of action except for desperately defending Kakarot's life. How could she blind herself to how much everyone- even _herself_ \- had lost over the past few days? She should have been more… patient? _I don't know..._

A brief, familiar feeling fluttered across Chi-Chi's mind. She turned her head instinctually, searching… and felt it. Yamcha was alive, maybe even the Crane fighter Chiaotzu. An instantaneous wave of human life poured out from West City, galloping across the world in every direction.

Chi-Chi smiled. _Turns out they could do it, after all._ She stood, took one more look at Kakarot, and departed.

0o0o0

Grumbling from residual anger, Rayne swaggered through the forest, not trying to move in any particular direction except forward. _Away from anything that's behind me, literally and… the other way._ A week had passed and still, she held onto this driving anger.

Seeing the sky turn black in the middle of the day during this time had made a few things clear to her. Somehow, someway, the dragonballs had survived Piccolo's attempt of apparent obliteration of them. Thus, everyone who had been killed by Piccolo had been revived.

Except for Master Roshi. She had sought out his _ki_ in vain for days, holding onto the slightest hope that it was a fluke that she couldn't sense him at first.

She had to face reality. His _ki_ simply wasn't present- he was still dead. For whatever reason, Master Roshi wasn't coming back.

Accepting this wasn't as hard as she thought it'd be. _I guess I came to terms with it back there in West City. All this… it makes me feel hollow._

 _If Kakarot had never been allowed live the countless times before… maybe he wouldn't have weakened Master Roshi at the tournament and Master Roshi wouldn't have felt forced to use the Evil Containment Wave._ But Rayne couldn't ignore the fact that Kakarot had significantly weakened Piccolo. Ultimately, it was pure speculation whether or not Kakarot had helped them or hurt them overall. _How can you weigh "saving our lives" with "crippling not one, but_ _ **two**_ _of our friends"?_ _None of this is as simple as it should be… you should be able to hate bad people, damn it!_

She still felt angry- she just didn't know who to direct that anger towards. And deep down, in a little corner of herself currently being pushed below the surface, she deeply regretted how she had parted with everyone else- especially Krillin. _We were all suffering. What right do I have to solely express my anger?_

As she finished this thought, Rayne stumbled over a fallen tree trunk and nearly tumbled into a forest clearing, catching herself at the last moment. As she regained her balance, she noticed there was a simple one-building shack erected in the center of the clearing. Tree stumps were littered around the building, only giving way to a large bonfire with a cooking spit set-up on top of it. She had taken a few steps forward when the door to the shack forcefully swung open.

'Hey!' a man Rayne could only describe as a fat samurai emerged from the hut. 'I said befor-' the man verbally and physically halted, for the first time getting a good look at Rayne as she stepped fully into the clearing. 'Oh- uh, I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else.' The man lifted his hand off of the grip of a sword strapped to his side.

Rayne was still a little too confused to respond, so the man stepped closer, extending a hand. Rayne accepted it. 'Name's Yajirobe. Sorry about that. I thought you were the stupid green guy who flew by earlier.'

'Stupid… green guy?' Rayne managed.

'Yea, this guy was flying around in the sky when he noticed some meat I was cooking on my spit here.' Yajirobe jabbed with his thumb to the fire behind him. 'I think he was hungry because he tried to take a bite out of it but I gave him a good kick and drove him off. He looked pretty hurt too. Serves him right for trying to eat my food!' Yajirobe puffed out his chest, either from pride or annoyance.

Rayne struggled to understand what Yajirobe was saying. 'So this green guy… what did he look like?' _There's no way he's talking about one of Piccolo's spawns, right?_

'I guess he was kinda thin, had these short gargoyle wings- and he always had a smirk on his face.'

 _This sounds like… Tambourine? Matches Krillin's and Tien's description almost exactly. Everything except for the fish face. So…_ 'Did he have a fish face?'

'Yea, he did, actually.'

Rayne moved her head up and down, taking another wide look at Yajirobe. The man looked like he hadn't fought a day in his life. _He drove off Tambourine?_ _ **Really?**_ 'Do you mind if I… do something?'

'Huh?' Yajirobe scratched the back of his head. 'Uh, sure, go ahead.'

A strange glint in her eyes, Rayne backed away from Yajirobe and stopped at the end of the clearing. She took a breath- then ran at Yajirobe, charging him with one arm held forward.

Yajirobe, looking a little confused, let Rayne close to a foot away from her before twisting and bringing up his scabbard to neatly block her attack. In the space of a second he had perfectly adjusted his form to absorb Rayne's attack as best as possible. He didn't look fazed or hurt in the slightest. 'Was that the thing?' he asked casually.

Rayne withdrew her attacking arm and huffed- mostly from her injuries and her generally exhausted state. _That... was crazy!_ 'Explain!' she yelled, pointing at Yajirobe accusingly, 'how are you so strong?'

Yajirobe shrugged. 'idunno.'

'Train me!'

'What?'

'You're going to train me and show me how you got so strong!'

'Uhh… okay.' Abruptly, Rayne heard the sound of something growling. 'But can we get some food first?' Yajirobe said while gesturing with the hilt of his sword to the forest, 'because I am _starving_.'

0o0o0

Bulma wandered through unconstructed and unlit halls, taking the chance to explore the currently in-repair parts of Capsule Corp on the day the workers were off. In some places entire rooms were being recreated from scratch, a testament to how damaging the attack on the building had been. She was surprised initially to find it still standing with a third of it just blown away- but looks could be deceiving, and it seemed like the promise her father repeated to her over and over again as a child was true. The Capsule Corporation building would collapse only if her father told it to.

Consistency like that in her life was good right now, considering how much was changing around her. _Friends coming back from the dead, some not coming back at all..._ Bulma had barely known Master Roshi, having never been a student of him. As a result, his death probably impacted her the least. _Sad as that is to say._ What affected her more was to see everyone split up on either good or bad terms, starting with the fight over Kakarot as Launch had described it. The thought of all her friends… not being friends with each other dampened her mood.

That wasn't the chief weight on Bulma's mind, though. A month had gone by and with every passing day Yamcha seemed to be growing more and more distant. _I didn't expect everything to be all good, happy, and nice for him after literally_ _ **dying…**_ _but Yamcha, I need to know what you're thinking!_ She didn't care if all he had to offer was grief- she just wanted to help.

Lost in her thoughts, Bulma found herself fully exiting the building, emerging into the garden outside. On this side of the property it had been almost entirely destroyed, yet here and there life still persistently hung on, working to reclaim what was taken from it. Bulma saw someone crouched over one surviving plot of land near the edge of the lot, pressed up against what remained of the street. There too work was being done to repair the damage from the attack- but like at Capsule Corp, the workers were off for the day. Bulma squinted at the figure. _Must be Mom. Kami knows she loves her stupid flowers…_

Bulma took one step forward before she noticed the person's hair color- _black._ _Yamcha?_ It was dead silent outside save for the sound of tugging and pulling. Weeds flew over Yamcha's shoulder, landing in a neat pile behind him. _He's… gardening? I've never seen him do that before._

Suddenly, Bulma was struck by a feeling of perverse intrusion, like she was actively violating something personal and sacred. Carefully and quietly, she began to double back into the building. _He'll talk to me when he's ready. I know he will…_ Sighing, Bulma headed off to the nearest empty lab on the ground floor. _No idle hands._

0o0o0

Puar kept watching the door to the bar she was in swing in and out, back and forth like a saw, day in, day out, every hour on the hour, presenting every patron that walked or staggered in. Admittedly, she initially had hoped she would only have to watch this door for one, two weeks tops. _Nope._ _Two months. And counting._ _Just to find a stupid pig._

In his… strangeness, Oolong has given up a lot of sensitive information to Puar, chief among them a detailed description of how his underworld employers would contact him. _'Theeeey'll put out an ad for a dish- *hiccup* -washer repaaarmen, which is just a sign for me to comeeee to this… shitty divvy bar,' he had slurred once to her. 'Ev'ry time.'_ Then he had put on this stupid smile. ' _Theyy like me-eh in Central Cit-ee.'_

So Puar had done exactly that. She had paid a local newspaper to put out an ad for a dishwasher repairman and had parked herself in a fairly disgusting bar, looking for any sign of Oolong. She had also made herself look like an angry looking muscled meathead to ward off any suspicious looks. So far, that was working. Finding Oolong, however, was not.

Puar sighed and flattened herself to the counter. _Well, at least there's nothing else for me to do right now. Everyone is here or there, physically and emotionally. She would have liked to spend some time with_ Yamcha… but he was… not quite right. _Dying has a way of changing things, I guess. He's not going to be the same for a while, if not ever. I feel bad for Bulma..._

For Puar, it had taken many close friends dying for her to realize how much she needed to get her ass into gear. _I guess I have 'taking down the Red Ribbon Army' under my belt, but what else? I still haven't done anything of merit involving my own life. For all I know, that shapeshifter school has reformed by now, again a pipeline of young, impressionable people to a career working for crime. For all I know..._

But she knew Oolong would come here eventually; she knew the pig would get greedy. And once he did, she would use him to get drive out every dirty little secret out of the ground. Use every available prick of information to track down whoever had started- or is even still running- that damn school. So Puar was going to wait for however long that took.

'Bartender! Another beer!' she growled. _In the meantime? I need to keep up appearances._

0o0o0

Out of breath and exhausted, Tien rolled over the edge of the seemingly heightless tower. _That was easily… the dumbest and most exhausting thing I've ever done. How is this tower so damn tall!_ He had a moment to catch his breath before the face of a white-furred cat appeared above him. 'Hi there. Welcome to my tower!'

Tien looked at Korin skeptically with his continuously open third eye on his forehead. The rest of his face, like his body, was trying to recover from the arduous climb. 'Uh… hi.' With a grunt, Tien rolled over and stood, patting his newly adorned simple white shirt as he did. 'Are you… the- err- owner of this tower?'

'Indeed, I am. My name is Korin. What can I do for you?'

'Someone told me that a friend of mine, Krillin, trained with you before the tournament.' _Puar, I swear, if you made me climb this tower for nothing..._

'Oh, Krillin? You know him?'

'Yea, we're... buds, I guess. I've been looking for him, actually…'

'Well call off the dogs then, because I know where he is.' Korin lifted his staff, pointing upwards.

'He's- he's on the roof?' Tien asked, confused.

Korin rolled his eyes. 'Are you crazy? Of course he's not. He's on a floating platform a few miles _above_ this tower, training with Kami,' Korin said, grinning.

'With _God?..._ Okay… well, can you get me up to this… floating place?'

'Sorry, no can do. The only way up there is via a magic wooden pole- which Krillin has right now in his possession to get back down with.'

'Couldn't I just fly up there?'

Korin tapped a finger to his nose in thought. 'I guess, _hypothetically_ , you could, but you would need a _lot_ of energy... ' he looked up and down the Crane fighter. 'Energy you might have in a few years time. Right now, though? Trying to fly up there would be suicide.'

'So let me get this straight,' Tien grumbled, 'Krillin is _literally_ being trained by God, growing unimaginably stronger, while everyone else is stuck on Earth without even a _chance_ to keep up with him?'

'Now hold on just a moment.' Korin jabbed his staff into Tien's thigh, the human's height preventing Korin from reaching any higher. 'I may not be Kami but I'm a _damn_ good teacher. I've been alive for eight hundred years, and let me tell you, I only napped for a hundred of those, _tops_. The rest of that time I was using this,' he gestured to his head, 'thinking of new techniques and skills. I'm easily an equal to that old man upstairs.'

'But you said you already taught Krillin,' Tien complained, 'if I trained with you, at best, I'd get to where Krillin was _before_ training with Kami.'

'You think I taught Krillin everything I know?' Korin asked, offended. 'What kind of teacher would I be if I did that? And Krillin didn't even train with me for the total recommended time. He just spent two piddly months with me.'

'Recommended? You have a standard amount of time you train all your pupils for?

'Well,' Korin's fur bristled, 'it's definitely longer than two months.'

'So let me get this straight. You're saying that, if I trained with you, you'd be able to keep me competitive with Krillin? Really?'

A wicked smile crossed Korin's face. 'I'd give Kami a run for his money.'

'Nothing crazy? Just what's necessary, right?'

'Nothing crazy, promise.'

Tien sized up Korin once more, then nodded warmly. 'Alright,' Tien said, extending one hand to Korin, 'looks like we're in business.

Korin reciprocated, grasping Tien's hand. 'What's your name?'

'Tien.'

'Tien. Looks like we are.'

Right as they shook their hands once, Chiaotzu shimmed over the edge, out of breath similar to how Tien was just a few minutes before. He looked over and saw Tien shaking hands with a short, somewhat chubby cat. 'What's uh…' he asked, 'going on?'

0o0o0

Like before, the world slowly came back to him, like a rising tide of sensation lapping onto the beach of his mind. Kakarot opened his eyes expecting a landscape of death and destruction- instead, he saw a leafy green canopy rest high above him, rippling with light wind. As he sat up he realized that he was in a forest.

 _Again…_

Kakarot examined his body. He was wounded and injured- but a pinch confirmed that not only was he alive, but also he had enough energy and sensation to cause some discomfort to himself. He had survived- _but what exactly did I survive?_ The last memories he had were of being crunched into the earth, feeling for the first time in his life that he would actually _die._ In those crippling moments of pain, he had felt a… reprieve? _Like a never-ending struggle had come to a close; I was, finally, thoroughly and utterly defeated by someone…_

Grimacing from his pained effort to stand, once more Kakarot looked around him. It was just a normal forest. His first instinct was to leave, move beyond whatever this stretch of land held for him; but he found himself sitting on a tree stump instead, sinking his head into his hands. _At the very least, I need to get things straight. Try to remember everything that happened… why I'm-_ Kakarot's fingers were probing his back when for the first time he noticed he didn't feel uncomfortable sitting on the stump. He was missing a sensation of feeling- wind coursing through his fur- _my tail._ His hand shot towards where his tail should have come out of his body- but it rimmed around a stunted hole. _My tail is gone._

The realization… wasn't unwelcome. Kakarot even felt an odd sense of peace, like losing his tail had somehow _freed_ him of… _something. This is so strange!_

In astonishment, Kakarot ran through a litany of thoughts in his mind, trying to make the difference he perceived tangible- then it struck him. _I'm like… an insider looking out, and not an outsider looking in, inside my head. My thoughts… are my own._

Uncharacteristically, Kakarot continued to sit and think.

0o0o0

The snow was gone- and Suno was overjoyed. There were only a few months of the year where she didn't have to wear her special boots to walk around outside. Even though her village was a sticky, muddy mess, chock full of mosquitos and other fleeting bugs, she loved this time of year. She could spend all day out of the house, watching the long shadows move across the ground like distant herds of reindeer. On one particular day, however, she watched for an hour as a speck in the distance steadily grow closer and closer.

She broke into a sprint when she recognized who it was.

'Chi-Chi!' Suno practically jumped into Chi-Chi's arms, wrapping her own arms around her in a big hug. 'You came back!'

Chi-Chi smiled, patting Suno on the back. 'I said I would, didn't I?'

Suno's initial excitement wore off and she detached herself from Chi-Chi. 'So this means…'

'I'll train you to the best of my ability, as we agreed.'

Suno's face broke into a gigantic smile and she bearhugged Chi-Chi again. Thank you! I won't disappoint you!'

Feeling like another martial arts teacher she knew, Chi-Chi hugged back.

0o0o0

'Bulma.'

In response to her name being called Bulma lifted her head from her workbench- she was in the middle of one of the more delicate prototype assemblies she had done in her life. There may or may not have been explosives involved. 'What's up?' she responded, as she turned her head towards the room's door.

Yamcha was standing relaxed a few steps into the room, wearing a white tank top and jeans. He had a backpack on. 'I'm leaving.'

Bulma lifted her machining goggles off her head, carefully placing them on the workbench in front of her. Beneath them, her eyes shone with concern. 'You're leaving?' she asked, a bit shocked.

'Yea. I've been thinking about this for a while. I'm not going to move on with my life by just... hanging around like a ghost. There's nothing for me here…'

'Yamcha…' Bulma rose from her seat and came closer to him. 'What are you saying?' she pressed one of her hands into his, 'I'm here…'

Yamcha's brows twitched, clearly struggling with some internal emotion- when he spoke, however, his voice retained its even keel. 'Bulma, the time I've spent with you here in West City has been one of the happiest, most wonderful periods of my life. I wouldn't change a thing about the time we spent together.'

'Then why are you leaving?' Bulma's stressed, 'why?'

He let his hand drop out of her grip. 'You should know better than anyone else as to who I am, Bulma. Even though the time I spent with you was amazing… it was time I spent running away from my fears, from making any real progress in dealing with those fears. You let me hide away from the world here for a while… but it's time that I better myself, for both of us. I don't want to shrink away from things anymore.'

'I don't understand! Where is this coming from, Yamcha?' Bulma was on the verge of completely breaking down. This was playing out exactly like the worst case scenario she had imagined in her head. _I should have talked to him sooner!_ 'Why didn't you share anything of what you've been feeling?'

'I didn't share anything because there's nothing to share. My head is just a fucked up mess, Bulma. I'm grieving and mourning and hoping and despairing and imagining- it's nothing concrete, just a bunch of chaos!' Yamcha grimaced, as if recalling this was causing him physical pain. 'I stuck around here on the off chance that doing so might sort out how I feel. But it's been _months_ now, Bulma. Nothing's changed.'

'But I could have helped you, couldn't I? Why didn't you tell me- talk to me about any of this?'

'...Do you understand what I'm going through?' Yamcha's voice softened. Bulma looked up at him- and for the first time in their conversation, his guard was down- tears were running down his face. His entire expression was clamped down so tight that it seemed like his face would crack in half at any moment. 'Have you ever had one of your mentors, someone you _really_ looked up to for knowledge and direction, _die while you were dead? When you couldn't do anything to stop them from dying?_

Bulma wanted to shout at him for thinking like this- but her sad sympathy won out in the end. 'No,' she sighed. 'I haven't.'

'It's killing me- not being there when Master Roshi and everyone else fought King Piccolo. I never more powerless in my life than when I heard that Master Roshi had died. What are you supposed to do about that, Bulma? How am I supposed to accept something like that? How could _either of us_ have said anything to fix that?'

Bulma found that she could only frown. 'I don't know.'

'And that's where I am. I need to do something different- I don't know what 'different' is, but I know I can't do it here.'

'And you know this for sure?' Bulma asked quietly, not breaking eye contact with him.

'Yes. As sure as I can be right now.'

Bulma thought on this for a moment, her eyes darting to one corner of the ceiling. 'Then… okay.' Bulma held Yamcha's hand again. 'If this is what you want to do, and you think it's going to help you… then you need to do it.'

Regret flickered into Yamcha's face for the first time in their conversation. Bulma quickly added, 'you don't need to say anything more. I may not fully understand how you're feeling, but I understand why you need to do this, at least Even though... yea.' There was still a small part in the back of Bulma's mind that wanted to be angry- she almost let her bluntness shine through unfiltered just then. _But restraint is the theme of the day, so…_

When Bulma finished, Yamcha almost looked… relieved, and Bulma felt a small uptick in her own satisfaction. _I guess I handled things decently, then._

Yamcha took Bulma's hand with both of his, gripping it. 'Thank you. Thank you for being such a patient person.' Yamcha then abruptly pecked Bulma on the cheek, making Bulma blush. 'Thank you,' he repeated one more time.

'No… problem.'

Yamcha gave her an honest, vulnerable smile, then began to turn. 'I'll go now, then. The sooner the better. I think.' He checked one shoulder strap of his bag. 'I hope you don't mind that I took some cans of food from your kitchen- just in case, y'know?'

With Yamcha facing away from her, Bulma felt free to roll her eyes. _He's still got a ways to go._ 'Yea… that's fine.'

'One more thing, Bulma,' Yamcha stopped with one hand on the doorframe, looking over his shoulder at her. 'I'm coming back. I don't know when, but… yea. One day.' His eyebrows squirmed briefly before he moved out of sight, his footfalls slowly falling away into the distance.

Bulma stood near the doorway for a few moments, coming to grips with her new normal. _He's going, then…_ A thought screeched through her head. With much more gusto than earlier, Bulma ran back over to her workbench and put her goggles on in record time. The same line was going through her head, like it had been for the past few months. _No idle hands! Not me, not anyone!_

0o0o0

A few hours after chatting with Korin, Tien tapped down on solid ground once more. Chiaotzu joined him a few minutes later. 'What do you think, Chiaotzu?' Tien asked as Chiaotzu stretched his aching muscles. 'You think we should train with Korin?'

'Why not? It's not like there's another ancient teacher waiting on the sidelines to tag in. Or do you think Shen will take us back?' Chiaotzu joked.

'Probably not. Well, if we're going to commit to Korin's training, then we need to find something to do for the next week while he prepares.'

'Do you think anyone in this village has any quests for adventures likes us?' Chiaotzu said with a smile, gesturing to the small community around them.

'Who knows?' Tien took in their surroundings- tents dotted the immediate area around the base of the tower. People were walking here and there in the course of doing daily chores and responsibilities. 'I- huh.' Tien's eyes drifted to something over Chiaotzu's shoulder. 'What's going on?... Oh…'

Chiaotzu turned. Towards one end of the village there was an argument going on judging from the throng of people gathered and the gesticulating of a few. He listened closer. _Oh! That's a familiar voice!_

Tien and Chiaotzu exchanged glances and set off towards them. As they drew closer a few words could be heard.

'... told you… have to… what are you talking about…. let me in!' The last fragment was almost shouted, causing Tien and Chiaotzu to flinch. They gently pushed through the back of the crowd, edging towards the front.

Bora, the village chief, had his arms crossed and was scowling at someone just in front of him. Tien and Chiaotzu couldn't actually see the person fully- but their characteristic yellow hair stood out.

'I told you before,' Bora said with the patience and cadence of someone who has said what they're about to say a hundred times, 'only those with pure hearts can be allowed to enter this village, let alone climb this tower. And I can sense you do not have a pure heart.'

'And I told _you_ , my heart is pure excitement! I don't have an evil bone in my body! Maybe I have a _sneaky bone_ , or a _stealing bone_ , but-' Launch twisted her head around Bora, sighting Tien and Chiaotzu. 'Hey!' she pointed at them. 'Talk to them! Those two can vouch for me!'

Bora swung to Tien and Chiaotzu. Even though he was substantially weaker than the two of them, he still cut an imposing figure. 'You know this person?' he asked gruffly.

Sensing some hostility by association, Chiaotzu quickly spread out his hands soothingly. 'Yes, yes! She's a good enough person. She can be a little… intense, but deep down, she's decent!'

Tien flicked his eyes towards Launch- surprisingly, she was nodding her head in approval. 'That's right!' she chimed in, 'I can be nice with two hands tied behind my back!'

 _Not really what I was saying,_ Chiaotzu thought, _but okay._

Bora swung back to Launch, then stepped back to regard the three of them together. 'It is against tradition to let someone who has not clearly presented themselves as having a pure heart into the village. But perhaps you may demonstrate this in another way. Recently a gang of troublemakers has been harassing our community. Every night, they creep to the edge of the village before we send someone out to chase them away. We do not know who they are or what they want, but their incursions are a drag on our sense of security. If you can drive them off, or at the very least determine what they want so that we may counter their desires, we will let your friend enter the village.'

Tien and Chiaotzu were about to raise their objections but Launch spoke first, 'Sure thing!' she said, clapping her arms around Tien and Chiaotzu, 'No problem for us! We'll find your intruders faster than you can blink.'

Bora blinked. 'If you say so.' Nothing else to say, Bora turned away towards the center of the village. The crowd of people gathered started to disperse.

Once everyone was gone, an annoyed Tien shrugged off Launch's arm. 'What was that?' he demanded. 'Did it not occur to you that we might have something to do!'

'Do you?'

'Kind of! Something very important in a week, actually!'

Launch scoffed. 'Come on, what that big guy described sounds like a one-day problem, tops. I bet we can fix this problem for them by nightfall.'

Horribly frustrated, Tien kept his mouth shut. He glared at Launch with enough force to kill weaker people. 'Alright,' Chiaotzu said, sighing, 'let's just get this over with.' The pale human gestured towards the forest surrounding the Sacred Tribe of Korin and started walking in that direction. Launch and- after a moment- Tien followed.

A minute passed. 'Thanks for that, I guess,' Launch muttered.

Tien didn't respond. 'No problem,' Chiaotzu said eventually. 'So if you don't mind me asking Launch, how come you're here?'

'Well, to find you guys, obviously.'

Chiaotzu turned around made brief eye contact with Tien. One of Tien's eyebrows were raised. 'Really? Why's that?' Tien addressed Launch.

'Puar told me you were searching for Krillin,' she made knowing eye contact with both of them, 'and that you two are trying to keep up with him in strength. Is that about right?'

'More or less,' Chiaotzu stepped over a small branch- they had entered the forest.

'Are you guys… uh… good with Krillin?'

'Good? What do you mean?'

'Like cool with him. No hard feelings between you two about.. well, you know.'

'Do you have a problem with us?' Tien asked pointedly.

Launch frowned, holding her hands up conciliatory. 'No, not at all. I have a lot of things I want to put behind me, too. Would be wrong if I judged people for their bad past when I myself have one.' Launch smirked. 'You didn't answer my question, though. You got any beef with Krillin?'

'We're fine,' a displeased Tien crossed his arms. 'And if you're suggesting we're trying to _kill_ him or something…'

Again, Launch put out her hands to stop him. 'No, no! Just wanted to…' an awkward silence followed her words. '...check,' she finished.

Tien made eye contact with Chiaotzu. They both shrugged.

The forest was mostly unremarkable. As it was, they walked another good chunk of time in silence.

'Let me ask you a question, Launch,' Tien asked after a few minutes of walking. 'You have another… you, right? The one with the blue hair?'

'Yup.'

'How come we haven't seen her since the match between you and me in the tournament?'

Launch opened her mouth to respond casually- but she hitched right before speaking. 'That's… a good question, actually. Is it weird that I haven't sneezed in months?'

'I think so, yes,' Chiaotzu answered. 'Are you serious? You haven't sneezed in months?'

'I have been trying to _not_ sneeze, for your information.'

Tien gawked. 'Launch, you should sneeze.'

'But I don't want to!'

'Your other "you" can't do anything while you're in control, right? If that's the case, you've essentially been imprisoning her since the tournament.'

'But…'

'Launch!'

'Alright, alright.' She took a step away from them, then theatrically withdrew a handkerchief from her pocket. 'Here I go!' She made a big show of inhaling, wiggling her nose, and arching her back exactly as she had done at the tournament. Mid-bend she halted and sneezed triumphantly, covering her face with her handkerchief.

Launch straightened her back to its normal angle. 'Well, I did it. Happy?'

Tien and Chiaotzu were dumbfounded by what they were seeing. 'Launch, your hair…' Tien croaked.

'What? It's blue now, right?' She pulled a strand of hair into her vision. It was yellow.

'Did… did you kill your other half?'

'What? No. You're jumping to conclusions.' She turned away, looking at them over her shoulder. 'And you're wasting time! We need to find these varmints!' With that, she ran off deeper into the forest.

For a moment, the two of them watched Launch run off, utterly perplexed as to what to do. It was only when she disappeared from sight that they realized what they _should_ have done. 'Oh _shit_!' Chiaotzu exclaimed. They flung themselves into a frantic sprint after her.

* * *

A/N: I decided to leave it here because I didn't want the chapter to get too lengthy. Otherwise, expect more of this over the next few weeks. See you then!

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** Kami always loved the Earth and all its people. Seeing the ugly side of them so often can make that appreciation guarded, though.

 **Luke:** Ooop. Yep, forgot about that while writing the response to your review. So yea. Piccolo is alive.

As for the dragonballs, I'm not knowledgeable at all about Super, but as I understand it no single set of dragonballs can revive the same person twice. I think when Dende recreates the dragonballs this restriction either resets (because while it is still Shenron, a different Namekian is maintaining the dragonballs) or is thrown out the window (as Dende possibly could have removed this restriction when he modified Shenron's powers in other ways).

 **Randybob:** Your review prompted me to investigate the conditions under which Saiyans regrow their tails. I've come to understand those conditions are not clear at all. So we'll see if Kakarot regrows his tail?

 **HyakuRasenHikireki:** Thank you!


	29. People of All Sorts Adrift

Sins of the Father

Chapter 29: People of All Sorts Adrift

* * *

Overlooking a long run of unbroken rock faces and patchy, sun-bleached gravel stood a person of small stature, a simple purple _gi_ wrapped around them. No taller than a large child, they gazed out across the wasteland before them, their eyes darting between points in the horizon. Eventually, they settled on a small outcrop of rock some hundred feet away, bridged by a large vertical chasm. Carefully, they began to walk forward, stepping off the edge of the flat rock they were upon to seemingly plunge to the distant ground below.

Like his father before him, he _flew._

His rapid descent slowed then stopped; after a moment, he began to rise, leveling himself with his intended outcrop. Gently, he drifted through the air, arms and legs clenched in wary unfamiliarity.

It was over in less than a minute- he tapped down onto the outcrop, his brown, sleeve-like footwear contrasting with the burned yellow hue of the rock. There was much he had to remember… and even more he had to learn.

The reincarnation of the Demon King Piccolo was alive and well.

He would show the world- and that tailed monster with his pitiful friends- the true power of his father.

0o0o0

The cave was, more or less, how Yamcha had remembered it. Great braziers of wood burned on the walls, giving the entire chamber a flickering, dancing glow. Yamcha stepped into the center of the cave, and just like before, Baba awaited him on the doorstep of her home, donned in her trademark black witch clothes and floating on a magic ball. She seemed to be expecting him. 'Nice to see you again, Yamcha. How are you enjoying life among the living for the second stint?'

'Well, no matter how good or bad things are right now, it's better than spending time in…' Yamcha visibly shivered. 'Whatever the realm beyond this life is. As it is, I'm not looking forward to dying again.'

'Oh, you don't have to worry about that little plane of existence. That was just King Piccolo mucking around with the afterlife. Otherworld is much nicer than what you experienced.'

'King Piccolo… made that?'

'Uh-huh.'

Yamcha paled. _An entire dimension to trap dead people in?..._ Something occurred to Yamcha. 'Wait a second, Baba- does this dimension still exist? Is _Master Roshi still trapped there?_ '

Baba shook her head. 'Not a chance. When Piccolo died his creation started to disintegrate. Not to the mention that the Eternal Dragon had to bring Roshi out of there to fulfill as much of the wish asked of him by your friends. As of now he's now safely settled into where all dead souls go.'

 _Where all dead souls go…_ Yamcha thought on this for a moment, then asked. 'If you don't mind me asking, aren't you a little sad? He was your brother, after all, right?''

'Sad? Me? Not at all. The world beyond this one isn't as scary or unknown to me as it would be to you. This is my business, after all. Beyond my traditional duties of convening with the dead relatives of my clients, I'm sort of a semi-official communicator between the living and souls beyond this plane for this planet. How do you think I was able to summon Gohan a few months ago for you and that other girl- what was her name-'

'Rayne'

'-Rayne, yes. Gohan appeared because I can do that with any dead soul originally from Earth.'

'Really? Huh. That must be pretty cool… _So it_ _ **is**_ _possible..._ 'If you can do what you did with Gohan with any person, that means- then there's actually a chance! You could summon Master Roshi, right now! Or even anytime you want! Man, I thought doing this would be a pipe dream at best! But you can do this, right?'

'Of course I can! I've already done it countless times just to talk to him. He's handling it all very well, actually-'

'Summon him!' Yamcha cut in, extending his hands towards her crystal ball possessively, 'summon him now!'

Baba frowned and floated over to Yamcha on her crystal ball. She drew her hand back and smacked him across the face. 'How dare you speak to me that way!' she yelled. I'm not your mystic mule! Your waiting witch! I am a professional! And I don't do things for free!'

Yamcha held one hand to his smarting left cheek. 'But… you helped us a few months ago free of charge! What's with the change in policy?'

'That was extenuating circumstances!' Baba pounded her ball with her fist. 'Did you forget that I'm chiefly a fortune teller! That I can see into the future! Did it not once cross your mind that I helped you _because_ I knew what was going to happen!?'

The wheels started to spin in Yamcha's mind. 'Hold on. Are you saying… that you knew Piccolo would return? That he would kill me, Master Roshi, and countless other people?' He raised one clenched fist and shook it at Baba. 'Is that what you're saying!?'

Baba's expression soured, her wide-brimmed black witch hat tipping downwards almost like a curtain over her face. 'Seeing the future is difficult enough. _Changing_ it is nearly impossible.' Seeing that Yamcha had yet to be placated, she went on. 'Affecting the future is like working out the snags and knots in an endlessly running tapestry. Some hitches are so deeply interconnected with the rest of the thread around it that to try and fix them could cause the entire tapestry to unravel. These deficiencies are crucial, in a way- without them, the thread couldn't continue endlessly.'.

'You need to get _way more_ specific, because I don't understand a word you're saying right now.'

'Err… your death was the linchpin for a number of other events happening as they did- which ultimately included your revival. Without you dying, things would have gone very differently.'

Skepticism oozed from Yamcha. 'I find that hard to believe.'

'Believe what you wish, but the fact is that without your death your friends would have died against King Piccolo quite early on. It made them take the situation much more seriously.'

'I… really?' _Did I really help that much just by dying?_

'Yes! Though of course, probably the more crucial event was Roshi dying-'

 _And there it is._

'-but in any case, your death was important to achieve an outcome where everyone comes out okay.'

'But… your brother is still dead. Master Roshi wasn't revived. Wouldn't you have changed the future in some way to save his life?'

Baba narrowed her eyes at Yamcha, sending a chill down his spine. 'If I could have, I would have. As it is, however, there was no possible future where Roshi survived his encounter with Piccolo. Every. Single. One. Ended with him dying while failing to perform the Evil Containment Wave. In every timeline, his use of that move against Piccolo was ubiquitous- err, except for one.'

'What's the exception?'

'For when Roshi died successfully using the Evil Containment Wave against Kakarot.'

 _Holy hell. That… would have been really bad._

Baba looked amused. 'Got any more questions before you tell me why you're here? It seems like you're a bit out of the loop.'

'Yea, yea…' Yamcha scratched his chin in thought. 'Okay… uh, last question… can you always do this? See future events to a "T"?'

'Oh heavens, no. I was able to see these particular events so clearly because someone from my own family was heavily involved in them.'

'So what you're saying is that in the next crisis-'

'I'll be completely useless in that regard, yes.'

'Great.' Yamcha facepalmed. 'That's just great.'

Yamcha held this position for much longer than Baba felt comfortable with. 'So uh,' she spoke up finally, when she couldn't bear his reaction anymore, 'what's the deal? Why are you here? The last time I checked there wasn't a crisis going on…'

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Yamcha sighed. 'I was _hoping_ that you could let me talk to Master Roshi.'

Baba cocked her head at a perfect 45-degree angle. 'Why would I do that?'

'Because that's what you do! You bring dead spirits to this world! You've been doing that with Roshi! I understand it's your job, but maybe we can work out an agreement. I _need_ to talk to Roshi.'

Baba glared at Yamcha. 'It is my responsibility to maintain the wall between the dead and living on this planet- a wall that exists for a reason. For a living mortal like you, there is nothing to be gained by being able to freely and easily communicate with dead souls.'

'But- but-'

'I'm sorry, but I can't allow that. Perhaps if Master Roshi was your _relative_ , then maybe, but as it is he's _my_ brother, not yours.'

'Well, what if I did you a favor? I scratch your back, you scratch mine?'

'What can you do for me? When I already have willing servants at my disposal?' As she said this, Yamcha noticed the knob of the door behind Baba start to twist from the other side. 'They come from all planes of existence- they can move between the different realms at command. What can you, as just a normal human, offer?'

'I… I don't know- but please!' Yamcha stepped closer, twisting his hands, 'Just this once, let me see him!'

'Begone! I will not unnecessarily pull spirits back to this plane just to let you chat with them!. Leave now, or I'll have my servants throw you out!' She emphatically pointed towards the darkened, gloomy entrance to the cavern opposite from her.

Yamcha grimaced, opened his mouth to argue more, but decided against it and shut his mouth. 'Okay.' he said quietly. He took a few steps towards the exit, looked back at Baba once more- but she was gone, the door to her house swinging close.

Nothing left to try, he slinked out of the cave. The sun was towering in the sky.

 _That… didn't go as he expected._ In his frustration, Yamcha actually found himself talking out loud. 'What the hell! Are you telling me that I left West City for _nothing!_ Kami damn it!' Yamcha kicked a chunk of dirt out of the ground, skipping it away. 'What am I supposed to do now! I'm in the middle of goddamned nowhere, as directionless as I was before!' he found himself shouting across the landscape. 'HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIX THIS?'

Nothing answered him. 'Alright, alright…' With his shoulders drooped much lower than just an hour before, Yamcha set out. _Alright..._

0o0o0

The forest zoomed past Launch, the succession of trees and plants giving her an inexplicable sense of freedom. _This is nice. I wonder- ooo!_ She twisted mid-run, hanging right to go down a more underused trail. Logs had fallen over and in some places the forest had begun to reclaim it wholesale. _Maybe if I'm lucky there's an out-of-way shop or home that wouldn't miss a few trinkets. Just a few…._ She hopped over a small dip in the trail. _I bet there's a ton of houses out here. All ready for-_

Just as Launch landed, her feet caught on something. Her body swung as if on a hinge, smacking her upper body and head into the dirt path. Percussive light filled her vision as she slowly realized someone- some people- were talking nearby.

'... I don't think this looks like one of them, boss.'

'What? Of course it's one of them! Who else would be out here in the middle of nowhere!'

'But look at her clothes… she looks nothing like them.'

She then heard a quiet _bop_ , like the sound of when a scepter raps on a disobedient subject's head.

'That's what you get for questioning me!' the voice was much shriller than before. 'Now pick her up and drag her from the path before someone sees!'

'Okay...'

Launch felt a pair of hands grip her. After a few moments of finding a good place to clamp down, the person tugged. She didn't move.

'Uhh, boss? She's kinda heavy.'

She heard someone sigh and stomp over before another pair of hands gripped her. This time, she began to move. 'Must I do everything myself…'the voice complained. 'Why can't you be more like Mai?'

'Well, I'm not Mai, boss.'

Another sigh.

Launch knew she could shake them off and walk away whenever she wanted, but so far, she was much too entertained.

0o0o0

'Alright! Do you feel warmed up!'

Suno was panting on the ground beside Chi-Chi, sucking air into her lungs. 'I thought... you said… that we would run… two miles…'

'I wanted to make sure we didn't skimp, so I might have gotten a bit overzealous…' Chi-Chi brought up a pedometer count on her watch. Her eyes bulged in surprise and she quickly clicked away from the counter. 'It doesn't matter anyway. At a certain point 'warm-up' just becomes 'work-out', so if anything, we just got an early start on training!'

'Hoorah…'

Chi-Chi motioned Suno to come over to her and directed her to sit down in a cross-legged position. Once Suno was seated, Chi-Chi did the same. _Alright,_ Chi-Chi wracked her brain, _this is how Master Roshi did it, right?_ _Starting with inner peace…_

'Close your eyes, Suno, and try to do what I say as best you can. Imagine all the different colors in the world.'

'Colors?'

'Uh-huh. Just think of as many as you can.'

A minute or so passed. 'Okay,' Suno piped up, 'I'm done.'

'Good. Now imagine all those colors mixing, separating, constantly changing and in flux.'

'Okay. I'm doing that.'

'These colors represent _ki._ You don't know _ki,_ right?'

'Is it like the bright things I saw the bad men do?'

 _Bad men… yea…_ 'It's exactly the bright things you saw. Those were physical manifestations of _ki_. _Ki_ is inside every living being, almost like… do you have batteries in your village?'

'Yeah, of course.'

'What about rechargeable batteries?'

'What are those?'

'Oh… hmm….' Chi-Chi searched for another simile. ' _Ki_ is like… rechargeable batteries,' she offered lamely, 'if you treat your soul, spirit, and body well, your _ki_ will grow stronger or replenish itself.'

Suno's eyes were still closed 'So that's what rechargeable batteries are?'

'... In a way, yes, though I feel we're getting a little off-topic. Point is, you and I both have our own _kis,_ distinct like specially mixed colors, that fluctuate in power or intensity. No single _ki_ is quite like another one.

'Can you tell me apart just from my _ki_?' Suno asked, awe present in her voice.

'Yes, actually. And that's true for every living person on the planet, once you train yourself how to spot the differences.'

'Wow, that's… a lot of people!'

Chi-Chi smiled and nodded. 'Yup. But usually there are only a few people you need to be able to recognize off-hand.'

'Like who?'

'Like your friends.' Mentally, Chi-Chi tracked down some familiar _kis. Krillin is… somewhere in the sky? Huh? Rayne is half-way across the globe- good. Yamcha is… also far away._

'Who else?' Suno broke into Chi-Chi's mental searching.

'Oh, uh… you also want to know your enemies off-hand.'

'Enemies?'

Kakarot flashed through Chi-Chi's mind. 'Err- more like potential threats. You shouldn't have any enemies dogging you right now- at least this early on…'

'Hmm.' Suno kept her eyes closed and tightened her facial features. 'So… I just keep my eyes closed and search for my _ki_?'

'Yea- c'mon, I'll join you.' Chi-Chi shut her eyes similarity to Suno. 'It's all about patience,' she said between light breaths, 'and slowly working-'

'Chi-Chi, I'm bored.'

Chi-Chi opened her eyes. Suno was staring at her. 'Oh. Well… we can do something else, then. I have just the thing.' She rose, pulling Suno to her feet. 'Follow me! It's right over here.'

Smiling, Suno fell into lockstep behind Chi-Chi, excited about what they were going to do next.

Her mentor was in a different state of mind. _I have nothing else planned. Uhh... how did Master Roshi keep our attention?_

 _I guess through his strangeness, mostly. Hmm…_

'Haaah!' Chi-Chi abruptly spun around and launched a tiny _ki_ blast at her student, trying to surprise her.

Suno took the attack head-on and toppled backward to the ground.

 _Oh… my god._ Chi-Chi dashed over to Suno and knelt next to her in the ground. Her eyes were glazed over, her face stuck in a dumb expression. Chi-Chi snapped her fingers a few times, gathering the slightest amount of Suno's attention. 'I… think that's enough training for today. I am. So sorry.'

Suno's expression changed- the corner of her mouth was now curled into a smile. 'That was… pretty cool.'

 _What did I do to deserve a student like this?_

0o0o0

'Do you mind if I ask you a question?'

Yajirobe paused from gorging on a roasted dinosaur leg. He quickly chewed and swallowed what was in his mouth. 'Mmmyeah?'

Rayne gave him a stern look. 'Are you actually a samurai?'

'Uhh…' he wiped away some grease from around his mouth with a fistful of his shirt, 'kinda?'

'What do you mean, "kinda"?'

'My father was a samurai for some local lord in these parts. He gave me this sword when I was young- I'm not actually sure what happened to him. This was for sure his sword, though.'

'What about your mom?'

'Not a clue.' Absentmindedly, Yajirobe took another bite out of his leg.

'So you've never been trained? At all?' Rayne asked.

Yajirobe swallowed. 'I practiced a lot with this blade. Does that count?'

'Not… really.'

He grunted, then continued to munch on his leg.

Rayne took another look at her own roasted leg. Intimidated, she placed it back on the metal spit over the unlit fire. 'Let me ask you another question. Have you ever trained in the martial arts?'

'No, not really.'

'How are you… so strong, then?'

He shrugged. 'Just am.'

Rayne pouted. _Life is unfair._ 'Have you always lived out here?'

Through a munching sound, Yajirobe uttered, 'uhhuh'. He quickly finished his leg and moved onto Rayne's largely uneaten one.

'I think… I should go.'

Yajirobe flicked his eyes up from leg. 'Why?'

She stood. 'I don't think there's anything you can teach me.' She waved, smiling as best she could. 'Thanks for the meal, though!'

'Hold on a second!' Yajirobe clambered to his feet. 'Just because I'm not some sort of master doesn't mean I can't show you a few tricks!'

Rayne stared at him skeptically. 'Like?...'

'Ever try hunting an animal through the forest?'

'Hunting? How's that relevant?'

'You have to keep yourself as quiet as possible. You need to get as close as possible to your prey. You need to strike decisively and effectively, killing, or if not, mortally wounding your prey in one strike. Doesn't that sound useful?'

'Huh,' Rayne sat back down, intrigued. 'When you put it that way…'

Internally, Yajirobe sighed in relief. _I was starting to feel a bit lonely. It's been a while since that green guy has come around. Even though he tried to steal my food, I kinda miss him…_

Rayne's thoughts were tuned to something else entirely. _What an odd,_ _ **odd**_ _person. I know I've already changed my opinion on him_ _ **twice**_ _\- from bum to hero to bum again- but maybe he's the real deal, after all. I guess it can't hurt to see if can give any advice..._ 'Yajirobe, can I ask you a question?'

'Huh? Sure. Go ahead.'

'Hypothetically, if you got into a nasty fight with your friends, what would you do?'

Yajirobe leaned back on his log, running his fingers through his long black mane of hair. 'I guess I'd try to fix things between us.'

'What if the problem that caused the fight in the first place is still a problem? What would you do then?'

'Then I'd make it not a problem.'

Rayne squinted at him. 'What?'

'You know, I'd either fix the problem- or stop caring about it.'

'...'

'What?'

'You are very strange.'

'I know.'

0o0o0

It had taken Kakarot a few days to sort out everything. Memories trickled down to him in bits and pieces, giving him small glimpses of the events of the past week. He remembered competing at the tournament, eventually losing to that familiar old man- though he couldn't remember how _exactly_ he had lost, beyond a sensation centered on his neck. _I'm sure it'll come to me soon…_

The next time he woke, he found himself in the ruins of a city, unharmed. He had clearly been moved, most likely by the familiar humans he sighted nearby. Then… he fought, _I think_ , and was badly hurt. He still felt hurt from those injuries- he had noticed that his ribs in particular seemed to be surrounded with bruised flesh. Regardless, he had survived whatever fight he had been in and had woken up here in this forest, clearly having been carried away again. He wasn't sure _when_ he had lost his tail. _Was it the first or second time I was knocked unconscious? Does it even matter?..._

There were other memories filtering back to Kakarot, memories he had wholly forgotten had even existed in the first place. He remembered his caretaker from when he was very, very young- every wrinkle, crease, and fold was in its proper place on his face. The old man's common expressions of both hope and fear mixed into a single indivisible image in his head. _Like he couldn't separate those feelings from each other._ For some reason, the thought of where Kakarot was raised- in a modest dwelling somewhere far to the north and west, if he recalled correctly- brought a warmth to his thoughts.

He would need to find a map, and from there orient himself as to where he was, but once that was done, Kakarot was sure he could find where he had grown up- or the ruins of it, anyway. There was something… nagging him- or maybe reminding him- in the back of his mind, about something important about that area. Something beyond just the house itself… but Kakarot couldn't quite place it.

A part of him told him that these thoughts were useless, even detrimental- but Kakarot couldn't shake the feeling of needing to do this. What else could he do in the meantime? He had been thoroughly beaten not once, but _twice_ in the past week. To still believe that he was indestructible would be pure self-delusion. _Even trying to defeat… well, whoever defeated me, would be a waste of time. I can't._

He didn't feel any sort of excitement at fighting whoever those people were again- not when he felt utterly weak.

Kakarot rose to stand to stretch, immediately eliciting a growl of hunger from his stomach. _I haven't eaten anything in a while, have I?_ Without wasting another moment, he set off to find a meal.

0o0o0

Disguised as a low-profile, skinny and lanky pushover, Oolong stumbled into the bar, holding onto the side of the wall as he went for support.

He had to keep up appearances. He had never shown up to a mission set up by the Central underworld drunk- but appearing inebriated was the best way to avoid attention, given what the bar was like right now.

Drunks were staggering to and fro, caught in an ever running loop from their tables to the bar counter. They pushed, fell, and hanged on each- and looked happier for it.

Staying clear of the main crowd as best as an acting, paranoid drunk man could, Oolong fell into a chair in the far corner of the bar, flush up against the corner wall. _Ahh, my favorite spot. Now to wait and-_

As Oolong was falling into his chair, he heard a _poof_ and saw smoke spill out from behind him. The next thing he knew, two powerful arms were gripping him from behind and pulling him upright.

'It's been such a long time,' the man purred, sending a chill down Oolong's spine, ' _Oolong._ What have you been up to?'

Oolong swore under his breath. 'Kami take you, Puar.'

0o0o0

Chiaotzu crouched down at the side of a beat-down trail. 'Tien, come over here!' Once his friend had wandered over, Chiaotzu pointed down at the ground. 'Footprints lead down this path. This must have been Launch.'

Tien nodded, agreeing with his judgment. 'Lead the way,'

They didn't need to walk far down the side-path. About a hundred feet into it they came to a badly disguised… 'what would you call this?' Chiaotzu asked. 'A scene?'

In the dirt, they saw the pair of footsteps suddenly stop. Immediately beyond the last pair was the imprint of a body crashing into the ground. Around these two imprints, there was a flurry of smaller steps. These smaller steps seemed to have eventually dragged whoever had fallen away, judging from the body-wide streak mark in the dirt. Afterward, someone had tried to cover up the area by sprinkling a bunch of leaves over it. The effort looked half-hearted.

'There's no way Launch was captured by whoever did this,' Tien decided, 'or, at least, not unintentionally.'

'You think she let herself be captured?'

Tien shrugged. 'Maybe.'

'Guess there's only one way to find out.'

They set off hesitantly through the forest, not sure what to expect when they reached the end of the tracks. _This must have been the work of the people Bora mentioned. Why would they take Launch, though? She doesn't look associated with the village in the slightest._

They rounded around an old, thick tree, stepping into a small camp- in the process stumbling into one of the strangest sights either of them had ever seen. A blue imp-like creature was slurping noisily from a cup while a dog in what seemed like a ninja costume was dozing off half-leaning on a table. Launch appeared to be tied up to a motorcycle. Upon sighting them. She winked. The blue imp spat out his tea. 'Aaah!' he threw his tea-filled cup at the dog, splashing him with hot tea and knocking him on the head.

'Aaaaooooh!' the dog immediately jumped up, shaking off the scalding liquid from their head. 'Aoh Aoh Aoh Aoh Aoh! Why did you do that!?'

'You imbecile!' The blue imp was pointing towards Tien and Chiaotzu. 'Look!'

Snarling, the dog swung his head- and immediately yelped at seeing them. He fumbled a moment with his sword before successfully pulling it out and brandishing it at them. 'Don't come any closer!' he threatened, as he stepped between them and Launch, 'or the girl gets it!'

'What do I get!?' Launch teased.

'You stay out of this!'

'Uhh… what are you two doing?' Tien questioned.

'What does it look like we're doing!' the blue imp jumped up and down as he talked. 'We're threatening her, and we'll go as far as to hurt her if you don't do what we want!'

'...which is?' Chiaotzu said.

'What? Which is what?'

'What do you want us to do?'

'Oh- haha! Good question, future subject!' The blue imp made a show of laughing. 'I want you two to sneak into the village and search the premises for a special artifact. My sources tell me that those communal cretins are hiding it right under our noses!'

'What does this artifact look like?'

'Haha! As if I'd tell you! If you knew what it looked like you'd steal it for yourselves!'

'...But how are we supposed to find something we can't recognize?' Tien asked, deadpan.

'Search their biggest dwellings! I don't know! You're working for me, not the other way around! Figure it out!'

Tien glanced over at Chiaotzu; he saw the giggling pale fighter had gotten as much enjoyment out of the situation as was possible. 'Alright,' Tien said, making a show of closing his eyes as if to agree, 'We'll get right on- HAAAH!' In a split-second Tien surged forward, surprising the dog samurai by gripping his sword and snapping in two like a twig. Panicking, the dog samurai took one look at his useless weapon before throwing it to the ground and dog-tailing it out of the camp. 'These guys are serious, boss!' he yelled as he ran past the blue imp. 'I'm getting out of here!'

Momentarily flummoxed, the blue imp collected himself.'Mai!' he cried, 'help us!'

Tien instinctually dodged as a bullet zoomed over his head. He twisted while crouched, coming face to face with a black-haired woman who had stepped out of the underbrush. She blinked in surprise before leveling her silenced pistol at Tien once more and firing.

He didn't even bother to move this time. The bullet halted its momentum on him harmlessly and bounced off.

Mai dropped her pistol in utter shock before running away similarly as the dog samurai.

'Mai! Get back here you coward!' The blue imp jumped up and down in frustration. Once it was clear he had been deserted by his goons, he scowled at Tien and Chiaotzu. 'You haven't seen the last of King Pilaf!' he practically yelled, 'mark my words!' When he finished, Pilaf broke into a stubby flight.

Chiaotzu walked a bit further into the camp. It was obvious that the three who had run away had taken nothing of their camp supplies with them. _Uhh..._

'That was fun,' Launch said as she slipped out of her poorly tied binds, 'Now- wonder what I should do-'

A hand clamped down on her shoulder. She turned- Tien was manifesting his most serious look possible. 'You need to sit.'

Launch wrinkled her nose in displeasure, but she sat all the same.

'Launch, I think there's something funky going on with your spiritual energy,' Tien said as soon as she was seated.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean I can sense something's off with you. _Ki_ wise, that is. It feels like all your energy is being forced through a choke-point; it's being gated, or constricted, in some way. It's strained, like it's under a ton of pressure… I'm sorry if I'm not describing this perfectly, but I only noticed this when you ran off earlier. Long story short, something's off.'

'Yea? And? Why should I care?'

'Be quiet for a moment and maybe I'll tell you,' an impatient Tien said. In response to his harshness, Launch pouted. 'Sorry,' Tien apologized, 'but this is important and I don't feel like you're taking this seriously. Just give me a few minutes to explain, alright?'

'Okay, okay…'

'I think whatever's going on with you is stopping your 'other' self from coming out. That's why when you sneezed earlier you didn't swap control. Your _ki_ is so out-of-whack it's affecting whatever power-sharing agreement your body has.'

Launch snorted. 'Maybe I want to keep control. Have you considered that? Maybe I don't like my other 'self'. Maybe I think she's a coward and a pushover.'

'Are you actually causing this?'

'Maybe. Maybe not.'

Tien was silent for a moment. ''You may not care about your other half- though I suspect you actually _do,_ deep down- but this 'situation' is affecting you in other ways. You've been much more impulsive.'

'Is that a statement or a question?'

'A statement. Look at me in the eyes, Launch. No lying.'

Launch glared at him. 'Fine,' she relented, 'so maybe I've been more impulsive. But what if I am? If anything, acting on my impulses feels more _fun_ than it used to.'

'Launch, didn't you say earlier you had a past you didn't want to repeat?' Chiaotzu asked. 'Are your impulses related to that in any way?'

She frowned, turning over his statement in her head. 'I'm acting on who I want to be.'

'Are you sure?'

'...' She screwed her face, glancing off to one side. 'No,' she admitted,

'Then let me try and sort this out for you,' Tien pleaded. 'If I find out there's nothing wrong with you, you can be on your way. Just let me try.'

'...Alright. Fine. You can try.' Launch's head twisted, like she was considering something. 'How did you figure all this out?' Launch asked after a moment, curious. 'How do you even know this can be _fixed?_ You sound like an expert.'

Tien gestured to his forehead. 'This third eye isn't just for show. In the best of times, it serves as a potent connection to all matters of the spiritual- primarily spiritual _ki_.

'So it's because of the third eye? Are you some kinda alien, then?'

'Tien's not fully human,' Chiaotzu explained. 'Which would explain why his third eye can be a bit unreliable.' Chiaotzu turned to Tien. 'I overhead Shen once say that you're half triclops- whatever that means. Not sure how'd he know that, though.'

'What?' Tien looked confused. 'Shen said this? How come you didn't tell me this sooner?'

'I guess it never came up. Sorry.'

'Huh… that would make a lot of sense… I'm not fully "human".'

'How'd you _not_ know sooner? Weren't you curious about why your parents looked different from everyone else?' Launch bantered.

'I don't know what my parents look like. I never met my parents.' Tien shifted his sitting posture.

'You don't know your parents?' Launch asked with a hint of sadness in her voice. 'Really?'

'I don't remember much before joining the Crane dojo beyond simply trying to scrap for bits of food and survive. I was an orphan, I think. I was definitely homeless.' Seeing a bit of sympathy in Launch's eyes, he added, 'it's nothing. Everyone has a history. It made me into who I am, for better or worse. What we need to focus on _now_ , though, is what's going on with you.' He looked her dead center in the eyes. 'Before there are any _serious_ consequences, like losing your ability to use _ki_ or something like that.'

'You think you can fix this?'

Tien nodded.

'Alright. Let's not waste any time, then.'

'Uh, actually,' Chiatozu interrupted, 'before we commit to any time-consuming thing, we should probably go back to the village and tell them their troublemaker problem has been dealt with. I think we scared off their problem people for good.'

Tien turned Launch 'Launch?'

'That's fine. I can wait for a half-hour. Let's go.'

* * *

A/N: These transition chapters are turning out be shorter than usual, but on the flip-side, chapters should be rolling out at a faster-than-normal speed over the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** It is character~development~time; glad you're enjoying it! Things are looking down for Yamcha… but that probably won't be true forever ;).

 **Lala:** I was thinking the same thing about clarifying everyone's ages in the story. I've never been very good at describing characters so it's not like you could figure out from their physical appearance, lol. Roughly, I'd pen everyone in the story as of the end of the 22nd Tournament is around mid-to-late adolescence. I'll definitely make everyone's ages more clear at some point going forward.

I like to think that Saiyan tails influence the minds of the Saiyans that have them. Saiyan tails uniquely contain within the 'parts', for lack of any better word, to transform someone into an Oozaru, which is the ultimate embodiment of rage and aggression. If a Saiyan doesn't train themselves in their Oozaru form, then they lose total control while transformed and act like a feral beast. Personally, I think that having a tail would have _some_ effect on a Saiyan's mindset because of this.

 **Luke:** Thank you! And now you know a bit more about what was going on last chapter with Launch.

Right on the tail part. I'm not quite sure what you're referring to as Kakarot's "head-knocking", though.

 **TC9078:** Thanks for all the info. I haven't picked up the manga in a while and I've never even watched Super, so all of this is good to know.

Also good to know about the tails. Just as Toriyama made his decision on tails based on personal artistic preference, I shall do the same!

And thank you! I've enjoyed your story _Rhyme & Reason_ and hope you continue the great work with that!

 **Malak18:** I will and thank you!

 **OneofTen:** Very true about Launch! And I'm still waiting on the other nine to chime in, haha!


	30. Become the Hero

Sins of the Father

Chapter 30: Become the Hero

* * *

It was relatively simple for Korin to prepare for Tien and Chiaotzu's impending residency at his tower; a few made beds there, a couple packages of food there, and that was that. As it was, he was fairly bored of waiting when a week had passed and a figure emerged from below. A single figure.

Korin's face screwed up from confusion. 'Chiaotzu? Are you by yourself? Where's Tien?'

Chiaotzu finished clambering to a full standing position before speaking. He didn't look nearly as tired as he was the first time he had done the climb 'He's not coming.' he explained between breaths. 'Something came up.'

'Well… that's a shame. But I guess it's no big loss. More attention for you, right?'

'Actually…' Chiaotzu looked a bit sheepish, '...I'm not staying. I just wanted to make the climb and tell you we won't be training with you after all.'

'I… really? That's… nice of you to do that. I think.'

'No problem- if you don't mind,' Chiaotzu backed over to the edge and swung himself over it, 'I need to get back. See ya!'

Left alone, Korin began to frown at the vast expanse surrounding his tower. _Just when I was getting excited to teach some new students… they pull the rug out from under me. Damn kids these days have no respect for their elders._ He inhaled, then let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

0o0o0

The village Yamcha had found after a few days of listless wandering reminded him a lot of his hometown. Most people kept their hats draped low over their heads as they went about their day, tending to the things like crops and animals that gave them a living. Sheep and cows would walk by in packs every so often, trimming the grass down as they went. From time to time, a person would come out to check that the herds weren't under duress- but this part of the world usually didn't suffer from stuff like wolf attacks or cattle bandits. It was just… peaceful. From a small hilltop close to the village center, Yamcha saw all of this.

 _My Kami, I'm… probably as young as any one of them. If I had stayed in my own village I'd be like most of those people out there right now- hats pulled down in a workmanlike manner and happily doing the only thing I know._ There was a beauty in the way these people could wake up, day-in, day-out, and tend to the same job with no end in sight. _When you come from a place like this, your dreams rarely go past the boundaries of the animal pens…_

Yet, even here, Yamcha could spot the people who wanted to rise beyond their home. These people weren't bent over, staring at the ground- instead, their backs were held high, their eyes constantly scanning at the horizon for something new. Their imagination stretched beyond the world they lived in. They reminded him of… himself.

Growing waves of noise snapped Yamcha out of his daydreaming. Down the slope of the hill, a crowd was walking up towards him. _I guess I was a bit obvious up here._ As they drew closer, Yamcha could increasingly make out a sea of angry faces. _Maybe this isn't like my own village, after all._

He could have run, of course, but he didn't really have anywhere else to go.

'Hey you! Stranger!' A burly man with a dark farmer's tan was leading the group. 'You know anything about this!' He pushed something into Yamcha's hands accusingly. Around Yamcha, the crowd was slowly encircling him.

Yamcha glanced down at what looked like a leaflet. A message was written in bright, red letters, saying, 'WE ARE NOW PROVIDING OUR PROTECTION SERVICES TO YOUR COMMUNITY. IN PAYMENT, YOU SHALL GATHER AND GIVE TO US ONE HALF OF YOUR YEARLY HARVEST BY SUNSET TOMORROW. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES.' There was nothing else written. Yamcha turned over the sheet. An emblem in the bottom right corner made Yamcha's skin crawl. _Red Ribbon?..._

'Hey!' The burly man snatched the piece of paper out of Yamcha hands. 'It looks like you recognize this thing! Are you trying to pull a sick joke on us, pal? You don't want to mess with our community! We drove out that damn bloodsucking government tax collector just a few years back and we'll do the same to you, charlatan!'

 _Okay… this village is nothing like mine._ 'No, no!' Yamcha smiled harmlessly, trying to defuse the situation. 'I only reacted to that because I recognized a symbol on it. I'm not associated with it, or whoever made this, promise!'

'Well, who left this leaflet then!' The man crumpled the paper up in his fist and shook it at Yamcha. 'Speak up!'

'A paramilitary organization. They're well funded and well armed. Though I thought they were gone…' Yamcha trailed off, noticing that everyone had stopped listening. Instead, the crowd was murmuring and whispering among each other, concern evident in their expressions and tone. It was a shocking transition- people who were a few minutes ago ready to throw him to the wolves were now scared witless.

 _They don't deserve this. Actually…_ 'I can get rid of them,' Yamcha announced, catching everyone's attention again.

Suspicious gazes regarded him. 'What, you're just gonna get rid of them?' a woman with her sleeves rolled up accosted Yamcha. 'Didn't you just say that leaflet is from a well-armed _military_ group?'

'I've done something similar before. They're not as tough as they sound.' When he continued to receive unbelieving looks, he said, 'Just humor me. Regardless if I succeed or not, I'll at least be out of your hair.'

The villagers looked back and forth among themselves, then started to grumble and walk away. 'You better be telling the truth,' the woman warned Yamcha, 'or else I'm going to track you down and get you acquainted with my shotgun.'

Yamcha nodded vigorously. _Message received!_ Sweating a bit from the hostile attention, he let himself cool off as he watched the townspeople filter back down the hill. Despite just having excused himself from a potentially messy situation, his mind had been occupied elsewhere. _The chance of this being the actual Red Ribbon Army is so slim… but if this is actually them, then they need to be stopped._ He looked over the lonely, tranquil landscape surrounding the village again. _And I doubt anyone else is going to be doing that way out here any time soon._

He lowered himself to the ground, crisscrossing his legs and focusing on his _ki_. He hasn't actually needed to _use_ this ability since he had learned it- turns out, he was a bit rusty. _That's… no, that's the village right next to me. Wider. Oh! Oh… no, that's a bunch of deer._ Yamcha screwed his eyes tighter. _C'mon! Alright… Wider… wider…_

 _Woah. Bingo._

0o0o0

Rayne awoke to a kicking sensation. Her eyes shot open and saw an angry looking Yajirobe glaring down at her. 'You need to leave!' he barked.

'What?' She scooted away from his foot and rubbed her eyes. 'Why?'

'Because you keep asking me the same questions over and over again! You're driving me insane!'

'Questions? What questions?'

'You keep asking me, "Yajirobe, I don't know how to fix things with my friends," or, "hey Yajirobe, what should I do with myself?" Stop asking! I told you before, you just need to stop caring about these things! Or at least stop asking me!'

'Seriously?'

'Yes! Day-in, day-out, you ask the same damn questions! I'm sick and tired of it!'

She sensed something… more was going on. 'Is that it?'

Yajirobe seemed to hold his breath for a moment, but as his entire face went ruby red his mouth exploded, 'NO! STOP EATING THE ANIMALS I CATCH! THEY'RE MINE! IF YOU WANT TO EAT MEAT SO BAD CATCH YOUR OWN!'

Stunned, Rayne continued to sit up on her straw mat, staring at the samurai. _I mean, yeah, that's true. I've been eating more to push myself harder in training. I didn't think, though..._

While waiting for Rayne to respond. Yajirobe huffed, cooling himself down and draining his face of color. 'Sorry,' he added after a moment.

'Nope, that's completely understandable.' She stood and crouched over her straw mat, rolling it up. 'I think I've stayed here long enough. A year is a long enough period of time to get a bearing on things.

Behind her back, Yajirobe mouthed, 'yea, it should be… grr…'

She slung the mat into her pack and then slung that over her shoulder. 'Your yelling made me realize something. What you said about catching my own animals.' She glanced at Yajirobe- he looked confused, clearly having no idea where she was going with her current line of thought. 'I need to start catching my own animals… in all parts of my life. Get that?'

'Uhh… yea?'

'That was why I was asking you so many questions. Because I didn't want to go out and fix those problems.'

'Oh- okay.'

'So thank you for that. Your act was just jarring enough to shake me out of my own head.'

'Oh yea… of course.' Yajirobe scratched his head. 'You're not going to eat any more of my food though, right?'

'Not a bit.'

'Good.' He walked over to the hut's door and held it open to her. Obliging, she walked through. 'I'll swing by again soon,' she called back to him as she entered the edge of the surrounding forest. 'Until then!'

Yajirobe made a show of smiling and waving back. As soon as she was out of sight, however, his expression soured and he dropped his hand. 'I'm never, ever, _ever_ letting anyone stay with me ever again… eat all my damn food…' he grumbled before withdrawing back into the hut.

0o0o0

Kakarot rounded a dirt road, abruptly running into a bizarrely ruined section of the forest. Beneath fledging saplings and shrubs there were numerous trees flattened to the ground, all in various stages of decomposition. Depending on which trunk he stepped on, his foot was liable to either roll off the rough, calcified exterior or crunch through the rotted wood entirely. It made walking an annoying experience.

Soldering as best he could, he approached what appeared to be the originating center of the phenomenon. He reached the edge of the treeline- or what was the treeline, a few years ago. What used to be a modest clearing was quickly becoming overrun with young plant life. Tall weeds rose higher than Kakarot, swaying peacefully in the wind. Despite this hindrance to his sight, Kakarot could very clearly see a small shack on the top of a hill in the middle of the clearing. _His shack._

As he drew closer, he remembered the times he had run up and down this same hill, chasing a small animal that flitted around. He would grab the animal and more often than not wring its neck, dropping it to the ground like a broken tool. Afterward, he would stare at the dead animal for some time. _At least, that's what I remember now..._

 _More memories that feel out of place._ Kakarot was feeling some sort of disconnect- like parts of his past weren't actually lived by him. Perhaps that was what was driving him here in the first place.

He closed within a few feet of the shack. The door was gone- either removed or destroyed- with its rusted hinges still clinging stubbornly to the wooden frame of the building. Walking through, Kakarot saw that the blooming of life outside was also present within the shack; small plants were pushing against wooden floorboards and walls, slowly working its roots into the nooks and crannies of whatever the building gave. In one corner of the main room, some detritus and burrowing indicated some animals had moved in. Whatever they were, they weren't here now.

Wasting no time, Kakarot curled to the right and pulled opened a smaller, still-existing door.

This side room was in better condition than the main one. It was dark save for a single glass window that looked to be on the verge of shattering at any moment; an unimaginable amount of cracks ran up and down its length- yet it persisted as one piece, whole. To Kakarot's right there was a small writing desk, spilled ink and moldy paper painting the surface of it. Kakarot walked over to the desk, and after brushing off what was on top, removed a few papers from the desk drawers.

He started to leaf through a few of the handwritten pages. _I always wondered what the old man did with his time…_ There were countless little observations written down about Kakarot, years and years and years of it. _I hoped he had done something like this._

Shuffling through a few more papers, it became clear to Kakarot that these writings weren't just about him. _These are… his thoughts. So like a… journal, then?_ He picked up one particular page- it was dated eight years ago. The edges of the paper were starting to yellow.

' _Today was, thankfully, a quiet day. Kakarot stayed around the house all day. He seemed… distracted by something. He continued to glance in the direction of it throughout the day, but I don't think he consciously remembers it. Otherwise, he would have wandered over by now…'_

Intrigued, Kakarot put the page down and lifted up another, dated another two years before the previous one.

 _'I've been consumed by what I saw in that forest. I can't make heads or tails of it. It seems so_ _ **alien…**_ _but it doesn't look like it could ever leave the ground… if only I was a scholar, then maybe…'_

Kakarot put this page down and reached over to a small candlestick on the corner of the desk. He rubbed the wick until it caught fire and started to burn. He then held the candlestick to the paper, illuminating it, before putting the page down and bringing a different one into the light.

He had a feeling he would be here a while. _Time to settle in._

0o0o0

Before he had even sighted the base, Yamcha knew he was drawing closer as he heard countless gunshots echo into the air. It was a mad and uneven tune of blasts and pops, surely driving away any animal nearby from coming closer. It was also incredibly obnoxious. _How do they not go crazy from this atrocious melody? So evil…_

Yamcha had spent the better part of a week tracking the Red Ribbon Army- after dispatching the patrol of goons en route to the village, of course. It seemed that they were intentionally trying to keep themselves hidden by packing up and moving camp every night. A few times already Yamcha had neared where he had sensed everyone previously only to find a bit of rubbish and truck tracks leading out of the area.

He wouldn't let them slip out of his grasp this time. Cautiously, he pressed his back to a section of exposed rock that ran parallel to the base and edged forward, trying to approach the wooded camp with a bit of cover. The stretch of rock went on long enough for him to poke his head out nearly on top of the base, giving him an unobstructed view of what was going on. The area was mostly dominated by tents and tarps, obviously serving as sleeping quarters for the main bulk of the army. The center was dominated by an impromptu mustering ground, where he saw a number of soldiers following various commands to run, shoot, or drop to the ground given by a commanding officer. On the perimeter, armed guards poked out of truck troop carriers that formed a motorized wall around the entire base. There was no chance Yamcha would sneak in unseen.

Luckily, he hadn't planned on doing that. As soon as he finished scanning the entire camp, he walked out into the open, his arms held high in the air. 'Hi!' he shouted towards the base.

Several machine guns trained on him in an instance. 'You have ten seconds to back up or we shoot you!' one of the guards shouted back.

Unintimidated, Yamcha said, 'I want to talk to you guys! Let me in!'

Baffled, the guards exchanged looks with each other. 'We don't usually hear that,' the original guard said, 'so forgive us for asking again. Get the hell out of here!'

At this point their commotion had grabbed the attention of the entire base. Curious soldiers filtered in between the trucks.

'Come on, be reasonable!' Yamcha was grinning madly. _This is kinda fun when you know you can't be hurt by bullets!_ ' I promise I'm a nice guy.'

'You have three seconds! Two! On-'

'Stop!'

The guards in the trucks turned to a figure emerging from the press of soldiers. As they did this, Yamcha took a quick headcount of everyone he could see. _No more than fifty. Good. It'll be easier to disperse them, then._

The last of the soldiers in the front moved aside- and as plain as day, a familiar figure from Yamcha's past emerged, their blonde hair and blue eyes complementing their buff, shirtless upper body quite nicely.

 _General Blue?..._

Upon laying eyes on Yamcha, he perked up. 'Hah! This should be fun.' With some unseen gestured, the guards swiveled their guns away from Yamcha. General Blue walked forward, cracking his knuckles as he did. 'I've been looking forward to showing my men how far my martial prowess extends. Who would have guessed a punching bag from my past would turn up just when I needed to do a demonstration…'

 _I hate this guy._ 'You sure you want to do this buddy?' Yamcha cautioned, preparing himself for a fight. 'You weren't exactly leaps and bounds above me the last time.'

'Do you think I haven't trained in the slightest?' As if answering his own question, he shifted into a guard, showing more prominently how much more muscled his body was compared to the last time Yamcha had seen him. 'I have grown stronger in both body and mind. And you? You look the same. Weak.'

'So we're actually doing this, then,' Yamcha slowly began to walk forward at an angle, circling General Blue.

 _Either this fight is going to be very fun or very,_ _ **very**_ _unpleasant. If he's serious about how much work he'd done…_

 _ **No-**_ _no doubt. You have to fight like you think you're going to win. Otherwise… I should have stayed in West City._

The soldiers fanned out further- they formed a half-circle behind General Blue, letting the barren rock wall behind Yamcha box him in. The former bandit was essentially trapped. Ominously, he noticed a few trucks, machine gunners posted on top, start to draw closer.

General Blue rolled his neck once, then again with his hands, then bared his fists. 'Prepare yourself. Raaahhh!' He charged.

Yamcha ran to meet him.

Their bodies sprinted towards each other, both holding back a cocked fist-

And General Blue was sent sprawling to the ground, his entire body ricocheting from the impact of Yamcha's fist. General Blue's fist had bounced off of Yamcha's cheek harmlessly.

Dead silence descended on the previously cheering soldiers. General Blue brought one hand to his cheek, wiping away a streak of blood- '...Why you- _GAAACK!-_ ' without any warning, General Blue gagged and then spit out a tooth from his mouth, blood clinging to its root. He stared dumbly at the dislodged tooth for a moment before glaring back at Yamcha. 'Look what you've done!' he snarled, showcasing one of his missing front teeth. 'You're going to pay for that!' General Blue jumped up and swung his leg out at Yamcha. This time, Yamcha hopped back a foot and grabbed General Blue's leg. Grinning wickedly, Yamcha started to rotate, wrenching a startled General Blue off the ground. Yamcha spun faster and faster, eventually taking General Blue's entire body off the ground. When he felt he couldn't speed up anymore, Yamcha released General Blue towards his own crowd of soldiers. Like a rocket, he spun towards them and crashed into their ranks, toppling over nearly half of the soldiers present.

While everyone was trying to reorganize into a presentable mass, Yamcha spoke. 'Soldiers of the Red Ribbon Army, lay down your arms! Can't you see this is pointless!' Out of the corner of his eyes, Yamcha saw a few gunners posted at the top of the trucks lower their guns slightly. _That's it, c'mon!_ 'It's not too late to stop doing this! Just walk away and you won't be seen as bandits for the rest of your lives!'

He saw doubt- but he could tell he still hadn't convinced them. _I don't want to kick a guy when he's down, but…_ 'Your commander is a fraud! He went down in two hits! Would you want to fight, want to _die_ , for someone like that?'

A few soldiers seemed to glance at where General Blue had disappeared into the crowd. Then, some began to walk away from the scene, dropping their guns as they did. The entire group in front of Yamcha started to melt away. _Yes! Just a few more seconds!-_

'STOOOOP!' A voice raged up out of the crowd. A few seconds later General Blue emerged into the open once more, blood gushing from a broken nose. 'This man is a weaklinga! And I'll prove it to you, my soldiers!' General Blue crouched and placed one outstretched to his temple, squinting.

Yamcha felt a tug on his body… but nothing more. Hesitantly and with some discomfort he wiggled his pinky finger. _Oh_ _ **yes.**_ Freezing for a moment- just to see the beginnings of a satisfied expression form on General Blue's face- Yamcha exploded forwards, bending his hand into a familiar claw shape. Blue _ki_ surrounded Yamcha's leading arm with the slightest shimmer. 'Hyaaaah!' With two downwards strikes onto General Blue's chest, Yamcha drove the Red Ribbon officer into the ground, submerging the center of his body in a half-inch of dirt. The General was out cold. 'Leave!' Yamcha commanded to the soldiers around him.

Soldiers shot blank stares at Yamcha; then, one by one, they turned and walked away. Soon enough, Yamcha was alone amidst an unconscious General Blue and a few deserted trucks.

 _And the Red Ribbon Army was defeated by a single man._

Yamcha walked back a few feet, examining the state of the general. He was bleeding- but he would live. _Well done, Yamcha, well done._

0o0o0

It was the dead of night in the village- the only sound Chi-Chi could hear was the whipping of wind into the side of the building she was in. She had stared out the window of her room for hours, watching the storm slowly deposit snow in an ever-growing bank outside. In a few hours Chi-Chi figured she wouldn't be able to _see_ out her window. Suno had called this the "first real storm of the season". Chi-Chi dreaded seeing what a bad storm was like.

 _I don't think I could ever get used to it up here._ She sipped on a cup of tea she had warmed with her _ki_ a few minutes ago. _I've been here for a while now, and the snow still feels just as foreign. It barely got this cold near Fire Mountain… wait..._ Chi-Chi took another sip, thinking. _Fire Mountain would… deter snow. Oh. Guess that's why I don't like snow._

She took another sip. _I miss home._

The wind whispered incessantly, like a constant itch at the back of Chi-Chi's mind. _Just as annoying._ She set the cup of tea down on the windowsill and slid her feet into the warm house slippers Suno had given to her. _Winters are brutal here. Why do these people even live up here?_

 _Said the girl who lived at Fire Mountain..._

Taking every effort to be quiet, Chi-Chi exited into the hallway and tiptoed past Suno's mom's room, who had been generous enough to offer Chi-Chi a room while she was training Suno. Along the way, she grabbed her cold weather outer-gear and heavy boots.

She knew this wasn't a good idea. But she wanted to do it regardless.

Once she was all bundled up, Chi-Chi had to push the front door open against the weight of a few feet of snow before freeing herself and slipping outside. The door swung back gratefully.

The snow was falling in scissoring streaks, blanketing every house and path Chi-Chi remembered from earlier in the day. The entire town had a dreamlike quality to it. _Though maybe that's because I should be sleeping right now._

Without choosing any particular direction, Chi-Chi set off into the snow. The going was tough- and was getting tougher as more snow fell- but she wouldn't be deterred by a spat of bad weather. She trudged past the edges of town and waded further into the snowfield surrounding the village. When she was a good distance away, far enough to be certain no one in town would hear her, she took off most of her heavy clothing and let it drop into the snow behind her. At the same time she began to burn her _ki_ for heat, compensating for her lack of warmth. Slowly, she pushed more _ki_ to her hands, feeling her palms start to buzz with energy. _On one hand, it's a shame this is my only time to train._

She noticed that a circle of melting snow was pushing out from where she was. _On the other hand, this should be pretty cool._

Not a single soul in Jingle Village, asleep as they were, witnessed a firestorm battle back the snowstorm long into the night.

0o0o0

Kneeling on the forest floor, Kakarot carefully dropped the items he was carrying to the ground. A few twigs, some leaves, some frayed rope he had found by the road a few miles back, and a piece of flint he could scrape against the side of the object in front of him. Around him it was raining, a steady stream of water slowly slipping down the forest's leaves.

He didn't care. He would burn this thing regardless.

It was uniformly metal, blanketed by the forest's steady reclamation. Plants and shrubs either sprouted from it or swallowed it, trying to obscure both the object and the crater underneath it. Kakarot pressed a thumb to its surface and rubbed it across- his thumb came back green and brown, revealing the dull grey color of the plating underneath. _My home, for some time, some time ago._ It was out of place in the tranquil forest surrounding it- a foreign invader that had been felled by the planet's gravity long ago.

Kakarot picked up a piece of flint, already slick from the rain. He shimmied up to the object and pressed the edge of the flint to its surface. With meticulous strokes, he cleared away a section of forest growth to reveal the metal plating underneath. He then made sure to grab some dry tinder from around him and hold it against the object. With his other hand, he began to furiously chip into the plating.

Sparks breathed and died in the same instant, spiraling in every direction before being extinguished from the rain. Kakarot felt his clothes start to dampen from the weather. Undeterred, he intensified his cutting, throwing up more and more sparks. Tinder would briefly light and smolder- but nothing would catch. The rain wavered but never ceased, drenching every batch of material Kakarot tired to light.

Finally, after a few minutes of dedicated effort, he fell back on his legs, sweating.

He… couldn't do it. The tinder wouldn't catch, the flint wouldn't spark; nothing that he had brought with him had helped him in his goal. _Including me. Because I'm the cause of this failure, aren't I? I can't destroy the one true relic of my people. How could I?..._

There had been no mistaking what this spherical object was the moment he had laid eyes on it. Nothing in it worked, grass and vines were growing over it- but you could never truly forget such an enclosed and claustrophobic space, even as a newborn. It was a stain on his mind; something that, if he ever tried to excise it, would fight back and stop him before he even had a chance to light the fire. _Because it's a part of me, right? As much as I may hate it- I can't deny it._

Kakarot looked around him. The forest seemed either undisturbed or uninterested by his actions of the past few minutes. _No… and why would it? I'm done here._ Wordlessly, Kakarot left the would-be fire starting material splayed around him and walked away.

0o0o0

Suno rubbed her eyes at what she was seeing. She had barely woken up when she heard the front door to her house shut close. Walking out, Suno saw her teacher Chi-Chi holding up the burnt remainders of her heavy coat with a goofy smile on her face. 'How… what happened?...' she managed while trying to close her gaping jaw.

Chi-Chi laughed nervously, almost fully disintegrating the piece of clothing with that simple movement. 'Oh, you know… training…'

0o0o0

By the time Yamcha returned to the village, the sun had nearly dipped beyond the horizon.

Not quite yet, though. The golden silhouette of a mass of people, grouped on the edge of town, made that clear enough. _This should be fun…_

The group began rushing towards him. Yamcha, for whatever reason, didn't feel inclined to avoid them.

They surged towards him, like a veritable human wave-

And lifted him up into the sky on their shoulders. Bewildered, Yamcha looked among the faces- but instead of anger or malice, he saw joy. 'He did it!' The burly man from earlier yelled from under him, 'he drove them off!'

 _What?_

They must have seen the confusion written on his face because in the midst of their jockeying a woman gripped his lower body, almost pulling herself up to him. 'We saw everything from here!' she cheered. 'The soldiers fleeing, throwing down their arms- you should have seen the haggard line they formed as they ran across the fields!'

Unaccustomed to sustained eye contact from any woman other than Bulma, Yamcha chuckled, blushed, and looked away. 'Haha…'

The woman dropped back down into the mass of people. There was no sign of the crowd letting off- Yamcha was going to be paraded through the entire town.

He felt that he was going to enjoy the ride.

* * *

A/N: This story crossed a pretty cool milestone a few days ago! 100 reviews! Y'all are the best.

 **Reviews:**

 **Legendary-AI:** I'll respond to your (amazing many!) reviews as ya wrote 'em:

I plan on continuing for a long time ;)

Yea, I started the story in DB because I felt a lot of important differences in the universe would be tangible and extensive by the time DBZ rolls around. I actually plan to start DBZ timeline-wise at a much earlier point of time compared to canon- but that wouldn't have been feasible if I had just started in DBZ. There's going to be a very important event within the story for why this is the case.

Kakarot is admittedly one of the tougher characters for me to write, but I think I've made him less of a one-dimensional 'destruction and evil' type of person.

Yea, I definitely wrote everyone a bit too smart towards the beginning of this story, at least tactically.

Hah, this fic as a show would be pretty wild.

Piccolo Jr. will be an interesting figure compared to Kakarot.

The humans' edge over Kakarot exists! Turns out Kakarot's aimless actions meant he never got to train.

I figure the calculus for King Piccolo killing Shenron will usually be the same in every fic. Once he gets what he wants from Shenron, he'll think that the only way the dragonballs will be used again will be to either oppose him or fix the damage he inflicted on the world. Either way isn't good for him, so he kills Shenron and by extension the dragonballs as a weapon against him. Also, King Piccolo probably wants to spite Kami by using his creation and then destroying it afterward anyway.

Kakarot was pretty injured by the point he became an Oozaru. He had zero time to recover from his fight with Master Roshi (which was very taxing) but on top of that, he was heavily injured by King Piccolo. Due to this, his Oozaru was much weaker than it would have been if he had been at full power.

We'll see what happens with Kakarot's tail…

Thank you! And thank you for all the reviews!

 **CrimsonGhost11:** Thank you for the kind words! I'm working as fast as I can!

 **Zeikwalt:** Kakarot is nowhere close to helping people out, and may not _ever_ be at that stage. He's just thinking a lot more clearly now. Unfortunately, Saiyan tails tend to be pretty flimsy. Doesn't mean Kakarot's tail can't regrow back, though.

 **Guest (chapter 29):** Thank you! Updates come out, at the latest, every week or eight days.

 **Guest (chapter 28):** Thank you for bringing that to my attention! Chapter 19 should now be correctly referring to Bora.

 **Guest (chapter 27):** If Kakarot had been at full strength when he became an Oozaru, then yea, his power level would have been around Raditz when he came to Earth in canon. As it is, however, he was weakened from his fight with Master Roshi and was seriously hurt by Piccolo.

 **Loki (chapter 5):** That day is coming, slowly but surely…

 **LWexe:** Yeah, I don't know what it is, but for some reason I really enjoy writing for Yajirobe. Not sure what it is. Equal potential for foolishness and wisdom.


	31. Amends

Sins of the Father

Chapter 31: Amends

* * *

A few months into enjoying his hard-won solitude, Yajirobe nearly spat out the food in his mouth when a familiar figure strolled out of the woods surrounding his home like she was on a woodland walk.

He rose immediately, his hand hovering over the grip of his sword. 'Hey!' he yelled, causing her to stop. 'What are you doing here? Didn't I make myself clear last time? You're not staying with me and eating any more of my food!'

Rayne smiled, and held up a bundle of rabbits by their tails. 'How's this for a peace offering?'

Skeptical, Yajirobe squinted at her. '... so that means… you're going to be catching your own food from now on?'

'Uh-huh. You taught me well.'

'Huh.' He slowly straightened. 'Alright then. Get the rabbits over here- we'll cook 'em up good.'

'Gladly.'

0o0o0

'Yamcha, do you have to go?'

He froze halfway through pulling a sock over his foot. Frowning, Yamcha turned to the doorway. Nera was slouched over, holding one arm against the doorway, rubbing her eyes. 'You're awake?' Yamcha asked.

She yawned, locking her hands over her head and stretching. 'mmmyea… Now answer my question.'

Briefly, Yamcha turned back to his foot and finished pulling up his sock. He then rose and faced her. 'I do, yea. You remember what I told you about the World Tournament, right?'

'But that isn't in six months… you can stay here a bit longer, right?'

Yamcha frowned again. _A few days has turned into a few weeks, which turned into a few months, and now…_ 'Have you seen me doing a lot of training?' he asked humorously, placing his hands on his hips.

Nera yawned again. 'No.'

'And that's because…' Yamcha bent over, touching his toes and stretching, 'I _haven't_ been training.'

'What's so important about training?' she asked sleepily.

'The Tournament?' Yamcha reminded her.

'Oh. Yea.' Absentmindedly, she backed out of the room and walked down the hall.

After spending a moment stuffing his things into his pack, Yamcha slung it over his shoulder and followed after her. 'I made the mistake of not training for the last tournament' They walked into a small, cozy kitchen. Nera was drawing herself a cup of tea with some hot water from the sink. 'I don't intend on repeating that. I need to get some serious training in.'

She turned to him and leaned back on the kitchen counter, cupping the tea mug with both hands. 'You can't train here?'

Yamcha gave her a weird look before looking away and shaking his head. 'Yea… I can't.'

Nera shrugged. 'Alright. You know what's best for you. You need anything from me before you go?'

'No, you've already done so much by letting me stay here. It's time I got a move on, though. This isn't my home, y'know?'

'Where's your home?'

Yamcha half-frowned, half-smiled. 'I'm still looking for it.'

Nera seemed to wake up a bit more, and glanced at him. 'Sorry to hear that.'

'It is what it is.'

'Mmm.'

A few seconds passed. Nera waved at her tea to try and cool it down. 'So you're leaving now?'

'Yep.'

'Alright, hold on.' She set the cup down on the counter and walked over to Yamcha and wrapped him in a hug. She couldn't see his face start to redden. 'Visit anytime, okay?'

'...Yea, sure.' Yamcha hugged back and withdrew at the earliest . 'You don't have to walk me to the door,' he added quickly, 'I can see myself out.'

She nodded, returning to her cup of tea. 'Bye, then. See you soon, Yamcha.'

'See ya.'

Once he was outside- and he was certain Nera wasn't looking at him from a window- Yamcha's entire body sagged as he sighed. _That was… so close. I was_ _ **this**_ \- he held his thumb and his pointer finger an inch away from each other- _ **close**_ _. Any longer and… ugh..._

 _Why do you fall in love with every woman that does a favor for you, Yamcha? Just let people do nice things for you..._ With this thought bouncing around in his head, he proceeded out of town.

0o0o0

Daylight was fading fast- in such declining visibility, training became more and more ludicrous as time went on. Chiaotzu patiently waited for Tien to say something, _anything,_ recognizing this fact. Tien didn't let up from his training for a moment, however. Eventually, Chiaotzu felt compelled to speak. 'Tien, the sun's setting…'

His body was aching- training with Tien today had been especially draining. It didn't help that to boost their progress, Tien had made a habit of taking them to higher altitudes on tall hills and mountains to limit their oxygen intake. They trained from dawn until dusk, eating packed meals when they took their short breaks and sitting when needed. The unrelenting pace of their training, coupled with its undiminishing intensity, was starting to wear down the pale fighter.

Tien launched a rapid-fire series of jabs into the air, then finished his movement by swinging up a leg vertically, swiping through the air like a gust of wind. 'I'm not tired yet,' Tien replied once his leg returned to the ground. He prepared to launch into another set. 'I'm not stopping today until I start to feel exhausted.'

'Tien…'

'You can get back on your own, right?' Tien glanced over at Chiaotzu momentarily before throwing out a couple of full kicks. 'You can go back if you want, but I plan on staying out here for as long as possible We only have a few months until the tournament, after all, and we've wasted enough time as it is.'

Chiaotzu tightened his mouth. 'You know as well as I do we didn't waste _any_ time.'

'Chiaotzu,' Tien said curtly, 'if you're tired, go home.'

A part of Chiaotzu wanted to stick around with Tien- unfortunately, that part, too, was crying for rest. 'Alright... I'll see you soon, right?'

'A few hours,' Tien assured him, 'nothing more.'

'Okay. See you then.' Chiaotzu collected his daypack and started to descend the slope of the hill they were on. The day was- soon to be _had been_ \- perfect, with not a cloud in the sky. At the altitude they were at, the darkening sky and the gloomy landscape around them were particularly beautiful. _It's a shame I can't stick around- but if I train any longer I'm not going to be able to walk back to the shack._ There was a clear gap emerging between him and Tien- _though it's not like it didn't exist before_. Chiaotzu simply couldn't keep up with Tien physically, as much as he tried. _I guess it makes sense. He was never as strong a psychic as me._ Still, it was something Chiaotzu realized he might have to accept as the new status quo. He could clearly remember being the top dog at the Crane dojo until Tien surpassed him through sheer strength of will and effort. They were pretty close during and after the 22nd World tournament, too.

But now Chiaotzu had first-hand experience; a Tien unbound by time or teaching would push himself harder than any other human being on the planet. He genuinely started to believe that Tien would repeat at the 23rd World Tournament and again be crowned The World's Strongest.

 _Then again, Krillin is being trained by God…_

0o0o0

Yajirobe was in the middle of spicing a roasted boar on his spit when someone slapped away his spicing hand. 'Hey!' He swiveled to the spice assaulter. 'What's the big idea?'

Rayne was visibly fuming at him. 'What did I saw about cooking! You don't need to eat this often! You could be training!'

Grumbling, Yajirobe turned back to his boar, putting himself between it and Rayne protectively.

She cocked one of her fists in anger, pulled back her arm… and sighed. She let the tension drain away from her body. _He's a lazy, obese samurai. I might as well be yelling at a tree to stop growing._ She walked over to a sitting log nearby and fell onto it, laying her entire body down its length. _I never understood why people don't do this more often. It's super comfortable…_

Her clothes were drenched in sweat from the day's effort, but she didn't feel like walking to a stream a few miles away to wash them. Today, she hadn't hadn't felt like doing a lot of things. She was finding it hard to push herself to train on her own- she was really missing Yajirobe as a sparring partner on most days where she was out on her own. She felt she was being inventive with her training, though. The other day she came across a small overhang above a riverbed, and she had actually managed to snap it off to slide down to the stream directly below it. That had felt… cool.

 _It's getting down to crunch time. I definitely spunked a lot of good training time early on… but taking these trips out to Yajirobe's for weeks at a time are proving useful. The woods around his house are a great place to practice in peace._ Aside from her training,Rayne was especially happy with the progress she was making on a house she was constructing from scratch. _Well, more like a sophisticated four-walled room than a house comprised of uneven logs, but it's getting there._ Situated in a small river-valley she had stumbled upon during her exile from Yajirobe's place, she enjoyed its isolation from the rest of the world. It felt like a little piece of the world she could call her own.

She wasn't quite sure what had compelled her to start building a house. Maybe she was just tired of being a drifter these past few years. Maybe the house would be a home one day. _Whatever. I'm looking for some stability in my life, I guess. Repairing a sense of home, a sense of friendship with-_

 _Ah, damn it. I didn't want to admit that to myself._

 _It gets lonely on your own._ She missed… everyone. _What i would give-_

Her thoughts were interrupted as Yajirobe staggered over with a heaping plate of pork flank. 'You want some?' he mouthed through his chewing.

Rayne sat up on the log and gratefully accepted the plate from him. 'Thanks.'

Yajirobe continued to eye her while he sat down with a plate of pork of his own. 'I should show you something,' he said after a few seconds, placing the plate down.

'Hmeauh?' She lifted her head, trying to speak through a mouthful of food. 'Whdeah?'

'Wait a second.' Yajirobe rushed off into his cabin. As he was doing this, Rayne chewed and cleared enough room in her mouth to actually talk again. A moment later Yajirobe emerged with a sword similar to the one on his belt- this one, however, if it could be judged from the scabbard, had a much more modest appearance and ornamentation. He gestured it to Rayne.

She swallowed another decent chunk of the food. 'You want to teach me how to use a sword?' Rayne asked, skepticism clear in her voice. 'Do you really think that's going to be useful for someone like me?'

'Don't disrespect a good tool,' Yajirobe said matter-of-factly. 'You never know when an unexpected skill like this can save your life.'

Rayne quickly put down her plate and swallowed the rest of the food in her mouth. 'Okay, okay,' she rushed her words out as soon as her mouth was empty 'I guess you can show me a few simple moves.'

'Rule number one.' In an instant, he withdrew the sword and held it vertical between the two of them, 'there is _nothing_ simple about using a blade. Every strike has to be concise, effective- there can be no wasted movement.' Carefully, by holding the bottom of the hilt, he offered it to Rayne. She gripped the top of the hilt with her right hand, and as soon as Yajirobe let go, she gripped the bottom with her left. 'Imagine that the blade's an extension of your body, like an arm or a leg. You wouldn't flail around a leg, right?'

'No.' Once she was done visually inspecting the blade she stepped back and turned to the side, giving herself a wide berth from Yajirobe. Suddenly, she twisted her grip and flashed out the sword in a horizontal arc, _swooshing_ through the air as it went. The edge of the blade glimmered, a sign she had held it steady throughout the entire swing.

One of Yajirobe's eyebrows went up. 'How'd you do that?'

'I've used swords before.' Rayne dropped the tip of the blade to the ground and then cut diagonally right up into the air, hard stopping it when the blade was horizontal to her head. 'It's part of the officer training for the Red Ribbon Army.'

'The Red Ribbon who?'

'Nevermind.' She continued performing her simple swings, trying to familiarize herself with both her old training and the new weapon. After a few moments, Yajirobe signaled her to stop and stepped closer. 'You're still using it like a sword. Remember what I said? About treating it like a tool?'

Rayne looked at him quizzically. 'The purpose of a sword is to be used as a sword, right?'

A knowing grin spread across Yajirobe's face. 'See for yourself.'

Something flashed through the air- it moved so fast that Rayne could only guess that it was the blade- and the sword reappeared horizontally in front of Yajirobe's head, a small slivers of pork interspaced at regular intervals along the flat of the blade. She glanced over to her plate of pork- but it was empty, save for a few scraps. Yajirobe greedily began to eat the food off his blade.

Beneath the disgust and annoyance Rayne felt over what Yajirobe had just done… she couldn't stop herself from feeling awed. 'How did you do that?' she asked, intently watching the hungry samurai eat the last of the meat off his sword. 'That was- insanely quick!'

'It's like he I told you,' he took out a cloth and wiped his sword down. 'When you begin to use the sword like a tool, like an _extension of yourself_ \- good things happen.'

'Huh.' Rayne glanced between Yajirobe, his wiped-clean sword, and her own. 'Huh.'

0o0o0

The land changed color with the gentle pace of a paintbrush. Vibrant and life-spilling green gasped and gave way to more even browns and yellows. Those too began to fade with time until there was only a wide canvas of sunburnt yellow passing underneath him. Krillin hadn't actually ever seen a desert before. It was refreshingly novel.

 _I missed everything down here- even, somehow, the places I've never been to before. I guess long-term separation had a way of doing that._

After a few minutes of passing over an unending forest, Krillin sighted a gaggle of black dots down on the sand below. Carefully, he eased back on Nimbus and guided it to the ground.

As he approached, it became obvious the black dots were a collection of buildings, comprising a small village on the edge of a spring-fed oasis. As hospitable a place he had seen for the past hour. It was only when Nimbus touched down on the ground did he start to recognize faces.

A particularly familiar one greeted him. Streaks of gray were shot through his newfound goatee. 'Krillin?' Nam asked with a look of confusion. 'Is that you?'

'Ahh, c'mon, I don't look that different, do I?'

'No, just… I didn't expect to see you here. I hadn't sensed your presence in… years, if I recall correctly. I thought you had died,' Nam said, converting every note of seriousness across to Krillin.

'I was… away for a while. I'm back now, though.'

They held eye contact with each other for a few tense moments- it was clear to both of them why Krillin had visited.

'Come,' Nam said after a moment, beckoning Krillin, 'this way.'

As Krillin followed Nam through the village, he was able to marvel at the small community. People were carrying babies against their chests or guiding small children in their quest for new and exciting experiences. There was a youthful jovialness in the air that seemed to grip the entire village. There were children… everywhere.

The scars of the past were slow to erase, however. Krillin ominously noticed that there was a visible lack of children over the ages of 5.

Krillin was still in the process of _seeing_ this when he literally walked into Nam's back. 'We're here,' the village chief said, moving to one the side. 'I'll give you your privacy.'

Krillin bowed in thanks, then pulled back the door flap. It was darker inside- his eyes were slow to adjust. Bracing himself, he entered.

It was a smaller building that he had realized. The room was tight and sparse, save for a modestly furnished worktable that had various straps of fabric and metal scattered on it. In the corner of the room, there was a single, modest bed, draped in wonderfully decorative and intricately woven blankets. Those blankets were pushed to one side by the occupant.

Retu turned his head to one side. Upon sighting Krillin, his eyes immediately widened. 'Krillin?...'

Krillin meekly held up a hand in greeting. 'Hi- Retu-'

'Krillin!' Retu clenched his face with effort and in one smooth movement, swung his legs off the bed. He then grabbed a metal shaft with a U-shaped design on the top and stood, propping the metal shaft under his right armpit. Putting his weight on this, he stood- Krillin noticed that Retu was now a good foot taller than him. 'It's really you!' He beckoned Krillin closer, taking the Turtle student with one hand. 'What have you been up to? It's been nearly three years!'

Krillin seemed to be consumed by some bright, unexpected emotion. 'I… I've been caught up in some things. I just recently got the chance to come around. To say hi, I guess.' He paused. 'Retu, I don't mean to bring this up- but I can't believe-'

Retu waved him down. 'I know, I look a lot different than from last time, right?' He didn't say this regretfully, nor accusingly, but with a genuine sense of appreciativeness. 'Thing are looking up.'

'How long have you been… up and about?'

'A few years now. I woke up pretty quickly. The hardest part was adjusting.' He swung his arm to the workbench beside them. 'I had to spend a lot of time trying to make something I could walk around with, but eventually through trial-and-error, I was able to make this thing here,' he said, rapping on the metal shaft. 'I'm not the fastest around the village… but I'm certainly the strongest.' Retu had a mischievous grin on his face.

'Strongest?'

'Uh-huh. Take a look at this.' Retu took a deep breath and froze in place. Then, a white, transparent aura slowly started to build around him. He held up one finger, similarly clothed in white as the rest of his body. He gestured with it to Krillin's body- and Krillin assented with a shake of his head.

Retu tapped his finger into the center of Krillin's chest- and nearly toppled over Krillin with the force released by the single touch. Krillin staggered, and barely steadied himself in time to prevent himself from spilling outside through the door flap. 'Woah!' Krillin exclaimed, 'that's some serious power!'

Retu smiled even as he visibly sagged from exhaustion. 'I've had a lot of free time on my hand to continue to figure out _ki_. That among other things. I've become sort of the village strongman, actually- beyond Nam, that is.'

Shaking his head, Krillin couldn't even begin to express what he was feeling. 'That's… great. Amazing, actually. Wow…'

'Krillin,' Retu asked, enthusiasm clear in his voice, 'if you're back- does that mean I'm going to train again? I've been making sure I'm not rusty- I've been waiting to pick the training back up.'

'Mmm. Soon.' Krillin had to reach up and ruffle Retu's hair- considering that Retu was taller than Krillin now, it was an awkward gesture. 'I'm still older than you, right?' Krillin joked.

'I guess we'll find out when you train me,' Retu replied. 'Soon?'

'Soon. It's been three years since the last Tournament, which means…'

'Which means there's another one coming up!'

'Yep. I'm going to compete in it.'

'Why?'

Krillin titled his head to one side. 'Why?'

'Yeah. Why compete in it again? You never struck me as glory-hogging type.'

 _That's true enough._ 'There's a lot of reasons. Some personal, some… not so personal.'

'Alright, alright… sorry, I'm just super excited! You'll be here first thing after the tournament, right? I can't wait to begin training.'

'For sure. Just a month from now. You can wait, right?'

'For sure.' Retu stepped closer and hugged Krillin. He was silent for a moment, then said, 'I heard about Master Roshi from Nam. I was sad about that for a long time- I'm sorry.'

With the care and calculated sadness of a parent, Krillin said, 'It's okay. It was his choice to go as he did.'

Retu nodded, hugged Krillin a bit harder, then broke off. 'See you soon.'

'See ya.' Krillin exited.

Once outside, Krillin breathed in the desert air fully, letting it course through his lungs. _I can't believe I made him into my mental ghost, manifesting him to taunt me whenever I doubted myself. To think, after all this time…_

 _Alright._

Nam swung by during Krillin's musing, and shot him a knowing look. Like his nephew, mischief subtly filled his face- but good-natured all the same. _Wanted me to stew before being overwhelmed by such a bright spirit, huh? Fair enough, Nam. Fair enough._

0o0o0

It was a bit disappointing how fast Krillin had departed once returned coming down on the power pole. _I gave him that damn thing and he barely acknowledges I exist! Does he think he's special because he trained with Kami?... Big whoop._ Korin tugged at a small, wiry plant, finishing his weeding of his garden pots. While he caught his breath he stared at the uprooted plant in his hand. _How the hell do weeds even grow up here!?_

He walked over to the side of the tower and threw the planet off. It wasn't a very windy day- because of that, Korin could watch the weed float nearly vertically downwards. Uninterrupted, it descended peacefully until it was pushed by the wind towards the tower. Before it moved out of sight, however, it _woooshed_ right past a climbing cloud.

 _Oh. That's a person._

 _That's… Launch? Oh, I remember now…_

Not wasting any time, Korin quickly moved over to one of the garden pots he had previously been weeding. He leafed through the plants by hand before settling on a puny little shoot, barely strong enough to stand of its own free will. In one deft move, his hand swiped vertically down one side of the shoot, popping out a handful of small green beans out to the side. His other hand was there, and with the assistance of a small, brown pouch, quickly caught every bean.

Except for one. He misjudged the angle of the last one and one bean sped past the pouch, rocketing away on a blast of wind. 'Aaahhh!' Korin spun around, fully prepared to sprint after the stray bean.

There was no need. As he turned he saw Launch standing with one clenched hand raised. Wordlessly, she walked over to Korin and neatly deposited the bean into his still-open pouch. 'That yours?' she asked, grinning.

Korin grunted. He tied the pouch twice over and placed it in Launch's still outstretched hand. 'You remember what I told you about these right?' he said, resembling an exhausted teacher. 'Only use them in an emergency- like someone is about to _die_ emergency.'

'Yea, yea, yea,' Launch replied, gesturing away his concern. 'You know what I'm about. You don't need to tell me the whole rigmarole again-' she tilted her head, as if considering something. 'Or maybe you do?'

'Whatever. Just keep them safe until the tournament. The next batch of those won't be ready for another _year._ '

'A year, huh?' Launch held up the bag, inspecting it. 'Why so long?'

'Because they're chock full of nutrition!' Korin directed Launch's attention to the piddly senzu plant. 'And this thing stinks as soaking up nutrients! Just look at it.'

'Uhh… I see that. Welp,' Launch said, putting emphasis on the "p" 'I better go. See ya.'

'You aren't tired from the climb?' Korin asked. 'You're always welcome to stay the night, you know.'

'Nah. You trained me, remember?' She tied the pouch to her waist. 'Bye.' With that, she hopped over the railing and climbed out of view.

Korin was getting flashbacks. _Just like Krillin, no thank-_

Launch's head popped up from beneath the level of the floor. 'By the way- thanks!' She smiled and her head disappeared below again.

 _How… did she do that?_

0o0o0

Chi-Chi sat on a rock, keeping herself off the wet, still thawing ground. Nearby, Suno was flying across the ground, using both her love of late spring and her dedication to training to keep herself constantly in movement. She would, crouch, flip, twist, spin, and jump into a dizzying amount of maneuvers in the space of a few heartbeats. Mud was constantly splashing off the ground from where her high, brown boots landed. She was making full use of her recent growth spurt- her range of movement was rivaling Chi-Chi's now.

 _I always thought Suno was a lot younger than myself. I guess when you're teaching someone you overestimate the difference between you and them…_

 _But by Kami, there's such a difference between us._

'Suno?' Chi-Chi said quietly, causing her pupil to turn her head. 'Can I ask you a question?'

Suno saw Chi-Chi's eyes were deep-set in her head. She had a good idea what her master was about to ask. 'Shoot.'

'Am I a good master?' There was no doubting the sincerity in Chi-Chi's voice, in her _eyes_ , as she addressed Suno. 'Did I… not screw up?'

'Oh, Chi-Chi.' Suno slowed to a stop and walked over to her teacher. Chi-Chi was propping her head up by her knees. 'What's gotten into you?'

'I just… I've made a lot of mistakes in the past. I want to make sure I don't repeat these mistakes with you.'

'You're crazy.' Suno came closer and held Chi-Chi by her shoulders. 'You've taught me so much. I wouldn't have learned _any_ of this if you hadn't come back to Jingle Village. I would be… I don't know, running around, just living a normal life, I guess. Where's the excitement in that?'

Chi-Chi twisted, shirking off Suno.'You don't want to be normal?'

'Nah. This is way more fun.'

'Can't argue that,' Chi-Chi replied, starting to chuckle.

Suno took a few steps back from Chi-Chi. In an effort to change subjects, she asked, 'Do you think we can finally do our _real_ spar?'

'Soon,' Chi-Chi said, sighing. 'You're not quite there yet.'

'Are you _sure?'_

'Yes.'

Suno shrugged, turning back to her wide-open field of thawing snow. After a moment of preparation, she burst into another set of routines Chi-Chi had shown her.

It was strangely familiar for Chi-Chi to watch. _It's almost like- she reminds of a younger version of myself. I still have that enthusiasm every once and a while, of course, but it feels less important now…_

 _I wonder… if she's that much like me..._

'Can you make a promise?' Chi-Chi asked after a moment of contemplative silence. 'Don't compete in the World Tournament. That would make me feel a lot better.'

'Am I anywhere near the power levels of your friends?'

'Err… no, not exactly.'

'Then I'll watch from the sidelines for this tournament. That way I'll learn the most, right?'

'Right.' Chi-Chi nearly shook her head in disbelief at Suno's willingness to accommodate her. _I am favored by Kami, truly. Maybe I should think about this a bit more..._

0o0o0

 _One week before the 23rd World Tournament…_

It turns out that walking halfway across the world took time. A _lot of time._

 _This sucks._ Rayne hated walking more than any other form of moving. It was always so slow! Even back when she was in the Red Ribbon Army, she preferred riding in a truck or on a bike.

 _Too bad they aren't around to give me a lift. What I would give for a big, wide troop carrier..._

Lost in her thoughts, Rayne practically stumbled into a major roadway, only pulling back once a car sped past her a foot away from her nose.

An idea began to form. Beaming, she jammed her thumb towards the sky.

0o0o0

Yamcha slammed his palm into a boulder. It momentarily shook violently before splitting open like an egg and crumbling apart.

Satisfied, Yamcha withdrew his hand, holding it ever-so-slightly from the discomfort of slamming it directly against solid rock. _Fantastic._ He swept his hands through his shoulder-length black hair, being careful not to touch his still healing scar jutting out from the left side of his face. _I'm breaking new ground… literally, haha!_

He clenched his right hand, watching _ki_ slide out like blades from the edges of his fingers. _Evildoers beware. You're due a visit very soon..._

0o0o0

Earth rumbled and split from the immense force pushing down on it. A wrapping, twisting wave of energy shot down, breaking and butting itself against the ground. The blast tapered off after a few moments, leaving behind a darkened patch of rock.

High in the sky, a green, menacing figure panted, letting his forward arm droop. _Hours and hours and hours…_ His entire life- what he himself remembered, at least- had been consumed by training. _The strong dominate, or_ _ **kill**_ , _the weak. I can't afford to be on the wrong side of that._

The boy flashed through his mind, as did the two bald humans. Equal in their depravity, they taunted him from beyond the grave, still consuming the thoughts of whatever small part of his father still remained within him. _I will find peace- through rectifying the past._

Below him, the dirt began to settle, a reprieve granted to a spot of land for the first time in the past ten hours. 'Once more!' he yelled, aiming his clawed hand at the blackened spot of earth. ' _Again!'_

Another brilliant, yellow beam screamed from the heavens.

0o0o0

Alone in a darkened, shuttered workshop, Bulma snored away, giving the room a cave-like ambiance. A clock on the wall blinked "5 AM" in light red lettering. In her sleep, she clutched a flat, rectangular object, her head pinning it to the table. The glass of the object glowed softly with hues of blue and green.

Bulma shifted her head, rolling it off the device and onto the metal work table beneath. On the surface of the device, dots were moving...

0o0o0

They were rounding the first true hill on their trip when Chi-Chi surprised Suno by spinning around 'You got everything?' Chi-Chi asked.

Nodding more enthusiastically that Chi-Chi through possible, Suno practically sprung into the air with excitement. Her _gi_ \- which was laced with blue and white- was supposedly emblazoned with the symbol of Jingle Village. _Not that I've ever seen that symbol,_ Chi-Chi considered. She looked at her own clothing. _I guess my multi-color clothing isn't for everyone. But it's unique, right? Thanks, Dad._

'This is finally it? This is the day we set off?' Suno enthused.

'No joke.'

'Jeez…' she couldn't stop smiling.

'And you're sure your mom is okay with this?' Chi-Chi checked, staring directly at Suno.

Her pupil didn't flinch, 'She's okay with it as long as you're accompanying me.'

'Really? Huh.' Chi-Chi gazed off in the distance at Jingle Village. 'Who'd have thought I'd cut such a responsible figure...'

'Can we go now?'

Chi-Chi glanced back Suno. 'This is going to be a long trip; so we're going to away for a while before we get back to your village. You're… sure?'

'Yes! Can we get on the road already!'

'Alright,' Chi-Chi replied and turned, shrugging. 'Just remember, you asked for this.'

Rolling her eyes, Suno fell in behind Chi-Chi's steady walk.

0o0o0

The room darkened with the gradual creeping of night, but if Krillin had noticed, he didn't show it. He remained unmoving and cross-legged on the floor of his room. He had guessed correctly that there were some businesses on Papaya Island that had a lot of available rooms the week leading up to the World Tournament.

He probed across the world, searching for every relevant _ki_ signature, new and old, that was approaching the island. From what he sensed, everyone was either nearly here or rapidly converging on the island.

Call it gut instinct, but he felt some of those people would prove to be less-than-good.

 _I'm ready, regardless._

0o0o0

A series of knocks rang against the wooden door of the modest shack Tien and Chiaotzu had cobbled together near the mountains. They were in the middle of their morning tea.

'Who's that?' Tien asked.

Chiaotzu sipped from his cup. After a few fleeting moments of silence, the door to the shack was smashed inwards off its hinges. Into the darkened light stepped a fully grown woman with yellow hair sprinkled with swirling blue streaks. 'Bozos!' she yelled, holding up the fist she had pummeled the door in with, 'it's tournament time!'

* * *

A/N: It's tournament time and the rapidly encroaching end to DB, whooooo yeah!

 **Reviews:**

 **Luke:** Thank you, that's super nice to say! Not sure if it's true or not but thank you!

 **Zeikwalt:** He definitely got a boost… read and find out.

 **LWexe:** It was a fun chapter to write! I like exploring everyone on their own.

 **Legendary-AI:** Time will tell… Kakarot is a true wildcard.

 **Belsareth32:** Thank you! Glad you're still reading along!

 **Guest #1:** Probably! We'll see. Defeating Piccolo is never an easy thing.

 **Anon:** Any way you slice it he's a longshot of even coming into existence right now…

 **Guest #2:** Thank you for sticking around! And such kind words!


	32. Old and New

Sins of the Father

Chapter 32: Old and New

* * *

Yamcha didn't want to miss _anything_ \- he woke up at the crack of dawn, a big, goofy smile plastered to his face. After a few minutes of careful dressing he stood in front of the room's person-length mirror.

Orange thread was woven gracefully up and down his entire body, not betraying a hint of its damage or age. The fabric around his chest, legs, and arms had been added to slightly to compensate for his increased muscle mass. Overall, however, because he himself hadn't grown that much since the last tournament, the _gi_ had remained fundamentally unchanged.

 _Which is good. I doubt I'll be able to get another one of these any time soon…_

He turned around and looked over his shoulder at his back in the mirror. The Turtle symbol was emblazoned in black on a white background and was encircled by a black circle. It was a larger version of the identical symbol on the front of his _gi_.

He turned his attention to his face. It was framed by long black hair, jagging around his face like lightning and rolling down to his shoulders. An X-shaped scar was healing nicely on his left cheek. _I barely recognize myself._

A knock rang against the room door- it was time to check out. _Alright. Let's go!_

0o0o0

'Now remember Suno; your teacher isn't very well liked at the moment…'

'Why's that?'

Chi-Chi glanced back at Suno for a second before pressing on with moving through the crowd. Just like the previous tournaments, the main pavilion closer to the actual tournament was crowded with prospective competitors. 'I've done a few things in the past that have upset some people.' Chi-Chi elaborated while leading Suno forward. 'Just don't defend me if they say anything. In a way, I deserve it.'

'Are you talking about the other people who trained with Master Roshi? You never told me their names, you know.'

'Yes, I am. And when you meet them, I'll introduce you-' While glancing back at Suno again, Chi-Chi walked straight into the back of another person. 'Oh! I'm sorry- uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-'

The person turned. Blue-green hair was pulled back and tied into a ponytail. A brown, dirt-splotched t-shirt rolled down past her waist and over the top of a faded pair of ripped, blue jeans.

'oh… Rayne…' Chi-Chi's was clutching at her chest, like she was about to have a heart attack.

'Chi-Chi... you look taller.' Rayne stared at Chi-Chi cooly.

'Same for you... guess we've both grown up, huh?'

'It _has_ been three years.'

'Right…'

Suno peaked her head out from behind Chi-Chi, catching Rayne's attention. 'Who's this?' Suno asked, looking up and down Rayne.

Chi-Chi carefully turned to Suno and guided her to stand alongside her. 'This, Suno, is one of my peers under Master Roshi, Rayne. Rayne, this is my student, Suno.'

One of Rayne's eyebrows arched, but she extended her hand to Suno to shake all the same. 'Suno. Nice to meet you.' She turned to Chi-Chi as Suno shook her hand. 'You have… a student?'

'Yea… I made a promise, that kind of thing…'

'Hmm.'

While Chi-Chi and Rayne were looking incredibly lost as to what to do or say, Suno's mind was racing. _This is her. One of them. I've been waiting so freakin' long to get to the root of this- one way or another, I'm going to figure out who's at fault..._

'You know- it's kinda uncomfortable to talk here,' Chi-Chi managed as a hippopotamus person squeezed past her. 'Can we resume… whatever this is, once we're inside?'

Rayne nodded, a small smile bending into shape on her face. 'C'mon. We have a lot to catch up on.' Together, the two of them resumed elbowing their way through the crowd.

Suno squinted suspiciously at Rayne's back before hurrying after them.

0o0o0

Chiaotzu abruptly stopped in front of Tien and Launch, bringing them to a stop. 'Do you think we cut a weird look? A pale, short kid walking with a tall, bald man with a third eye on his forehead and a woman with nearly perfect and symmetrical blue streaks running through her yellow hair. Any of that look strange, you think?'

'Hush,' Launch said bluntly, 'and keep walking, I don't want to spend any more time around these meatheads than I have to.' She "politely" shoved a bodybuilder out of her way. 'They ooze self-importance.'

'Sure you're not afraid of any of them?' Tien joked, pushing his way to the front of the group. 'They do, to their credit, look pretty tough.'

Launch snorted. 'Please. If any of these jabronis should be afraid of _me_ ,' she said while turning and jabbing Tien in the chest, 'it should be you.'

'Unfortunately, I know you too well.'

'Is that a compliment or an insult?'

Tien shrugged.

'You know…' Launch glared at him. 'You're usually so stoic around other people, but for whatever reason you really seem to enjoy _continually_ poking fun at me. Why's that?'

'Who knows? Maybe I've become accustomed to your craziness,' Tien said.

'In my defense, I'm not very crazy anymore,' she gestured to her hair, 'or did you forget?'

'You're still a _little_ bit crazy.'

'Oh, please…'

As Tien and Launch's quasi-argument kicked into gear, Chiaotzu took the opportunity to scan the grounds. _So many… fools? That isn't a kind thing to think. All these people, they're just… unintentionally ignorant. How could they even know about ki? Hmm... speaking of…_ Chiaotzu closed his eyes and focused on the life energy of everyone in the area. _Yep, just like I thought. Very small number of people have a noticeable ki. Everyone's pretty… wait…_ Chiaotzu opened his eyes, his sight darting between faces at rapid speed. _Who is-_

Chiaotzu caught sight of a tall figure in a long, purple _gi_ \- and thought for a moment that he saw green skin hidden beneath a loose white cape and cowl. The next moment, however, the figure moved out of sight.

Belatedly, he realized Tien was tapping him on the shoulder. 'Chiaotzu?' he asked, 'is everything alright? You've been standing there for a few minutes.'

'Yea… sorry, thought I saw something. Probably nothing, though.'

'"Probably" nothing? That sounds like there _was_ something.'

'Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough.' He fully turned to Tien. 'Where'd Launch go?'

'She stormed off to register.'

'Something you said?'

'Probably.'

'Stop that.'

0o0o0

Far above the heads of the many would-be competitors, something like a vessel floated unseen through the fabric of the universe, weaving across the tournament sky like a piece of paper swirling in the wind. Guided by an unseen hand, this entity glided, searching.

 _I must be sure to choose someone inconspicuous… otherwise, it will become readily apparent as to what is happening..._

Most of the fighters were far too showy for the vessel's taste. Too much ridiculous clothing or even more ridiculous posing.

But in the far corner of the tournament grounds, sitting underneath a palm tree, was a thin, wiry man. He seemed to be reading a magazine. _This… could work._

The vessel drew closer- it could see now that the man was fanning himself with the paper.

 _This will work._

0o0o0

Krillin took a big breath of air before diving forward into the crowd. _This tournament is never going to stop attracting idealists, huh?_ It didn't help that Krillin was shorter than a vast majority of the competitors. _Not… super short, though. I just think contestants are taller than the average person,_ he sullenly tried to rationalize to himself.

He couldn't even tell if he was still going in the right direction- he wasn't tall enough to see over the heads of the people around him. To make himself smaller as he passed through, he pressed his arms to his chest. _I guess there's one good thing about not growing. I didn't have to buy any new clothes._

No one around Krillin was really paying him any attention, but if they had, they would have noticed how proud he was to walk in the clothes of the Turtle school. Krillin still remembered the look on Kami's face when he had told him he didn't want to wear a _gi_ with his symbol on it- it was the first and only time he had ever seen Kami blanch and his face turn pale green.

 _I probably committed some sort of spiritual crime by refusing to do that._

 _Eh._

Another few minutes of slow progress and, amazingly, Krillin emerged in front of what he was aiming for: the registration desk.

'Hi,' he greeted one of the officials behind the desk, 'I'd like to register?'

'Here,' she handed him a few pages to fill out. 'We've run out of pens, unfortunately. Do you have one?'

'Uhh... ' Krillin half-heartedly patted his pockets, even though he was 100% he didn't have a pen on him. 'Are you sure you don't have one?'

'People like you take them.' She said it so inflectionless that Krillin didn't know if she was being serious or joking. 'We have someone running to get some more,' she continued. 'It'll be a few minutes before they come back, though.'

'Alright…' Krillin was about to sigh when something jabbed into his left shoulder.

'Here.'

Krillin looked over.

Yamcha. Yamcha was holding a pen towards him with a big, goofy smile on his face. 'I just finished filling out mine,' he explained. 'Take it, Krillin.'

Krillin dumbly accepted the pen. He looked at it, then back at Yamcha, and then wrapped Yamcha in his arms. 'Yamcha! How long were you there?'

'The entire time you were,' he responded, laughing. 'I was wondering if you'd ever notice me. You're pretty zoned in, huh?'

'No! No, it's- well, I never thought I'd see you _here_ -'

'Excuse me,' the woman behind the desk interrupted their hugging, 'if you're not filling out the application, _please_ move to the side so others may do so.'

Krillin and Yamcha both blinked at her, then decoupled from each other and moved off to the side. They found a space to talk next to the perimeter wall; Krillin began filling out his application against it. 'Were you going to say something, Yamcha?' he asked.

'No- what were you saying earlier? About me?'

Krillin paused from writing for a moment, then resumed, sighing. 'I don't want to bring this up if you don't want to talk about it, but the last time we talked… you basically told me you weren't going to train anymore. And then… well, you know what happened next.' Krillin glanced at Yamcha out of the corner of his eyes. 'You seemed like a defeated person. It was sad to see you like that.' Once he finished, he quickly turned his attention back to filling out his form.

As he was listening, Yamcha's eyes wandered in thought. 'I guess I was a bit down, huh?' Yamcha replied, chewing his cheek. 'You were that concerned for me?'

Krillin looked straight-on at Yamcha. 'The entire time between this tournament and last,' he stated sincerely.

Yamcha's eyebrows bunched. 'Sorry.'

'You don't need to apologize.' Krillin's pen strayed a bit too far on the paper; a moment later, Yamcha saw Krillin cross something out. 'You had a rough time of things…'

'Yea, I guess you could say that,' Yamcha chuckled, scratching the back of his head. 'Everyone has their lows, right?'

'Not everyone _dies_ Yamcha- err, or at least, not die and _live through it_.'

'Mmm… I won't lie Krillin, it was tough to live through the tournament and its aftermath. A lot of pain- all the types. But I don't think I'd be where I am now without that pain and the change that came with it.'

'And where _are_ you right now, exactly?'

'Better. Not perfect, but better.' Yamcha noticed Krillin was stuck on a part of the form. 'That's where you put your age,' he clarified.

'My age? Why do they need my age?'

'Probably to make sure you're not a 12-year-old kid fighting grown adults.'

'But we were 12-year-old kids fighting adults!'

'Maybe you, but not me.'

Krillin shot a gauging look at Yamcha. 'How old are you?'

'20. You?'

'Huh.' Krillin wrote down "18". 'You see the number?'

'Yea. You really thought we were the same age?'

'Yea, why not? I bet all our other friends are my age.'

'Wanna make a bet?' Yamcha eyed Krillin with a grin.

Krillin finished filling out his form and sized up Yamcha. They shook hands. 'You're on.'

As they were walking back to the registration desk, Yamcha said, 'Did I mention I stopped the Neo Red Ribbon Army?'

'Really?'

'Yep. Defeated General Blue and everything. They're gone for _good_.'

'Well done.' Krillin handed in his form to the woman behind the desk he had spoken to earlier. 'Is that how you got that scar?' he asked as they walked into the tournament grounds.

'A story for another time, my friend,' Yamcha said with a smug smile on his face. 'A story for another time.'

0o0o0

'Where'd Suno go?'

'Hmm?' Rayne was getting a good look at all the faces passing by. Scrutinizing all the new faces… searching for some old ones. 'What'd you say?'

'Suno. Where'd she go?'

Rayne stopped and turned around. The space behind them in the hallway was ominously empty.. 'Uhh… not sure. She came in here with us, right?'

'I don't know… It's not like her to just run off.' Chi-Chi nervously ran her fingers through her hair. 'She's usually a very responsible student. I hope she's not doing something stupid.'

'Ah, c'mon. She just wants to spread her wings like us when we were younger.'

'We're not that _old_. And _she's_ not that young.'

'Chi-Chi, we're kind of old.'

'Age is relative,' Chi-Chi muttered.

'Right, and we're older than Suno. That makes her the young, adventurous one.'

'You're not helping.'

Rayne cracked a smile at Chi-Chi. 'There's nothing for you to worry about. I'm sure, on top of us, all of our other capable friends are competing, too. Between us and them, we'll easily trump whoever pokes their head up.'

'What about-' Chi-Chi bit her tongue, hoping she hadn't said too much. _Shouldn't have, shouldn't have…_

Rayne wasn't dumb. She knew what Chi-Chi was about to say. 'Kakarot? What about Kakarot? That's what you were asking, right?'

Chi-Chi frowned, then nodded guiltily.'

'Alright Chi-Chi,' Rayne led her to a nearby wooden bench flush against a wall. 'Let's sit for a moment.'

Once they were settled, Rayne went on. 'I overreacted. About Kakarot, back then in West City. I was _wrong_ to act that way.'

Totally consumed with what Rayne was saying, Chi-Chi didn't speak up in the slightest.

'A long time after our fight, I held onto my anger- anger about not doing what I thought needed to be done, anger at other people not seeing the danger of not doing so- but after a while, I realized that anger was probably self-directed. I was angry with myself for throwing away my friendships with you guys. Especially after we had lost so much. Especially over something so stupid as Kakarot…'

'You're not still worried about Kakarot?' Chi-Chi couldn't believe what she was hearing. 'Even after everything he's done?'

'I was wary for a while,' Rayne admitted. 'I was constantly tuned in, trying to sense even the tiniest disturbance out in the world that I could pin on Kakarot. But there was… nothing. Three years, and he did _nothing._ That wasn't just me, right?'

Chi-Chi's eyes roamed in recollection.'No, you're right… I haven't sensed or heard of anything that could be traced back to him. The past three years were probably the most peaceful years of our lives since we got into this business.'

'Right. So that's what I was working with. Eventually, I began to observe, and finally believe, that Kakarot had stopped his reckless and careless killing. And when that happened, I realized I had grievously overreacted. It made me doubt that he had ever done horrible things to begin things with- though, I'm not _that_ crazy.'

'That's a big shift for you,' Chi-Chi commented, 'in such a short period of time.'

'I had a lot of time to think. About all the bad things, all the good things in my life. I decided my obsession with Kakarot was a bad thing. From there, it was relatively easy to sort everything else out.'

'Huh…' Chi-Chi coughed. 'I feel like you've just done a lot of nice, wonderful talking, and I haven't said anything good in return.'

Rayne raised an eyebrow.

'I'm sorry, too,' Chi-Chi continued. 'I was... well… I was really worried about one of us doing something rash.'

'Yeah, I don't think any of us contributed to a calm environment,' Rayne said, feeling a bit responsible for what Chi-Chi was describing. 'Chalk it up to the moment?'

'Agreed.'

Rayne thought on something before speaking again.' Hey, things turned out for the better, though, right? You've got a student just like-'

'Master Roshi?' Chi-Chi cut in. She smiled sadly.

'Yeah. Like Master Roshi.'

'We all find ways to cope, I guess. Consciously or unconsciously.' Chi-Chi stood. 'Thanks for the talk. We should get back to looking for Suno now, though.'

Rayne rolled her eyes good-naturedly. 'If you insist, O old one…'

0o0o0

'Oh, so you adjusted your clothes yourself?' Krillin and Yamcha were walking down one of the long corridors towards where they remembered the prelim hall was. 'Is that why your Turtle _gi_ fits you?'

'Ehh… kind of. A woman I met actually taught me how to do some of it.'

'"A woman?" Sounds like she has a name,' Krillin said knowingly.

For the first time since they had reunited, Yamcha looked genuinely uncomfortable. 'Yea… she did… look, I don't want to talk about it.' His cheeks burned red. 'I… didn't like how it made me feel. About Bulma.'

'Oh… oh.' Krillin's face drooped. 'Yeah, you're still a thing with Bulma, aren't you…'

'No, we're not- we basically broke up. But spending time with that other person still made me feel dirty.'

'You two broke up?'

'Yea, when I went on my own for a while. It's wasn't on bad terms or anything. It was actually pretty amicable…'

Krillin seemed to consider this. 'Is Bulma even here?'

'I don't know. Maybe? Probably?' Yamcha took a deep breath, calming himself. 'I don't even know what I'm going to say to her if I _do_ see her. I can't just forget about the other person… I'm literally wearing her work…'

'That's… yea, I don't know, Yamcha.' Krillin was a genuine loss for words. 'Wish I could say something to make you feel better…'

'It's alright,' Yamcha said, dismissing the conversation topic. 'I just realized that you basically know everything I did since the last tourney. What about you? What have you been up to?'

'Oh, you know-'

'He's been training with God,' someone said from behind them.

They turned- an immediately recognizable pair greeted them. Weirdly enough, Tien and Chiaotzu looked virtually identical to what they looked like at the last tournament- save for Tien's muscles poking through his white undershirt a bit more prominently than they remembered. 'Nice to see you guys,' Chiaotzu said, waving to them. 'Were you two chatting about who's going to win the tournament? I hope you weren't forgetting about us.'

'Oh yea?' Yamcha puffed out his chest; his bravado was coming out in full force. 'And makes you think you Crane students can take on us Turtle students, huh?'

'Please,' Tien stepped closer to Yamcha, 'like you two are going to pose any threat to us.'

Krillin noticed that, despite their language, Tien and Chiaotzu's attention was solely focused on Yamcha. 'You're... talking about me too, right?'

Tien glanced over at Krillin, smiling. 'I am, Krillin. It's good to see you again.'

'The feeling's mutual.'

Something flashed across Yamcha's face. 'What?' He turned to Krillin, confusion evident in his eyes. 'You're friends with these Crane bastards, Krillin?'

'Oh!' Krillin smiled sheepishly. 'I forgot that you're not totally up to date. These guys are cool! They helped us take down King Piccolo- honestly, if weren't for those two, none of us would be here right now.'

Yamcha swung his gaze back to the Crane fighters, guarded suspicion in his eyes. 'That much of a help, huh? Bulma was vague about what happened but I never thought that would be the case…'

'Yamcha,' Chiaotzu spoke up, 'I died, just like you, fighting against King Piccolo. We're not enemies.'

'So you went to the place, then?' Yamcha asked. 'With the-'

'You don't have to say anymore.' Chiaotzu looked into Yamcha's eyes- a wave of unease seemed to pass between them, then left as soon as it came.

Krillin and Tien, respectfully, kept silent through this brief pause. 'Are you two going anywhere in particular right now, Tien?' Krillin asked as Yamcha and Chiaotzu were coming out of it.

'Not really. I think I still have time before I need to show up for my prelim matches.'

'Want to watch some matches then?'

'Sure!' Chiaotzu moved in between Tien and Krillin, grabbing Krillin's attention. 'I've got to learn some new tricks to beat you with, right?' He shot a playful look at Krillin.

The Turtle student shook his head and padded down the hallway, Chiaotzu elbowing him at his side. 'How… old are you Chiaotzu, if you don't mind me asking.'

'About 18. Why?'

'Hah!' Krillin shot a glance to Yamcha over his shoulder. 'One point for me!'

Just as Yamcha was going to set off after them, Tien grabbed his arm. 'If it means anything,' he said earnestly, 'we're sorry for what we did to Retu. We'll never be able to live that down.'

Yamcha half-smiled. 'I guess we all make mistakes. But thank you for saying that. Let's catch-up with them, yea?'

'Sure.'

0o0o0

'I give up,' Chi-Chi said, throwing her hands up in the air. 'I can't find her anywhere.'

'It's like I said,' Rayne talked as she fiddled with her shirt, 'you need to give the girl some space to do her thing. It probably doesn't help that you're going to compete in the tournament with her.'

Chi-Chi narrowed her eyes at Rayne. 'How is that a problem?'

'Master Roshi never competed, remember?'

'Rayne-'

'Directly, that is. He always assumed a persona!' she finished.

'So what? You're saying I should put on a ridiculous outfit and try to test-slash-fool her? I don't think she's that dumb...'

'Hey, I'm just throwing out some ideas.'

'Pass. Don't you have a fight to be getting to?'

'Don't you?'

'Yes, but I want to see your fight first.'

'Why?'

'Just because.'

'Alright, alright.,' Rayne relented. 'Let's go to my fight. The hall should be right _over_ here...'

They rounded a corner, expecting to see the entrance to the wide-open preliminary hall be crowded to the brim with people. Instead, they were greeted by a long hallway, numerous doors on the left and right of it opening and closing as people passed through them. Competitors idly walked along the length of the hallway, peeking their heads into the side rooms every once and while.

Rayne blinked. 'This is different. Where'd the giant hall go?'

'They got rid of it,' a tournament official who was passing by and carrying a stack of scrolls said, 'something about a fighter at the last tournament scaring everyone else in the open hall.'

'Wait, do you mean-'

But the lady moved on, continuing her delicate balancing act down the hallway.

'That must be Kakarot- who she's referring to, that is,' Chi-Chi guessed.

'Scaring the other competitors? What was that about, though?' Rayne asked.

'We never watched all of Kakarot's matches- maybe a lot of his opponents conceded when they saw what he did to the people he defeated. Can't blame them, honestly…'

Rayne checked her preliminary group number. 'So I'm in one of these rooms? What a pain…'

'What's your number?'

Rayne showed the slip of paper to Chi-Chi. 'Oh.' Chi-Chi pointed to the door directly to the right of Rayne. 'Isn't that it?'

Frowning, Rayne looked at the room number, back at her slip, then back at the room. 'Alright, c'mon,' she grumbled.

The room was small to the point of being just large enough to fit a preliminary ring inside it. Spectators could only stand on the side of the room where the door was- there was barely enough space for a ring-out in every other direction.

'This seems like a crappy design job,' Chi-Chi commented as her eyes roamed across the room. 'You can't even fully fall over out-of-bounds with the walls this close to the ring! It's like someone slapped up some dividers and called it a day.'

Rayne shot a weird look at Chi-Chi. 'Didn't know you cared about the professionalism of the World Tournament so much.'

'I respect the tradition,' Chi-Chi said begrudgingly, crossing her arms and purposefully looking away.

The room, Rayne quickly felt, was a bit more intimate than the preliminary matches at the previous tournaments; those matches then had the "meat being processed on the factory line" type of feel.

There were only two other people in the room aside from Chi-Chi and Rayne. One was a bored looking tournament official, staring at Rayne expectantly. The other one was hopping side-to-side in the ring, her brilliant red hair jostling with momentum. She too looked at Rayne expectantly.

 _My opponent, then._ There was something oddly familiar about the girl in the ring, like Rayne had seen her before.

'SUNO!' Chi-Chi practically screamed next to Rayne, causing her to cringe and cover her ears, 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?'

'What does it look like I'm doing?' For added effect, Suno gestured to the ring beneath her feet. 'I'm competing.'

A thousand emotions at once blasted across Chi-Chi's face. When she seemed to regain a semblance of control, she said slowly, 'Why… after what we said, after what we _agreed on_ , are you fighting?'

Suno didn't respond, instead choosing to stare at Rayne.

Picking up on this, Chi-Chi asked Suno, 'Did you intend to fight Rayne?'

'Uh, yea.'

Now it was Rayne's turn to react. 'What? Why?'

'Because I think you don't like Chi-Chi,' Suno accused, narrowing her eyes at Rayne. 'I think she did something that you didn't like. My teacher may be too polite to defend herself, but I'm not! We're going to settle this dispute, right here, right now!'

Wide-eyed, Chi-Chi sandwiched her head between her hands, equally horrified and embarrassed. 'Rayne-' she begged, '- you can't accept-'

'No, no; I think,' she cast a look at Chi-Chi, 'I will.'

'Oh,' the tournament official said, seeming to wake up, 'you're the second opponent? Why didn't you say so?'

Rayne smiled politely. 'Sorry. Are we ready to start?'

'Once you step into the ring, yes.'

Mortified, Chi-Chi watched Rayne calmly enter into the ring, stopping and turning towards Suno after a few moments. Suno kept herself crouched, ready to explode forward at any moment.

'You know the rules, right?' The tournament official asked in a monotone voice. Once Rayne and Suno nodded _"_ yes", he lifted his arm vertical into the air and swung it down undramatically. 'You can begin.'

'Hrrrah!' Suno charged forward in an instant, leading and lashing out with her right leg. Rayne sidestepped the attack and kneed the leg upwards, wrenching Suno off her other foot and down to the ground. As she was falling, Suno tried to strike again with her leg by thrusting it back down to the ground, but Rayne casually hopped back. The kick passed by harmlessly inches from her face.

When Suno's backside thudded against the ground, Rayne shot a look Chi-Chi. At the official's side, she had her arms crossed in concern.

'Keep your eyes on me!' Rayne swung her head back to Suno- her opponent exploded off the ground, aiming a fist for Rayne's jaw. Rayne brought her forearm up and absorbed it and further attacks as Suno tried to seize the initiative. After a few moments, however, Suno overextended and leaned forward too far, letting herself be gently patted on the back by Rayne back towards the ground. She stopped herself at the last second with her arms like she was about to do a push-up.

'Are you done?' Rayne asked.

Seething, Suno hopped up once more and set one foot behind her, twisting it into the tiles. 'This is serious!' Suno formed a concave bowl with her hands and pointed it at Rayne. 'And if you don't take me seriously, then I'll _force_ you to!'

The energy in the room changed immediately- a static shock jumped between the tournament official and Chi-Chi, causing them both to yelp.

 _Oh, Suno…_ Rayne wasn't going to let the girl cause any major property damage- so in one quick movement, Rayne stepped forwards and delivered a clean hit to Suno's chest, propelling her with just enough force to make her step out of bounds.

The tournament official raised a tiny flag. 'Suno is out-of-bounds! Rayne wins!'

Stunned, Suno found that she had raised her guard _after_ Rayne had delivered her attack. She dropped her arms to her sides, muttering.

A hand gripped her on the shoulder. 'There's no bad blood between me and Chi-Chi.' Rayne used one finger to lift Suno's head to meet her gaze, 'I promise. And you've got talent, Suno.'

'...Really?'

'Really.' Rayne shot a quick wink to Chi-Chi, who had finally allowed herself to uncross her arms. She smiled in response. Chi-Chi felt… something well up inside her. _Just enjoy the moment, Chi-Chi- a moment you thought you would never see again. Welcome to the fold, Suno._

0o0o0

'Is this the room?' Krillin briefly walked down and back up the hall, looking at the numbers on the nearby doors. 'The next door down on this side says "19," but this door-'

'Oh, just pick one,' Yamcha quieted him, as he opened and walked through the door in question. After a moment, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Krillin followed him in.

'What are you guys doing here?' a voice called from across the room.

Krillin and Yamcha both squinted at the speaker. 'Launch?' Yamcha asked hesitantly, 'is that you?'

Their eyes followed the blue curls of hair that bounced in and out of sight of her more traditional yellow hair. 'Who else would it be?' She walked up to them, punching each one of them in the shoulder. 'We'll catch up later-' Just as she was moving past them, however, she made eye contact with Tien and her nostrils flared. '...but I just realized my match isn't in this room. See ya.' She briskly moved past them and into the hallway outside.

Barely a second after the door closed, Tien walked out after her.

'What's… that about, Chiaotzu?' Krillin asked, his eyes glued to the closing door.

'Not my business,' he replied, 'and not any of yours, either. It'd be best if we didn't pry.'

Yamcha _hmmphed,_ and turned his attention back to the ring, 'So, who's match is in here again?'

'Well, it's supposed to be mine,' Chiaotzu said, 'but I don't see anyone else in here. There's not even a ref.'

'So it's the wrong room, like I thought,' Krillin reminded them .'Must be further down the hall-'

The door creaked open behind them.

They all turned in mild interest. What could only be described as an average man stepped into the room, glasses pushed up to the very top of his nose. 'Hi,' he said, waving, 'is this my room?'

A tournament official entered after the man. 'Yes, as I've already explained, _this is your room_ ,' she quickly closed the door behind her and pushed the man into the ring. 'Can we please get this over with?' she pleaded.

'Fine by me.' Chiaotzu followed the man into the ring. As the tournament official rummaged her bag to retrieve something, Yamcha and Krillin exchanged a look between each other that approximately said, _'really? this guy?'_

After a moment the tournament official produced a paper form attached to a clipboard. 'This is… the match between Hero and Chiaotzu, okay…' she said to herself, checking off boxes talked.

'Hero?' Chiaotzu asked, tilting his head towards the man. 'What kind of name is that?'

The man did a strange gesture- something seemed to flash over his eyes, like a second pair of eyelids rapidly opening and closing. The moment passed as quickly as it came, however, and the man smiled amicably. 'The name my parents gave me, of course. Haha!'

An immediate jolt shot through Chiaotzu's body; he unwillingly fell to one knee, suddenly out of breath. Hero frowned, looking at his opponent from below the bottom of his glasses.

'I concede!' Chiaotzu called out, before breaking into a ragged series of coughs.

The tournament official arched an eyebrow. 'You can't concede until the match has begun, technically.'

'Then I resign! Forfeit! Withdraw!' More coughing. He seemed to calm down, pressing one hand to the ring in an effort to steady himself. 'Okay?'

'Fine, fine.' The tournament official casually checked off the box. 'Hero moves on, amazingly.'

The posture of Hero changed instantaneously, his back slouching back to a relaxed position. 'Wow, I won!' He turned to the tournament official. 'Will my next fight be in here, too?'

She seemed to mouth something, then said, 'I... how would I know… nevermind. Just follow me and I'll sort you out.' She gripped Hero's hand and led him out of the room, much like a parent leading a child.

While these events were happening, Krillin and Yamcha were silent, paralyzed by their own confusion. Once the two had left, however, they immediately rushed over to Chiaotzu and helped him to his feet. '-I- what just happened?' Yamcha asked, flummoxed.

'Are you okay?' Krillin probed as Chiaotzu gripped his shoulder to stand. 'Are you hurt?'

Once he was up, Chiaotzu waved away their concern. 'I'm not hurt, don't worry.'

'Then what just happened?' Yamcha questioned. 'You know, when you dropped to the ground and started coughing like you were _dying_.'

Chiaotzu shot his gaze towards the door, then back to both of them. 'I'm… not entirely sure. It's almost like… my body reacted to him, or something he did, and my mind went into a panic.'

'That guy?' Krillin asked skeptically. 'The one that looked like a middle-aged dad? We're talking about the same person, right?'

'Yes. I think….' Chiaotzu shook his head. 'I really don't know. His energy felt _weird_.'

'He felt pretty normal to me…' Yamcha said, trailing off.

'He did… except for a brief moment in the ring- when I asked about his name. I felt something then… I'm not sure what, though.'

'Hmm.' Krillin considered this. 'Well, either way, it's a shame that your tournament had to end at the hands of the bizarro guy.'

'It's not a big deal. I knew I wasn't going to win the tournament, anyway.'

'Huh?' Yamcha shot a quizzical look at Chiaotzu. 'How'd you figure that?'

'Because I'm not in the same league as Tien and you guys anymore, sad to say it. Seems like I don't improve as fast physically compared to my psychic powers.'

'Are you hinting at...?' Krillin tried to clarify.

Chiaotzu gave him a sly smile. 'Don't you two have matches to be getting to?'

0o0o0

Launch had barely taken a step away from the door when Tien burst into the hallway behind her. 'Launch, wait!' He tried to grab her arm, but she shook out of his grip. 'Slow down! What you alluded to in there-'

'I thought I made myself clear.' She turned to him, her displeasure evident. 'I have to get to my match.'

Tien's look hardened. 'You were obviously implying something else.'

'Well, aren't you an _observant_ one.' She moved closer to him- her face creased more harshly with every step. 'So you should know what I'm angry about, right? You see _that_ , of course.'

Tien frowned. 'Launch, if would just you tell me-'

'Fine,' she interrupted him, 'I'll tell you. I wasn't in a very joking mood earlier. You know, right before I stormed away from you and Chiaotzu? Which makes sense, considering-' She paused, puffing out her cheeks in consternation.

'Considering what?' Tien pressed.

'Considering how you treated me the last time we were all together. Remember your whole schtick of throwing me out of your house under the pretense of helping me? Letting me fend with my issues all by myself? I thought that, at _some_ point since meeting up for this tournament, you would have acknowledged that… but no.' She glared at him. 'Never once did it cross your mind to even _discuss_ what happened- not even to see if things had worked out for me. Too focused on the tournament, or whatever your mind is obsessed with…' She sighed. 'Stuff like that makes jokes you make about me feel more real, _true_.'

Tien struggled for a moment, his mouth stretching wide with gloomy recollection. 'I... tried to help you with- with you and _you_ -' He gestured to her hair, 'and it worked out, right? My advice-'

Launch loudly snorted, cutting him off. 'All you said to me was "find a balance between the two cleven halves of your soul", or something like that. You didn't _show_ me how to do that, or-'

'-That's because I couldn't do that for you!' Tien exclaimed, 'I could only point you in the right direction!. Beyond that-'

'-Beyond that, you didn't have to kick me out and force me to handle it on my own! Don't you think I would have wanted to sort this out with- with-' she caught on an unsaid word, then shook her head. 'Nevermind, It's not worth getting angry about this.' She regarded with him deep-set, darkened eyes. 'I'll see you in the main tournament.' She walked past Tien and butted shoulders with him.

Tien's body faced her as she left- but his eyes were stuck looking downcast at the floor.

0o0o0

Yamcha faced what seemed like a never-ending parade of embarrassing opponents in his preliminary group. The number of times he had needed to close his eyes to ignore the ridiculous pre-match posturing of his opponent was unbearable. _I don't understand the increasing prevalence of all these theatrical types in the World Tournament,_ he mused as he smacked another would-be victor out of bounds with the back of his hand. _It's almost like I'm competing in a professional wrestling tournament…_

It was towards the blessed end of this process that a large, beefy man entered his ring. Unlike Yamcha's previous opponents, the man remained motionless as the tournament official prepared to start the match, electing to silently stare at Yamcha. Yamcha's mind was wrapped up in the uniqueness of this event until the other person gave him an eminently recognizable wink. _Ahh, I see…_ As the countdown to the match ran down, both fighters tilted back, preparing to pounce.

When the referee officially began the match, both of them ran forward and crashed against each other, locking themselves in a headlock. They put on a show of struggling against each other.

'Nice to see you remember our little system,' the man whispered furtively.

Yamcha grinned, before remembering to grunt. 'How could I forget such a useful system?' Yamcha replied, faux-trying to lift the man off his legs. 'What's the occasion for the get-up?'

'I'm trying to- HAAAH!' The man broke out of the grapple and tried to grip Yamcha from a different direction. Yamcha adapted in between the man's attacks and caught the grip with another headlock .'-sorry, I don't know who could be watching. Basically, I'm trying to track down a crime lord. They're disguised, just like me, but luckily I've got Oolong making the rounds among the spectators. We're going to comb both sides of the tournament.'

'So you found the pig, eh? How hard was that?'

'Not very.'

'Figures.' Yamcha groaned, shifting his footing again. 'Does this mean you need me to lose so you have more time in the competitors' area to snoop around?'

'Who do you take me for, Yamcha?' Puar asked, offended. 'Oolong? Do you really think I looked like this guy before I walked in here? I'll simply shapeshift into another person once I'm defeated. Speaking of which…' Puar sidestepped around Yamcha, in the process pretending to lose his footing and fall. The man fell out-of-bounds on his right arm, groaning from the pain.

'Out-of-bounds! Yamcha moves on!'

'See you soon,' Puar said softly while Yamcha helped her up. 'I'm excited for then- you seem a lot better nowadays.' She brushed herself off and gave a small wave behind the referee's back as she exited the room.

 _Huh._ Yamcha turned over the last thing Puar had said. _I didn't really notice it before… but a lot has changed since the tournament. For the better._

Just a few moments after the door swung close after the man, the same person entered the room, swagger showing with every step. 'Alright, who's ready to fight!' He announced, holding up his fist.

'Uh, sir, you just lost,' the referee informed him.

'What!?'

Yamcha made a hasty exit.

0o0o0

Trance-like, Rayne systematically dispatched every single one of her opponents. It was only when she accidentally flung someone to the ground, cracking the tiles of the small ring in the process, did she snap back to reality. Curious, Rayne examined the man she had clocked senseless. The referee came up behind her. 'That was your last fight in the prelim group. Congratulations; you qualified.' She stuck a sticker to Rayne' shirt. 'This is your grounds pass to the area around the main ring.'

'Huh,' she expressed. 'Would you look at that. Can I leave now?'

'You can leave.'

A few moments later, Rayne was wondering through the halls looking for something to pass the time before- in her mind- the real tournament began. Aimlessly, she stumbled upon a prelim room that tournament officials were crowding into. _Guess there's not a lot of matches left to officiate._ She followed them inside.

As it turns out, the only competitors inside where the people who had already qualified for the quarterfinals- which mostly comprised of her friends. Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Chi-Chi and Launch all had matching stickers on the fronts of their clothes. Besides from Launch- who was standing apart from everyone else- they were huddled in a group together and so wrapped up in something that they failed to notice Rayne enter.

She stepped further into the room. In the corner, a nerdy looking dad with a white button-down shirt looked confused-but surprisingly, he had a sticker like Rayne's on his shirt. _That guy qualified? Weird._

The tournament officials were also bunched up, apparently discussing whether to disqualify the two competitors for the final match of the prelim group because neither of them had shown up. _Who would they send to the quarters if they did that, though?_ Rayne wondered. Judging from the heated conversation between the officials, Rayne assumed they were talking about that very issue.

'Hey…' an immediately familiar voice whispered from behind her, causing Rayne's blood to boil.

She spun. 'Yajirobe!' she hollered. 'Did you follow me here!'

The man behind Rayne was dressed head to toe in a ridiculous full-body masked costume, making him look more like a mysterious wrestler than a martial artist. 'I wanted to know where you were going,' he explained dully.

'How- how did you even follow me!' Rayne did her best to keep calm. 'We're halfway across the world! I spent months making my way here!'

'Well, I followed you for months _very_ closely.'

Fuming, Rayne drew back one first, ready to knock Yajirobe senseless. Before she could do anything, however, a tournament official rushed in between them. 'Are you…' she looked up and down Yajirobe, '... Masked Man?'

'Yep! That's me!'

'Thank Kami. Please, follow me.' Smiling, Yajirobe followed the official towards the other organizers gathered in the room. After some gesticulating, the others collectively breathed a sigh of relief and prodded him onto the ring. Rayne noticed a number of them had pulled out stopwatches- probably counting down until when they could disqualify the other competitor and finally begin to prepare for the quarterfinals.

The supposed referee had just begun raising her hand with finality when the door to the room swung open behind Rayne.

She took one look at who had entered before backpedaling and nearly stumbling over backward if she hadn't been caught by someone. 'Holy shit…' she heard someone mutter behind her.

What could only be described as the… sibling- or maybe a cousin- of the Demon King Piccolo stepped into the room. Despite the large, loose purple _gi_ that encompassed most of their body and their white cowl and cape, their green skin, pointed ears, and pink, flesh-colored forearms screamed to the world their lineage. At his height, the newcomer stood as tall as any one of them, if not taller. His eyes roamed across the room, stopping on every staring face for a brief moment. If he had recognized any of them like they had vaguely recognized them, he didn't show it.

'Majunior!' the same person who had grabbed Yajirobe now did the same to the newcomer. 'It's about time! We were about to disqualify you!' Majunior looked uncomfortable being led by his arm, but he went along with it regardless.

The other tournament officials clicked and pocketed their stopwatches, and then began filtering out of the room.

Rayne calmed down enough to remember that someone was still holding her up. 'Sorry,' she said, lifting herself up. She turned around. 'I- Krillin?'

He shot her a look. 'What?'

'You… I thought…' she shut her mouth.

'What?' He asked, suspicious, 'what is it?'

'I… I'm just surprised how little you've changed.'

A dangerous film slid over Krillin's eyes. 'You're talking about my _gi_ , _right_?' He suggested, not disguising what we wanted to hear.

'Yes!' Rayne laughed nervously. Nothing else! Nothing else…'

Krillin narrowed his eyes at her, but after a moment he nodded, satisfied. 'I _know_ what you're referring to,' he said, much more jovially than before. His eyes had to dart out to the top corner of his vision to make eye contact with her. 'Just… don't remind me. Okay?'

'Okay,' she said, smiling.

'I certainly can't say the same for you,' he said after a moment, 'about not changing, that is. What's with the new outfit?'

She ran her fingers through her ponytail. 'I dunno. I felt like changing it. Wanted to make my fighting clothes something comfortable.'

'It… looks good,' he said, trying to maintain eye contact with her and holding his small grin steady.

'Hmm?' She raised an eyebrow- this, however, gave way to a small smile. '...Thanks.' Remembering where she was, she shifted her eyes towards everyone else in the group. 'Can I ask you a question, Krillin?' Her expression tightened with concern. 'Is there any reason why you're not freaking out right now?'

'What do you mean?'

She was now looking towards the ring. 'That is… literally King Piccolo.'

Krillin faced the ring like everyone else. The facial structure of Majunior was all wrong, he wasn't tall enough- Krillin wasn't convinced. 'He looks nothing like King Piccolo,' Krillin declared to the group.

'Are you sure, Krillin?' Yamcha said skeptically. 'Granted, I never actually saw the guy, but from how he was described to me...'

'Trust me,' Krillin insisted.'Not every person with green skin and pointed ears is Piccolo, and by extension, evil. I met a pretty nice guy who looked like that.'

'Who?' Tien questioned from the side.

'God.'

Tien stared at Krillin. 'Huh.'

Once situated within the ring, Majunior spent some time windmilling his arms, testing the flexibility of his fabric. Across the ring, Yajirobe seemed to be picking his nose.

'Fighters! You may begin!' The referee swung their arm down.

In an instant, Yajirobe sprung into action, closing the gap between them with his stubby legs in the blink of an eye.

Next thing anyone knew, a resounding _SMAAACCKKK_ filled the room, so sharp-pitched that everyone present winced and covered their ears. When eyes inevitably began to open, everyone's attention was drawn to a Yajirobe's sized hole in the left wall. The referee ran over to confirm he had gone out- her eyes seemed to bulge out of her skull when she peered through. 'That's… out, alright. Majunior is the winner.'

No sooner had the "r" in "winner" finished being pronounced than the door to the room suddenly swing close. Everyone looked around- Majunior had left.

'I… did you see that?' Chi-Chi asked, distressed.

No-one hurried to answer her. In the corner of the room, Hero adjusted his glasses.

0o0o0

A few rooms over, Yajirobe started to come to. He tried to move his body- but he was pressed into a pile of rubble like he was putty. He groaned. 'Shows what I get for coming to this stupid tournament,' he grumbled. Roughly a minute later the door to the room swung open; Rayne and who Yajirobe though to be her friends rushed in. They all seemed to relax once they glimpsed the relatively good condition he was in. Launch crouched down next to him. 'Here,' she produced a green bean, pressing it into his hand that wasn't trapped, 'eat this.'

'Huh? What's this?' Yajirobe fingered the bean between two fingers.

'Hey…' Krillin eyes flickered with recognition at the small bean, 'isn't that a senzu?'

'Yep,' Launch replied casually. 'Got 'em from Korin myself.'

Tien looked at Krillin suspiciously. 'Senzus? Wait- you know what that thing is?'

'Yea. They're healing beans.' Krillin explained. 'I had some when I fought King Piccolo.'

'You did?' Tien's face twisted into a grimace. 'Then why didn't you use them?'

'What do you mean? I ate one to heal between my first and second fight with him.'

'No- you don't understand- I mean for me! Or the others! Why didn't you give any of us senzus!? You know, anyone _not_ you!'

'Oh! Oh.' Krillin's expression shifted, heavy with realization. 'Wow. That was a major fuck-up.'

'Remind me never to trust you with my life again,' Tien said scornfully.

Towards the end of this conversation, Yajirobe finished examining the bean and popped it into his mouth. Almost instantaneously, the nascent bruises forming across his body disappeared. Without any effort, he removed himself from the rubble. 'Woah!' He held out his arms, checking every inch of my body. 'I'm fully healed!'

Launch nodded. 'That's their deal-'

'And I'm so full!' Yajirobe nearly screamed with joy. 'I've never felt this full _in my entire life!_ '

Consumed as much as they were with Yajirobe's bizarre outburst, no one noticed Rayne facepalm.

0o0o0

After confirming with an errant official that the preliminaries were over, the group started walking towards the main ring. On the way there they were greeted by a few familiar faces. Chiaotzu and Suno were waiting for them to pass by in the hall.

'We can't stay here now that we're out,' Chiaotzu told them, 'so I'm going to take Suno and Yajirobe to the stands. Hopefully, we can find a spot for all of us later on. From there, we'll be rooting for you the whole way.'

Everyone exchanged various utterances of "good luck" to each other and parted. Just as Rayne was about to follow after everyone, however, Suno gripped her arm. Chiaotzu and Yajirobe had already left.

'Hey,' she leaned in to whisper in Rayne's ear, 'just so you know, I wasn't really mad about stuff before. That whole thing was Chi-Chi's idea.'

Rayne blinked. 'What?'

She clapped Rayne on the back. 'Okay, good luck!' With that, she ran off.

 _..._

 _Chi-Chi?… that bastard..._

0o0o0

Chiaotzu was wandering by himself aimlessly through the stands- Suno had managed to immediately disappear, and Yajirobe had been distracted by and ran off after a hot dog salesman. Chiaotzu was on the verge of pulling out the non-existent hair on his head when he sighted a vaguely familiar turquoise-haired woman bent over to his left. He stared at her for a moment, dredging her name to the surface of his mind. _Err... that's it._ He approached her.

'Hey… Bulma? That's your name, right?'

'Huh?...' Bulma lifted her head- bags were present underneath her eyes. Her hair fell down her face in greasy clumps. She looked utterly exhausted. 'Chiaotzu?...'

Chiaotzu frowned, his face creasing from concern. 'Bulma? You look… like you haven't had a lot of sleep.'

She gazed at him as if through a haze. Noticeably, she didn't take her hands off an object in her lap. 'That's right,' she answered weakly, 'I haven't.' She smiled. 'Hi, Chiaotzu.'

'Are… you okay, Bulma? Any reason why you're not sleeping right now?'

She tapped the object in her hands with one finger. 'This. I need to keep an eye on this.'

Chiaotzu sat down next to Bulma, trying to get a good view of what Bulma was talking about. 'What is it?'

'A little prototype I've been working on.' Abruptly, Bulma's facial expression changed from one of weariness to alertness. She leaned in. 'Chiaotzu, I'm very tired right now.'

Patiently, Chiaotzu waited for Bulma to continue. Ten seconds passed in silence. Her eyes seemed to drift off. '... And?...'

Bulma refocused- her eyes darted to him. 'Watch this,' she said, handing the object to Chiaotzu, 'and write down everything that happens. Do you have a pen?'

'Uhh… no.'

'Okay. I have one in my bag.' She leaned over to her right, away from Chiaotzu, and started combing through a bag at her feet. In the space of a few seconds, she passed out, draped over her legs.

Chiaotzu frowned at Bulma, then at the object she had handed to him. _She could have told me how this works before zonking out…_ The object, which clearly seemed to be a measurement device of some kind, had its screen divided in half. On the right side of the screen, vertical bar graphs seemed poised to measure some unknown variable. On the left side of the screen, Chiaotzu found himself looking at a web of yellow light, some spots on the screen glowing brighter than others. There was one particular bright spot somewhere nearby. _Hmph._ Guessing that the device was some sort of radar, Chiaotzu stood and rotated his body and the device, trying to figure out where the cluster of readings was originating from. Eventually, he determined the device was illuminating a measurement of something in the competitors' section of the tournament. _I wonder what this thing is picking up on... The streaks of light on the screen there are so_ _ **large**_ _…_

He sat back down, wracking his brain. Before he could think any further, however, the crowd around him burst into standing cheers, whooping and hollering. Feeling a headache coming on, Chiaotzu had forgotten how overwhelmingly loud the crowd could be. A moment later, even though he was surrounded by a mass of cheering fans, a familiar voice boomed above them all.

' _Ladies and Gentlemen!_...'

* * *

A/N: Hype! Hype it up! It's gonna be a ride!

 **Reviews:**

 **OneofTen:** You would have been amazed at which the speed I corrected the mistake you pointed out. Holy cow. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Also, I hope you get some sweet character attachment from this chapter with everyone together!

 **LWexe:** Retu wasn't a purposeless character! I promise!

 **Guest #1:** The chapter was short because I didn't plan/ think of anything else for the in-between times. This chapter turned out much longer. The next chapter will be even longer than this one. Long chapters are coming your way.

 **Guest #2:** Confession time. When I started this story I didn't have any idea of what to do for a picture, but I kinda wanted to have some sort of visual primer for the idea of it. So I googled pictures of Kakarot and ripped this picture from wherever it came from. It's entirely not my own. The scar is there due to the author's intent, not mine (and if the author ever asks me to remove the picture, I will). Kakarot within this story does not have a scar on his forehead. He is, however, heavily scarred over most of his body.

And yeah, it would seem Krillin is the strongest at the tournament besides Majunior. It would seem...


	33. All in Good Fun

Sins of the Father

Chapter 33: All in Good Fun

A/N: This is an atypical and egregiously long chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

The quarterfinalists gradually assembled in a small room adjacent to the main ring. Apart from Majunior and Hero- the former was motionless underneath his ruffled purple _gi_ while the latter was luxuriating in his button-down white shirt- everyone was clustered together. Chi-Chi, clad in her multi-colored ceramic plates, was tightening the straps of her armor. Launch and Tien were habitually making eye contact and breaking it off.

Krillin looked around the chamber confused. 'What's going on? Where's the set-up from last time?'

'There were allegations of cheating for the seed selection at the last tournament,' a man shaking a small box said, 'so I'll be picking the balls and handing them to you.'

'Why aren't we doing this in front of the crowd?' Launch asked, gesturing in the direction of the ring.

'Same reason; to prevent cheating.'

To the side, Tien muttered to himself, 'Chiaotzu isn't even here… waste of time.'

The man with the box finished shaking it around and pressed it against his chest. 'Alright. If everyone could form a neat line, we can get this underway…'

Yamcha stepped up first, excitement plain on his face. 'What'd I get?' he asked as a ball was pulled out.

The man held up a ball so that only he could see it. '8.' Casually, he handed the ball to an assistant next to him. 'Next.'

Tien walked forward. When the man pulled out Tien's ball, Tien tilted forward to get a glimpse inside the drawing box. The drawer, however, bent backward and held it just out of sight. '3,' he said curtly, giving Tien a dirty look. 'Are you done?'

Glaring at him, Tien nodded. When he finished moving to the side, Yamcha leaned in. 'Hey,' he whispered, 'what was that all about?'

'It's the principle,' Tien said, crossing his arms. 'They shouldn't treat us like cheaters the _one_ time we aren't cheating.'

'What?'

'Nevermind.'

The drawing proceeded without incident, with the announcer telling each competitor what ball they had drawn one at a time. Launch went next and drew "7"- she shot a manic grin at Yamcha once this was told to her. Krillin and Rayne drew each other with "2" and "1" respectively.

As Majunior stepped up, Tien's anger was boiling over. _This is ridiculous. If they're going to treat us like cheaters, then we might as well cheat…_ He admittedly hadn't had nearly as much practice and talent as Chiaotzu had in these matters, but he was sure he could cause a _little_ mischief. Psychically focusing on the box, he shot an impulse of energy towards one of the balls in it- weirdly enough, he felt some sort of grip come loose just as the man thrust his hand into the box. A moment later, he pulled out a ball with the number "5". Majunior grunted and returned to his corner.

Chi-Chi walked up next. Again, Tien wasn't sure what happened, but just like last time, he focused his miniscule psychic power and seemed to knock a grip from one of the balls. _Is someone else doing this, too?_ The man promptly drew a ball with the number "6". Chi-Chi gave a faint nod, still preoccupied with fidgeting with her armor.

Hero was the last to go; he drew a "4". When he was informed of this number, Hero seemed to freeze for a moment before smiling placidly at the drawer and thanking them. Strangely, Tien thought he saw the man scold at him for the briefest second- but it had happened so quickly that he could have imagined it.

The drawer gave the box to his assistant. 'And that's that. You're in the announcer's hands from this point on.'

'Excuse me,' Krillin asked right before everyone was shooed off to the ring, 'is this the same guy who announced for the last two tournaments?'

The man nodded. 'Same guy. Nice guy, too.'

'What's his name?'

The drawer paused, thinking. 'Dunno,' he replied after a moment. 'Never thought to ask.' He started to wave them away. 'Put on a good show!'

0o0o0

The announcer was weaving literal magic with his voice, rolling and roiling the crowd into a speculative frenzy. Just when he felt he was running out of material, he heard the sound of footsteps from behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw the eight quarter-finalists had finally been delivered to him. A tournament worker quickly passed a clipboard with the seedings and names to him. _Showtime, baby._

He walked out to the center of the ring, directing the competitors to form a line behind him. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, _the dye has been cast!_ Before you now are the eight quarter-finalists for the 23rd World Tournament!' He held the mic towards the crowd, catching bits of the astonishing amount of noise that filled the stadium. Tugging at the edges of his newly-grown mustache, he went on. 'The matches are as follows! Krillin, a semi-finalist from the last tournament and a quarter-finalist from the one before that, will face off against Rayne, a quarter-finalist from the last tournament and a semi-finalist from the one before that! We've got a little symmetry going on here!'

The crowd cheered loudly for Krillin- it seemed he was becoming a crowd favorite. Rayne waved her hardest to get the crowd on her side.

'After that,' the announcer went on, 'we'll see last tournament's WINNER-' the crowd roared, '-TIEN, face a newcomer in the form of Hero! We'll see if Tien can make a successful title defense!'

Tien, as expected of him, acknowledged the crowd. He was never going to feel comfortable in front of such a large crowd- but he could tolerate the experience.

'The third match will see Majunior, another newcomer, face Chi-Chi, a quarter-finalist from two tournaments ago! Who knows what techniques she's developed since then to dazzle us with!'

Majunior seemed either indifferent or contemptuous of the crowd's attention. Chi-Chi felt out-of-place for an entirely different reason. She had never realized how much less accomplished she was at the World Tournament compared to her friends until the announcer blurted it out to the entire world. As it was, she felt her cheeks redden.

'And finally,' the announcer said, 'the last match of the quarterfinals will pit Yamcha, a finalist from two tournaments ago and a quarter-finalist from the last tournament, against Launch, also a quarter-finalist from the last tournament! That's sure to be a tough-fought win for whoever prevails!'

Launch and Yamcha equally soaked in the attention of the crowd. They both seemed in their element on stage.

'Everyone, prepare yourselves- the quarterfinals are about to begin! Don't move an inch!' The crowd pulsed with enthusiasm. Frenzied spectators were already doing the wave across the stands.

Satisfied, the announcer turned towards everyone on the ring. 'We're going to start as soon as possible. If everyone other than Krillin and Rayne could head over to the competitors' area, we can get this show on the road!'

Majunior and Hero quickly exited the ring. Just as Tien, Chi-Chi, Yamcha, and Launch finished speaking words of encouragement to Krillin and Rayne, the announcer came up to them. He turned his microphone off. 'Hey, I just want to make sure- none of you are going to do something crazy this year, right? Because the last tournament got _pretty_ crazy.' He scratched the area of his neck trapped underneath his red tie and dress shirt collar. 'If anything ridiculous on that scale happens again, they might shutter this tournament for a few years…'

Timidly, Krillin exchanged glances among everyone. 'We'll... try our best,' he said, trying to put the man's nerves at ease.

The announcer frowned. 'Oh... ' He went white as a ghost and walked out again towards the center of the ring. 'That's not a good answer... not at all…'

0o0o0

Chiaotzu flagged down Yajirobe, who was cluelessly walking around with metal box balanced on his head. When he sighted where Chiaotzu and Bulma were sitting, Yajirobe quickly joined them, happy to plant his butt down and plop the box into his lap. 'Jeez, that guy was _difficult!_ ' Yajirobe complained as he produced a hot dog from seemingly nowhere. 'You'd think,' he said between noisy chewing, 'that'd be their _one_ job requirement- not be difficult.'

'Yajirobe,' Chiaotzu said, staring at the hot dog disappearing before his eyes, 'where'd you get that from?'

The samurai finished inhaling the hot dog and promptly reached his other hand into the metal box, emerging with another hot dog a second later. 'Here,' he mouthed through a hot dog bun, pointing to the box in his lap.

Curious, Chiaotzu looked over the box and flipped over the lid on top. He saw dozens of hot dogs being boiled in hot water, complemented by hot dog buns and condiments. It was then that Chiaotzu recognized what Yajirobe had. 'This is… a vender's box.'

'Yea-huh,' Yajirobe replied, swallowing another hot dog.

'Did you steal this?' Chiaotzu asked.

'Nuh-uh.'

'Did you borrow this?'

'Yea-huh.' Yajirobe dexterously assembled a full hot dog with a bun and ketchup with one hand and offered it to Chiaotzu. 'Want one?'

'I'm good.'

0o0o0

'I'm sorry it had to go down this way,' Krillin said while stretching. 'You had a good chance to go far in the tournament.'

'That's a little cocky for you to say, don't you think?' Rayne shot back while doing some stretching of her own.

'Not cocky. Just… aware.' He gave her a wink- she scolded back.

'Are you going to take this fight seriously?' Rayne asked, cracking her knuckles. 'Or should I assume you're going to be like this for the _entire_ match?'

'Ah, c'mon! I'm just joking around. This'll be a fun fight-' Krillin paused. '-that I'll win.'

Growling, Rayne lowered herself to the ground, one bent leg extended towards Krillin. 'What happened to the old Krillin? You know, the one who treated every fight like it was life-and-death?'

Krillin lowered into a guard of his own- it wasn't recognizable to Rayne. 'To be fair,' he answered, ' _most_ of those fights were life-and-death. And that Krillin's still around. He's just buried under a lot of level-headedness.'

'Level-headedness?' Rayne balked, 'You really think you're being level-headed right now?'

He dug his heel into the ring and shrugged.

The next moment, just as the announcer opened his mouth to proclaim the start of the match, Rayne and Krillin burst into action. After exchanging a quick series of blows that tested each other's defense, Rayne twisted around a punch and lashed her leg out, knocking against Krillin's forearm block. She lurched forward, trying to smash Krillin into the ground with a double-handed fist but her attack passed through the air. 'Huh?' she drew back, 'where'd he go-'

Two hands pressed to her back. 'Surprise!' Krillin exclaimed, as two blasts of _ki_ shot out of his palms and smashed into Rayne. She was blasted away head-over-heels and crashed ungracefully to the ground a few feet away.

The announcer ran over on the grass to Rayne's side. 'Krillin lands the first blow!' he declared, striking an action pose in his black suit and red tie. 'Is this a sign of things to come? Or is Rayne about to get serious?'

Groaning, Rayne climbed to her feet, rubbing the spots on her back where the blasts had made contact. The fabric crumpled and came away with the slightest touch. 'You're a little piece of shit, you know that?' She yelled across the ring at Krillin. 'Why'd you have to go after my back?'

Krillin pouted. 'Sorry,' he said, sounding sincere for the first time in the fight.

'Yeah, you'd better be sorr- AAARRRHHH!' Suddenly, Rayne clutched her back and began tipping backward to the tiles.

'Rayne?' Krillin took a few steps forward, concern rising to his face-

And he was kicked to his right, stars streaking across vision. Acting on instinct, he stabilized and landed on the ring on all fours and quickly glanced to where he had last seen Rayne- but the image of the tipping figure was now fading into nothing. He hopped forwards a foot, narrowly avoiding a foot smashing into the tiles behind him.

'Alright,' Krillin said as he turned towards his assailant, 'that was a cheap shot.'

Rayne was smirking at him with her arms crossed. 'And blasting me across the ring by my back wasn't?'

'Point taken.' Krillin faced Rayne head-on. 'Round two?'

'Round two.'

They closed with each other again, the force behind their strikes and their urgency of movement intensifying from their first bout. Increasingly, however, Rayne found she couldn't get through Krillin's defenses. The bald human was expertly guiding away her punches and sliding away from her kicks. Frustrated, she pivoted on one foot, trying to make it look like she was bringing back her other foot when she was actually snapping it forward, but Krillin snagged the leg with both hands; Snarling, Rayne tried to wrench her leg free, but no matter how hard she tugged, it wouldn't come loose.

'What have you been doing since the last tournament?' Rayne asked, her voice a mix of surprise and indignation.

'Training with God,' Krillin responded as if he was reciting a common fact. No sooner had the words left his mouth did he wrench Rayne's leg towards him and up- she felt herself be pulled on a string into the sky above Krillin. Flailing, she used her other blue-jean leg to kick Krillin's legs out from under him, sending them crashing down to the ring. Rayne landed painfully on her head. Dazed but defiant, she aimed a point-blank horizontal blast at Krillin mere inches above the ground, but when she lifted her head to spot him, she discovered he had vanished again. 'Damn it,' she muttered, rushing to get off the ground and launch her prepared blue _ki_ blast from her palm, 'such a pain-'

A small, almost miniature yellow ball of _ki_ injected itself into her own blast, causing it to briefly warble like a pool of water that had been disturbed. _Uh oh-_

The blast in Rayne's palm detonated right in her face. Whiplashed and temporarily blinded, she felt her body snap back-and-forth through the air before crumpling to the ground.

'Oooohh… my head…' she struggled to open her eyes, trying to shake off the visual and auditory noise the attack had caused. Under assault from all her senses, she forced herself to stand. Drowsily, she looked across the ring at Krillin, who seemed somewhat shocked. Beyond him, Rayne saw the announcer seemed to be saying something into his microphone. At first, she couldn't hear or understand a word of this, but gradually, her mind began to piece things back together.

'...and she's up in the nick of time! A few more seconds and Rayne would have been sent home, folks!'

Ignoring her nausea, she planted her feet into the ground and glared at Krillin. Summoning the best steady voice she could muster in her current state, she said, 'Do you know what the difference between us two is right now?'

Before Krillin could respond, Rayne went on, clearly intending the previous question as rhetorical. 'I'm treating this match like it's life-and-death! And I'm not going to lose to a punk who's playing around!' She put one leg after another forward, slowly accelerating into a run. Leaning her body closer to the ground, she held her arms out like the contact pads of a bumper car. Her mind wasn't quite working at full strategic capacity- a single thought circled her mind like a vulture. _I'm going to tackle that damn bastard out of bounds!_

Right before she reached him, as if on cue, he disappeared, leaving behind a faint outline. _Hah!_ Rayne's outline also began to shimmer and fade, reappearing several feet to the left. Krillin noticed too late that Rayne had similarly employed an afterimage and correctly predicted where he would go; he was caught unaware and off-balance as Rayne closed far too fast to be dodged. With a great lurch, he brought his arms into a cross in front of him-

And Rayne felt herself phase right through him, tripping over her feet and hurtling to the grass just beyond his outline. _A second afterimage? Damn him…_ She fell out-of-bounds face first, dirt smearing across her face.

'Out-of-bounds!' The announcer immediately crooned. 'Krillin is the winner!'

Coughing out the dirt in her mouth, Rayne rolled over to her backside. Krillin, from an even farther away position on the ring than she had thought, was jogging over to her. When he reached her, she accepted his hand gratefully.

'That was a smart move,' Krillin said as he helped her to her feet, 'predicting where I would go with the afterimage.'

'Yeah…' She took a moment to get her bearings. 'But I don't understand;' she questioned, 'how'd you do a second afterimage? Your other one was still fading away when I passed through the second one.'

'Oh, that?' Krillin smiled sheepishly, scratching his head. 'Would you believe that wasn't an afterimage? Haha...'

'Wait… are you saying that was just you… _moving?'_

Krillin's mouth curled and he cocked his head to the side. 'Yea…'

'But… how?' she choked out, utterly lost. 'How are you _that fast_?'

'Honestly, you improved a lot too,' Krillin tried to console her. 'I was just lucky to train with one of the best teachers on the planet. How'd you spend the three years?'

Everything clicked into place. Rayne abruptly turned her face to the side, avoiding Krillin's gaze. 'Damn Yajirobe,' she cursed under her breath.

'What?' Krillin asked.

'Nothing…' She shook her head clear and met Krillin's gaze. 'Just do me a favor, Krillin.'

'Yeah?'

'Don't lose in the semifinals.' She winced, as if imagining something unpleasant. 'I would prefer to not lose to someone who flames out in the next round.'

Krillin smiled and nodded.

0o0o0

People in the crowd stood to stretch their legs while the ring was quickly swept by the tournament officials. The announcer wasted no time once this quick task was done- he burst onto the ring as Tien and Hero followed him out. 'I hope everyone enjoyed our quick break, because we're moving right along with the quarterfinals! Next up, we have Tien,' he swung his arm towards the Crane fighter, who dutifully waved towards the crowd, 'and Hero!' Hero was decisively less animate, choosing instead to explicitly eye Tien. Both fighters moved to their sides of the ring.

Tien tentatively bent into a guard, trying to gauge his opponent. _This is the guy Chiaotzu lost to… so he's obviously not as much of a pushover as he appears. Still, he doesn't look like a martial artist._ Tien began to pick up on a sense of… _wrongness_ emanating from the man. _Something's not quite right here…_

Before he could think any further, however, the blare of speakers droned out his thoughts. 'Begin!' the announcer electronically blasted across the ring.

In the time it took for Tien to blink Hero was upon him, his white shirt blurring into a long white trail across the ring. Tien found himself immediately on the defensive, hard-pressed to even _see_ most of the strikes coming his way. He was blocking on instinct alone while his mind and senses rushed to catch-up. Eventually, however, a blow snuck through his guard- Hero distracted Tien by shifting to the right and placing his hands onto the tiles. Hero then put his entire weight onto his hands and spun a leg out in a counter-clockwise arc towards Tien. It crashed against Tien's left arm, knocking him to the ground and jarring his movement. Tien bounced once before he saw Hero appear above him, aiming a menacing hand snapping with energy down at him. The man's mouth moved in tight, constricted ways, as if trying to say something, but no sound came from his mouth. A white glow filled Tien's vision.

The next moment, blinding light enveloped the spot where Tien had been.

From a corner of the ring, the announcer's muffled voice rang out, 'Incredible!'

'Woah…' Rayne muttered, shielding her eyes from the light of the explosion. She was settling into her seat within the stands. 'Do you think Tien got hit?' She asked Chiaotzu, who was seated in the row in front of her.

'Hard to say.' The pale fighter squinted, trying to see through the smoke enveloping the ring. 'He wasn't really prepared for such a quick opening- it's clear that Hero isn't playing around.'

To the right of Chiaotzu, Yajirobe was shaking the device Chiaotzu had handed off to him. 'Damn thing… what's with all the flaring lights right now?'

Just beyond Yajirobe, Bulma was snoring away.

0o0o0

Positioned in the center of the smoke cloud, Hero cautiously watched his surroundings for any sign of movement. When a fist did shoot out towards him, he was ready- he blocked the strike but was unprepared for another strike hammering into his side. He lashed out in retaliation- but the assailant was gone, disappearing once more into the cloud. He swung to palm another strike, but a second chop slipped underneath his guard, rebounding painfully against his ribcage.

 _Enough of this._ Hero bent his knees and crossed his arms, and with a great _hmmoooom,_ an invisible wave of _ki_ shot out from him, blowing the smoke up and away from the ring. Tien was unveiled just behind him, his arms crossed.

'There's something off about you,' Tien addressed Hero, who turned around to face him. 'And it gave me such a jarring feeling that at the start of this match you nearly beat me while I was trying to figure out what it was.'

Something resembling a frown crossed Hero's face. 'You know, then?' he asked, his voice delivered in slow, detached tones.

'Nope. I intend on beating you before I can figure it out!' Tien rushed forward, his plain white shirt rippling across his body. When they met, dull _droooms_ began to rumble across the ring, the sheer force of their concussive blasts shaking the stands slightly. Hero was very quickly forced backward by Tien's increased intensity, but he never looked substantially concerned or worried. Both fighters still seemed to be a few rungs below their top level.

Abruptly, Hero hopped backward, avoiding a punch aimed at his head. Tien rapidly released his fist and extended a finger. 'Dodon Ray!' he yelled, as a yellow beam shot out and raced past Hero's head. 'Dodon Ray! Dodon Ray! Dodon Ray!' A storm of thin beams erupted from Tien's finger, nearly grazing but never hitting Hero's dodging form.

Tien frowned- and his outline faded. As Hero was swerving rightward to avoid one last Dodon Ray, Tien appeared behind him, slamming a double-fist into Hero's back and knocking the fighter to the ground.

The ring cratered ever-so-slightly- zig-zagging cracks spread out from the single attack, forming a web around Hero's unmoving prone body. Tien paused over him, then took a wide step past him. 'Hey!' he called to the announcer, 'Start the-'

A burning sensation erupted within Tien's body. Half-controlled, he staggered to one knee, releasing the pressure of a massive blast crashing against his back and letting it spiral harmlessly into the air. On the ground nearby, Hero had rolled over, holding one hand with the other with thin lines of energy misting off of it. As Tien panted from the sudden pain, Hero climbed to his feet. His mouth made the same odd movements as they did before, but this time he managed to speak. 'You must stop this…'

More stunned than hurt, Tien had to take a few more deep breaths before regaining his strength to stand. Hero had already re-raised his guard by the time he had done so. 'You're… no...?' Tien replied softly. 'You're- hmm…' The odd sensation had returned to Tien; there was definitely something off with his opponent. _It's… his ki, isn't it? It's almost like it's another person's…_

After the three-eyed fighter took a few more calming breaths, Hero jumped off his feet, aiming a heavy punch at Tien. Blocking this and twisting, Tien brought his left arm from around him and threw it out horizontally across his waist. Hero surprised him, however, by jumping into the air and landing behind Tien. Too slow to react, Tien was pounded by blow after blow to his backside, smashing him forward towards the end of the ring. Unable to turn and regain his guard, Tien decided to make a stand and planted both his feet into the ground before him. Pushing off with his legs, he launched himself backward like a rocket, ramming his head into Hero's gut. Hero skidded back from the impact, his arms shooting to his midsection in pain. For his effort, Tien was immediately dazed, the impact so forceful that his entire vision was subsumed by bright, painful white. In sensory agony, he lamely fell to the ground on his back. After a moment, he rolled over and held himself up by his knees and hands. _Arrgh!..._

Hero took a moment to compose himself before straightening once more, his eyes boring into Tien. In his strange, calm walk, he began to stride over.

Totally disoriented, Tien struggled to even move; with herculean effort, he dragged his head off his chest.

Two figures were approaching him.

Tien blinked. _What?_ His eyes were just starting to refocus, but Tien had clearly seen an outline of… what could only be described as _ki_ arranged as a person hover over Hero like a specter. Another moment passed and his third eye closed. The _ki_ specter disappeared.

A crazy idea sprung into Tien's head. _No…_ He picked himself off the ground. _This has no right to work…_

Hero was a handful of feet away from him. _Then again, why not?_

When Hero stepped within two feet of Tien, the Crane fighter burst into action; he shot a point-blank, hastily formed Dodon Ray at Hero. Momentarily distracted by deflecting the weak attack, Hero couldn't prevent Tien from escaping into the sky.

'Uh oh!' the announcer exclaimed. 'Tien's gone airborne! Has he decided to get serious?' Even though he was wearing sunglasses, the announcer had to prop one hand like a vizor against his head to partially block the bright sun.

Everyone watching was doing the same. 'What the hell is he doing?' Yamcha wondered out-loud.

'Beats me,' Launch squinted towards the sky, trying to keep Tien in focus. 'It's something he never showed me, at least.' She sneered. 'Figures.'

Chi-Chi yawned. 'He's drawing this out, don't you think?'

'I don't think he's holding anything back,' Yamcha commented. 'I think Hero is actually _that_ strong.'

'Jeez…'

Krillin opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. _No, I don't even know if he's going to use that move._ He held one hand close to his face. _Though… just in case…_

Tien came to a stop in the air and thrust out his arms and legs and called forth a bright, translucent white aura. 'YOU CAN'T LEAVE THE RING,' he yelled down to Hero, loud enough to be heard by everyone in the arena, 'SO YOU'LL HAVE NO CHOICE TO TAKE THIS HEAD-ON!' Tensing his arms, he brought his hands out in front of him, forming a triangle with his hands. His aura intensified, reaching heights twice as high above him than before.

Hero, expecting a massive attack, inched over to the center of the ring and tensed, crouching low to the ground.

0o0o0

'Chiaotzu,' Rayne squeaked, 'Tien isn't about to blow up the ring, right?' When the pale fighter didn't respond, she glanced over at him- his eyes were glued to the sky. 'Chiaotzu?...'

While sucking on a hot dog, the device in Yajirobe's lap began to vibrate violently. Lines swirled across the screen in a veritable storm. 'What?' he put down the hot dog in his other hand and picked up the device. 'Huh?'

Apart from everyone else in the competitor's area, Majunior- who had watched the entire match in apathetic silence- raised an eyebrow in interest.

0o0o0

 _They all bought it…_ With his third eye, Tien glanced between everyone down below. _Lucky me. Let's do this._

Tien's aura loomed larger, fully enveloping and obscuring Tien from sight. The mass of aura abruptly sprung to the right, however, parking directly in front of the sun. "Solar Flare!" was the last thing everyone heard before being blinded by an overwhelming blast of light- everyone save Krillin and Chiaotzu, that is, who covered their eyes in the nick of time.

Tien made no effort to stop himself from being blinded- he had actually held open two of his eyes.

 _Still hurts…_ Carefully descending from the sky, Tien did his best to remember how high he had flown. Utterly blinded by his own attack, he measured the speed by which he fell by the feeling of air rushing over his body. Even though he had made sure to shut his third-eye, that part wasn't any good for normal sight. _Once I get on the ground, though, maybe..._

When Tien landed back on the ring, He saw that Hero was bent over, momentarily blinded by the attack. _And there it is…_

Channeling his third eye, Tien could clearly see the _ki_ specter hovering over Hero, perching like a bird on a branch. The specter was similarly blinded like its host, hunched over in agony.

Thrusting _ki_ into his hands, Tien stepped forward over Hero and pierced the specter. It gasped- as if shocked by what Tien had done- and tried to dematerialize by receding fully into Hero. Tien's _ki_ grip prevented the specter from doing this, however, and held the specter in place. Grimacing, and pouring one last rush of _ki_ into his hands, Tien took a step backward. 'LEAAAAVEEE!' He yelled, as his hands began pulling the specter fully from Hero's body. The specter sought to resist, quivering like a genie being sucked into its bottle, but Tien's strength was too great- after a few tense seconds, Tien ripped the specter fully out of Hero's body, flinging it into the sky.

Tien panted, twisting his head towards where the specter had shot to. He watched the specter freeze, and in the space of seconds, disperse as a construct. Parts of it broke off into loose fragments of _ki_ that dissolved into the air like a solid disappearing into a liquid. A few moments later, nothing remained of whatever thing had inhabited Hero.

0o0o0

'Aaaah!' Kami stumbled backward as lightning crackled and shot out of the focus in front of him. After a moment, the modest slab of slate before him cracked and shattered into a thousand pieces.

Nearby, Mr. Popo dropped his watering can and ran to their master's side. 'Kami!' they cried, helping the Guardian to his feet, 'what happened? Was it your evil half?'

Kami gripped his staff with two hands for support. 'No,' he replied unevenly, still recovering from the shock of immediately returning to his body, 'it wasn't. It was some damn fool… he might have doomed them all…'

'What are you saying, Kami?' Mr. Popo asked with trepidation in his voice.

'They're on their own. It's up to Krillin and his friends, now. _To fix my mistakes.'_

Unsure of what else to do, Mr. Popo left their master's side and quickly began sweeping up the fragments of the slab.

0o0o0

Hero lost his balance and fell backward, landing on his butt. In front of him, Tien eyed the man expectantly. '... huh?' Dimly, Hero looked around his surroundings. 'How'd I get out here on the ring?'

'You're in the quarterfinals of the 23rd World Tournament,' Tien informed him. 'We're in a match right now.' Around them, Tien began to notice everyone's sight returning as evidenced by groggy moans and squinting looks.

Hero jumped up. 'The quarterfinals? Are you serious!?' He pumped his arms up and down in growing panic. 'I need to find my son!' Without another word, Hero ran past Tien, sprinting onto the grass and climbing over the wall that separated the ring from the stands. Amused, Tien let a small smile cross his face as the man was swallowed by the confused crowd.

'I… that's a ring-out by forfeit,' the announcer said lamely. He seemed to be massaging his temples as if he had a headache. 'Tien moves on… I think,' he groaned.

Tien swung to the crowd, fully prepared to accept their cheers in a workmanlike fashion- but everyone was in various stages of discomfort, either testing their vision still or distracted by their temporary visual pain. _Yeah._ Tien half-frowned. _Forgot about that._

0o0o0

While Chi-Chi, Launch, and Yamcha were all expressing their discomfort, Krillin had attentively watched the end of the match. He wasn't quite _what_ had happened- all he saw was Tien grapple with himself for a few moments- but as soon as Tien succeeded in whatever he was doing, Hero's entire posture had changed. The cool, collected stance was replaced by a father's nervous and anxious pacing. Tien had clearly done something to Hero, but as to what exactly, Krillin had no idea.

There was, admittedly, something vaguely familiar to Krillin about Hero up until that point. _Questions for Tien later._

He had, at one point, also glanced at Majunior in the corner; despite his discomfort from Tien's attack, Krillin very clearly _saw_ him visibly flinch when Tien succeeded in whatever he was doing. _Perhaps he was also recognizing something? Or maybe he's connected to Hero somehow? More questions…_

Tien walked over to him as Krillin was thinking this. The others, having regained enough of their senses back, joined them. 'Tien, what the hell was that about?' Chi-Chi asked, irate.

'Yeah, you couldn't have warned us?' Launch chimed in, 'Temporary blindness is not pleasant!'

Tien maintained eye contact with them. 'I promise it was necessary. I couldn't tell you guys _and_ not tip off that guy about what I was about to do. If it's worth anything,' he pointed to his two primary eyes, 'I blinded myself, too.' As he said this, his eyelids squirmed from residual discomfort.

'You know you blinded everyone in the stands too, right?' Yamcha asked.

'Yes, I know. But the Solar Flare ended up working, so… the ends justify the means?' he shrugged.

'No,' Chi-Chi mocked, 'they don't. And "Solar Flare"? _Really_?'

'Back up for a moment,' Krillin spoke, 'you said that it worked? What'd it do, exactly?'

Tien nodded. 'It blinded Hero, but more importantly, it blinded my regular eyes. I could only see with my third eye.'

Launch verbalized wordlessly as if she was realizing something. 'So it was something spiritual, then?' She said after a moment.

'There was a… thing hanging around Hero,' Tien explained, 'almost like a ghost. It was controlling him, judging from how he changed once I pulled it out of him.'

'What, like he was possessed?' Yamcha tried to clarify. 'That seems a little far-fetched…'

To Krillin, their voices slowly began to fade away. _Some sort of spiritual possession? To do that… and considering how familiar Hero was to me previously once he had changed… was that Kami?_ His eyes nervously darted across the ring, recalling and picturing every move Hero had made. _The way he stood…_ Another thought rose in his mind. He glanced over at Majunior, who had resumed his earlier motionless indifference. _And if that was Kami, and Majunior_ _ **looks**_ _like him, and_ _ **recognized**_ _him in some way…_

He had no idea what to make of this. _Was this the threat Kami hinted at?_ _Him?_

Launch's voice sliced through his thoughts. 'So you decided to help this guy, actively _do_ something, huh?' She seethed at Tien. 'What makes him so special?'

'Oh boy,' Yamcha whispered out of the corner of his mouth, Unsubtly, he broke off from the group and walked away.

After a few moments of consideration, Krillin and Chi-Chi promptly followed

Launch continued glaring at Tien. 'Well?'

Tien's eyes lingered on her for a moment; then he glanced to the side and sighed. 'I'm going to talk for… thirty seconds. Just give me thirty seconds to talk, and once I'm done, you can be as angry as you like with me. Fair?'

She crossed her arms. 'Fine. Go ahead.'

'I'm sorry, first off. I didn't know how much… the thing we talked about would affect you. I genuinely thought it would be the best thing for you if you went off on your own- because I knew doing that would have been the best thing for _me_. I spent a lot of time alone growing up, and I had to handle a lot of my problems by myself, so I thought the same for you. I-' Tien paused. 'That's thirty seconds, right?'

Launch was leaning forward, her face rigid with concentration. 'You get another thirty seconds. Go.'

'... I'm not sure I have anything else to say. I guess… I messed up, and I'm sorry.'

'That it?' Launch asked, arching one eyebrow.

'Yea.'

Launch frowned at him, then shrugged. 'Okay. I guess that's understandable. Consider it forgiven.'

'...what?' Tien blinked rapidly with confusion. 'You're okay with it, just like that?'

Smiling, Launch pointed to one of her blue streaks of hair. 'I'm tuning into my more easygoing side right now- because I'm not crazy anymore, remember?'

'Yeah… I remember.'

'Good.' She nodded, satisfied. 'Good talk.'

'Ah… okay.'

0o0o0

While rubbing the side of his head, the announcer shakily brought up his microphone.'Ladies and Gentlemen… I know I speak for everyone when I say that we are _terribly_ sorry for… whatever just occurred.' Undetectable by anyone in the stands, he shot an angry glance towards the competitors' area. 'I'm _sure_ nothing like this will happen again. Understand?'

Various sounds of confusion rose out of the crowd. '...yeah?' One intrepid spectator yelled out in response.

In an instant, the announcer brushed away his serious tone. 'But on to the next match!' As the crowd roared again to life, he swept his arm towards the two persons walking out onto the stage. 'Chi-Chi and Majunior will compete in our third quarterfinal for a spot in the semifinals! Give them a warm welcome, everyone!'

As Chi-Chi dutifully greeted the crowd, she saw Majunior was as unmoving and uninterested as he had been during the preliminaries. He even had his _eyes_ closed. _Is he… sleeping?_ Gradually she drew back her waving hand. _I know he smacked around Yajirobe like it was nothing… but is that really a good reference? For all I know, Yajirobe is a wimp…_

'Begin!'

Chi-Chi nearly staggered backward as she wrenched her body to the side, barely avoiding a clawed hand rushing past her head. Majunior growled and swung that arm's elbow down and again Chi-Chi barely moved out of the way in time. 'Woah!' She rolled to the side and acting on instinct she crossed her arms in front of her as she stood. A resounding fist slammed against her arms, pushing her a few inches back and echoing across the ring. Through the gaps in her guard, for the first time she saw emotion on Majunior's face; _pure, focused rage._ She was forced backward by a heavy series of blows before Majunior delivered a crushing downward swing onto her shoulder, colliding with her left arm's hasty block and crashing her into the tiles. Dazed, she half-expected an imminent blow that would knock her out cold, but as soon as her sight returned to her, she noticed that Majunior had withdrawn backward. Rage was still present on his face, but it was now carefully layered beneath a forced composure.

'Go ahead,' he said once Chi-Chi had stood, 'attack me with your strongest attack.'

'What?' Chi-Chi replied while rubbing her hurt forearms. 'You're-'

'Your strongest attack.' He glared daggers at her. 'I won't ask again.'

Half-terrified, half-grateful for Majunior's dangerous terseness, she managed, '-Okay.' She brought her arms to her sides, more on auto-pilot than anything else. _This… this might actually be King Piccolo. I think… I think he fought for real for a few moments there, or somewhere close to it… and I was utterly overwhelmed. Is this what Krillin and Tien felt three years ago? Dread conveyed blow-by-blow?_

'Fine,' she spoke again, regaining her verbal composure, 'straight to it, then.' Squashing the fear she felt, Chi-Chi arched her body and bent it at an angle towards Majunior. 'You should know a bit about my background before I start,' she said in a low voice as heat lines began to rise off the tiles around her. 'I was born…' she bent closer to the ground, ready to pounce, 'in FIRE MOUNTAIN!'

Chi-Chi sprung straight up into the air; flames that burst from every crevice of her armor stretched towards the sky and mimicked her every movement like pseudo-shadows. A ring of flame began to encircle Chi-Chi, pulsating with the intensity of a firestorm. At the center of it all, Chi-Chi stood defiantly, most of her features obscured by fire except for the bright, varied appearance of her armor. The entire construct had the appearance of a flame-red rock encapsulating a multi-colored crystal.

0o0o0

Close enough to feel the heat of the flames, Launch whistled. 'That's some serious firepower..'

After a moment of concentrated attention on the ring, Yamcha glanced at Launch, half-smiling. 'I see what you did there.'

'Good, right?'

0o0o0

'Woah…' Suno hopped up on a concrete divider high up in the stands to get a better view of the inferno consuming the ring. 'Get him, Chi-Chi…'

0o0o0

Majunior squinted towards the flames, his face ranging between slight indifference and slight annoyance. Like an actual firestorm, fire began to creep outwards across the ring, burning and feeding off the tiles like they were wood. Growling, Majunior lifted up one arm and ran the other over it, as if applying some sort of film. Then, with a simple motion, he swung the arm down and the encroaching flames were _split_ down the middle across the length of the ring. After a brief moment, the fire to the right of the dividing line began to sputter and die. _She's on the left, then-_

A fist flashed past Majunior's head, slow enough for Majunior to sense it's approach and dodge backward. Just as he did this, however, a section of the firestorm lurched at him from behind, forcing him to stop and quickly hop back the way he came. Distracted by the wall of fire singing the back of his clothes, he crashed into a waiting knee, driving deep into his gut. He snarled and swiped one clawed hand in front of him, but for his effort, it raked through fire that superficially burned the surface of his skin.

As he drew back his stinging hand, a voice began to warble out of the flames. 'It was pretty dumb of you to give me enough time to do this,' it said, mocking, 'otherwise, I would never have had the chance to use this in the tournament. So thanks!' Majunior spun, thinking he'd pinpointed the voice- but he was greeted by another shooting pillar of flame, slamming into his chest and throwing him backward. As he protectively rolled with the force of the blow and extinguished his clothes, he performed a similar move to earlier and cut the firestorm in half, causing the flames to die-off on his side of the ring. Silently, he rose, his eyes searching through the flames.

0o0o0

'You sense it too, right Chiaotzu?' Rayne asked, not taking her eyes off the match. 'With her _ki_?'

He nodded, his eyes closed to focus on sensing her energy.. 'Yes… she's impossible to pinpoint in the firestorm because the fire is her _ki_. It's like hiding in a crowd comprised of your clones. It all just feels the same.' He opened his eyes. 'If she's done enough training with this, and minimizes the amount of _ki_ she's using… this is a very tough technique to beat.'

Rayne looked at him. 'You see any flaws?'

'No- but I wonder whether Majunior does…'

0o0o0

Majunior continued his game of deterrence, using his _ki_ to divide and dissipate the encroaching firestorm. Slowly, however, the flames continued to close on him, giving him less and less room to move with on the ring. His purple and white fabric flapped in the wind swirling to and fro across the ring.

The flames tottered towards him, ever so slowly.

Lowering himself to the ground, Majunior spread his arms out wide, clenching his hands towards the sky. With a heavy, careful movement, he rotated in a circle on his hips, moving his arms slowly through the air. Gradually, his speed increased; soon enough, his arms were zooming in the air around him. The flames pressed ever closer to him.

Suddenly, a tendril of flame lashed out of the inferno, aiming straight for Majunior's head- but the tendril hit an invisible wall not a few inches from his face, breaking and dissipating against it.

Majunior smiled. 'Haaah!' he emoted, as the flames all around him shuddered and shrunk back like they were struck. The flames seemed to react, rising twice as high as before, but with another pulse from Majunior, they were beaten back down, shredded by an invisible wind. Slowly, he began to advance towards the firestorm, pushing his way into the center of the ring protected by an invisible dome. With visible effort, he intensified his arm movements, seemingly weaving the area around him free of fire. The storm all around him raged, but with increasing regularity, it pulsed down and away, as if being pushed back by a counter-force.

For the briefest moment, Majunior saw a ridged helmet peak out beyond the top of the flames. 'HAAAH!' With both arms, he thrust them forward towards that spot, releasing a circular, green wave of energy. Instead of detonating on or fighting against the flames, however, the blast simply stripped the inferno from that area. Chi-Chi was revealed, a dumb expression splashed across her face. 'Ho-'

The next thing she knew, she flew across the ring and landed out-of-bounds. Whiplashed, she groggily looked towards the ring. Majunior was staring at her emotionlessly, unclenching his right hand.

'Chi-Chi is out-of-bounds! Majunior is on to the semifinals!'

Utterly exhausted, Chi-Chi spent a few moments stretching her limbs on the grass, checking everything was still attached. The next time she looked away from her body, she was surprised to see Majunior standing over her. 'You weren't a priority,' he said cryptically, before turning with a twirl of his cape. 'Consider yourself lucky.'

Too tired to even begin to unpackage that comment, Chi-Chi let her eyes wander towards the sky above and passed out.

0o0o0

Krillin briefly met Majunior's eyes, but the green-skinned person quickly looked away. 'He blasted away Chi-Chi's fire- her _ki_. Totally and utterly. The amount of _ki_ needed...' He swung his head towards the others. 'That's- are you guys listening to me?'

Yamcha and Launch were eyeing each other, each motioning for the other to start walking out onto the main stage. 'Sorry Krillin,' Yamcha responded, 'we're kind of busy here.'

'Yea, buzz off,' Launch added.

Tien came up behind Krillin. 'Are you genuinely worried about the amount of _ki_ Majunior just used?' He asked, ignoring Yamcha and Launch.

Krillin avoided Tien's eyes and said nothing.

'Be as mysterious as you want,' Tien went on, 'but it wasn't that shocking. We knew there'd be some strong people here. Judging from that one display, I don't think he's unbeatable.'

'I guess you'll have to find out,' Krillin said absentmindedly, like his mouth was on autopilot.

'I'll find out?' Tien tried to clarify. 'Do you mean in the final? Did you forget we're fighting before then, Krillin? _You_ could end up judging Majunior yourself.'

'Oh!' Krillin snapped out of his haze and rubbed the back of his neck from embarrassment. 'I kinda… zoned out there for a moment… sorry. I got caught up in some thinking.'

'What's on your mind?' Tien inquired, curious.

Krillin gazed over again at Majunior. He had returned to his corner in the competitors' area, hidden mostly by his clothes. 'We might be dealing with a more familiar enemy than we think.'

0o0o0

The next time Chi-Chi came to, she found herself looking at the ring as if she was a spectator. _But that can't be right. I'm still fighting-_

A pair of fingers snapped in front of her face. 'Chi-Chi!' Rayne gently shook her by her shoulder. 'You awake?'

Chi-Chi shook her head, then looked around at the people around her. Rayne was waving a hand in front of her face from her right. Chiaotzu was facing her from the next row; next to him, that guy Yajirobe seemed to be snacking down on something, and to the right of him… 'Bulma?' She pointed one weak finger towards the turquoise-haired woman sitting down and sleeping on her legs. 'Is that Bulma?'

'She's taking a nap,' Chiaotzu explained. 'Let her sleep.'

'Okay...' _How is she sleeping right now?_ Chi-Chi straightened in her chair, feeling every sore muscle knot beneath her skin. 'How come I'm in the stands and not getting medical treatment?' Chi-Chi asked.

'Oh, don't be a wuss. You're fine!' Rayne good-naturedly patted Chi-Chi on the back, which nearly slapped Chi-Chi onto her legs like Bulma. 'You're not injured- you're just exhausted.'

'Yea,' Chi-Chi sighed, leaning back again, 'you might have a point there. I'm just… gonna… _znoooorrrrr...'_ Rayne had to catch Chi-Chi and gently position her against the bottom of the stand behind her.

'Two snoring people,' Chiaotzu commented. 'What luck.'

0o0o0

Having watched her teacher be unceremoniously defeated, and lacking anything better to do, Suno was creeping around the area around the back of the stands. It seemed that a lot of people here were taking smoke breaks or doing some on-the-side gambling over the winners and losers of the match. In particular, there was a nasty smell surrounding some of the smokers. She was fascinated by what she was seeing- nothing like this ever happened in Jingle Village.

While she was passing by a grouping of men rolling dice on the dirt, her eyes were drawn to a heated argument farther ahead. One heavily muscled man was poking another in the chest accusingly, anger flashing across his face. They looked buff enough to have been competitors. _Maybe they're blaming each other for losing?_ Suno thought reflexively, not really concerned with the accuracy of her judgment.

Suddenly, one of the men was grabbed by two similarity muscled guys from behind. As he struggled to break out of their grip, the person he was talking puffed on a cigar and… seemed to disappear briefly for a moment. When the smoke from the cigar fully faded, a woman in biker gang-esque clothing appeared in his place, smiling wickedly.

 _What?_ Suno looked towards the man being detained. He struggled fiercely- and caught Suno's eye. Suno then realized that all four of them were looking at her. The woman sneered at Suno and with a single hand gesture sent one of the thugs after her. He cracked his knuckles as he approached, smiling with wicked delight. 'You stumbled into something you shouldn't have seen, little-'

The man said no more as Suno's foot crashed against the bottom of his jaw, snapping the man's head back and crunching his teeth together. He flopped to the ground on his back, blood streaming from his mouth and his eyes rolling over.

Appalled, Suno took a step back from the man. _Oh Kami! I didn't mean to do that!_ She crouched to the man's side and placed one finger to his neck- he heart was still beating. Relieved, Suno wiped some sweat from her forehead and looked towards the other three.

The woman was running away. The other thug had already done so.

The man who had been detained began to charge after her, but then seemed to realize something. He crossed his arms, a smug expression covering his face.

A moment later, out of seemingly nowhere, another man appeared and tackled the woman to the ground. Brushing his hands clean as if to signal victory, the original man beckoned Suno to follow him.

Hesitantly, she did so.

'Now,' the original man said as he strode up to the pinned woman, 'what do we have here?'

'You're scum!' the woman screamed, her eyes darting between her taunter and her captor, 'you're both scum!'

'We know,' he replied. A poof of smoke similar before to when the woman appeared manifested again around the man- a moment later, a floating cat was smirking down at the woman. 'Never thought you'd see me again, huh?'

The woman's mouth twisted, equal parts anger and disbelief. 'You should have stayed out of this!' She spat. 'Now there's going to be a target on your back, every hour of the day! I'll make sure of it!'

'You think I'm not used to that?' the floating cat shook her head, smiling. 'A lot has changed.'

She then turned to Suno. 'Hey… I saw you with Chi-Chi earlier. You know her, right?'

Suno snapped to attention at the mention of her teacher. 'Yes! I'm her student.'

'Should have known,' Puar said warmly. 'You're on your way to becoming a fine martial artist.'

'Do you know Chi-Chi?' Suno asked, a bit confused.

'We're old friends.' Puar seemed to remember where she was, looking back at the woman squirming below her. 'Can you do me a favor, Suno? Can you say hi from me to her? And everyone else?'

'Of course.'

'Good. Thank you.' Puar swung back to the woman. 'You're coming with us, _now_. Oolong, is the chopper nearby?'

'Oolong?" the woman laughed, her hair shaking loose and covering her face, 'you mean this, is Oo-'

Suno delivered a light kick to the woman's head. She was knocked out in an instant.

'Thanks,' Puar said again to Suno.'Oolong, can you carry her?'

The man had already begun lifting the woman.

'Alright,' she said, 'let's go.' They began to walk away towards the spectator entrance and exit to the tournament, but right before they passed out of sight Puar turned one last time to Suno and waved. 'Thank you again!'

Suno waved back. They vanished around a corner.

 _Huh. Well, that was fun. I should probably find everyone else now, though…_ She turned back towards the stands and paused. _Where am I, though?_

0o0o0

Once the announcer had checked that the ring was safe to walk on after a _literal_ firestorm had consumed it, he mustered all his earlier bravado and swung to face the crowd. 'Everyone! Prepare yourself for the fourth and final match of the quarterfinals!' Behind him, Yamcha and Launch were walking onto the ring side-by-side, butting their shoulders against each other while walking on the narrow pathway. 'It's going to be quite a match!'

0o0o0

As Chiaotzu was watching Yamcha and Launch walk to their respective sides of the ring, his eyes caught a wooden stick poking out above the crowd to his left. The stick jostled and shook its way closer to where he and everyone else was sitting. _What the…_

A white-furred cat stepped into their aisle, wiggling towards Chiaotzu. 'Heyo!' Korin said enthusiastically.

'... Korin? What are you doing here?'

'Supporting my pupil, what else?'

'Ah.' Chiaotzu got Yajirobe to scoot over and so Korin could sit to Chiaotzu's left. 'That makes sense. Excited to see Krillin put your moves to the test in a tournament for the first time?' Chiaotzu asked.

Korin's gaze swept towards the two quarterfinalists moving onto the ring.'Not _quite_ who I'm referring to…'

'Huh?'

Behind them, and lacking anyone competent to ask, Rayne kept her confusion to herself. _Is that a talking cat?_

0o0o0

Yamcha and Launch eyed each other from across the ring. Both of them had been felled at this stage of the tournament last time- neither of them intended for that to happen again.

'I'm curious to see what you've learned in three years,' Yamcha asked across the ring, stretching his arms in a circle one at a time. 'Other than changing your hair, of course.'

Launch smirked. 'You're pretty unperceptive. Or have you already noticed that I haven't sneezed once?'

Something flickered across Yamcha's face. 'Wait. Are you saying-'

'Whatever your worst fear is,' she cut him off, her smirk broadening, 'it's probably true.'

Yamcha laughed. 'Then this should be a good fight, after all.'

The announcer gave each of them a nod before throttling the microphone to his face. 'Begin!'

Yamcha moved first, charging across the ring and aiming an elbow at Launch's midsection. She dodged nimbly, shifting to the right and blocking a follow-up kick from Yamcha with her forearm. A flurry of strikes crashed and broke against each other, canceled out by a nearly identical move from their opponent. At one point, Yamcha yelled and shimmered, appearing behind Launch and swinging a heavy claw through an afterimage of her own. His hand flashed and dug into the tile. Groaning, he tried to pull his arm from the ground as Launch appeared before him. 'So you know that move now? Good.' He freed his hand, creating a _popping_ noise and loosening a tile. 'Makes the fight fairer.'

She answered him with a mischievous smile; then, her entire body faded in such a way that her smile was the last thing visible.

In response, Yamcha's outline also blurred and vanished. A split-second later, they crashed together in the middle of the ring, fist to fist. They struggled against each other briefly, before Launch ducked low and kicked Yamcha in the shins, knocking him off balance. Before Launch could land a follow-up strike, however, Yamcha caught himself and somersaulted backward out of danger. 'Stop running!' Launch yelled as she chased after him.

'I'm impressed,' Tien said, catching Krillin's attention. 'They're both improved massively.' He flattened his mouth. 'Between you and me, either one of them would give me some trouble.'

Krillin turned his head and stared at Tien. 'But you'd still beat them, right?' he asked.

Tien kneaded his face into an agreeing expression. 'Oh, yeah. That goes without saying.'

Grinning, Krillin nodded.'Good.'

Out on the ring, Yamcha spun away from a drilling punch from Launch, stopping his movement to fire a near point-blank blast of _ki_ at her. She halted her charge mid-movement and brought up her arms, catching the attack square on her block. With a great roar, she flung her arms outwards, scattering the blast into a thousand tiny granules of light.

Yamcha frowned, drooping a little. 'You're no joke, jeez…'

Launch dug her back heel into the tile. 'Jokers don't aim to win!' Abruptly, she then threw out a blast of her own, sparkling yellow in the day's light. Yamcha easily stopped the blast with two outstretched hands. 'C'mon!' He taunted. 'Throw more at m-'

The pressure on him doubled, then tripled, as he found his feet sliding back and his hands starting to burn. Craning his neck out, he noticed a distinct blue sheen running halfway through the attack. _Different colors! Which means!... differing_ _ **ki**_ _!?_ Beyond the blast, he saw Launch feeding two separate blasts, a yellow one from her left hand and a blue one from her right, merging together and hammering down on Yamcha. _This should be impossible for a single person to do! Two qualitatively different ki attacks!?_

 _Ah damn._ Yamcha pooled _ki_ into his hands and feet, anchoring him to the ground and protectively shielding his burning palms. _I should have listened earlier, about her not sneezing-_

The attack quadrupled in strength, wrenching Yamcha off his feet. 'DAAAMN!...' he roared as the blast drowned out all other sounds.

0o0o0

'I taught her that, you know,' Korin whispered to a gaping Chiaotzu as the ground beneath them began to shake.

0o0o0

A massive conflux of energy crested past where Yamcha was and rode across the grass beyond, searing every blade instantly and detonating against the wall surrounding the ring. Some spectators were knocked out of their seats as a shockwave rumbled across the arena and the section of the wall where the blast hat hit collapsed to the ground.

Alone in the ring, Launch panted, scanning for where Yamcha had gone. The smoke had yet to clear from where the wall had collapsed. 'Announcer man!' she snapped, swinging her head like a marionette, 'Start the count!'

'I…' he verbalized, 'I'm not really sure where he is and if he's down…'

'Do it!' She urged him, 'just start the count!'

Intimidated, the announcer gulped, then raised the microphone to his mouth. 'One… two…'

Launch looked around the ring, searching for any sign of Yamcha. _No scraps of clothing, no sound, no nothing… even if he isn't in the rubble, he's definitely out-of-bounds._

'Three… four...'

The smoke cloud dissipated enough to reveal the remains of the wall and its contents- _nothing. Where the hell is he?_

'Five… six…'

She began looking in every possible direction, even going so far as to scan through the crowd. _I swear, if he's going to win on some stupid technicality like "the stands don't count as out-of-bounds", I'm going to kill someone!_

'Seven… eight!...'

Krillin and Tien were both gazing up towards the sky. 'Wow...' Tien uttered.

'Nin- woah!'

A tunnel of wind blasted down vertically onto the center of the ring, nearly knocking Launch to the ground. Struggling against the wind, she forced herself to stand up fully again and gazed upwards.

She gasped. A massive, wolf-shaped paw was reaching down towards the ring, five claws pointing out threateningly. Gritting her teeth, Launch shot up a _ki_ blast to delay the paw, but the _ki_ construct simply batted away the attack. As they approached, the claws narrowed and merged into one single fang, speeding down towards Launch like a meteor. Nowhere to run- the attack was going to cover the entire ring- she feebly ducked underneath her arms and cradled her head with her body.

The moment the fang made contact with the ground, the paw broke apart in a blinding flash of light and a wave of energy descended on the ring and detonated. The announcer was nearly knocked off his feet as a percussive sympathy went off, intermittent _brams and doomphs_ that lasted for well over a minute. As the storm of sound and light finally began to die off, Yamcha floated gracefully down to the ring, touching his feet back to the ring somewhat unsteadily.

In the center of the ring, Launch was splayed out on her back, unconscious. Respecting the ten-second count, Yamcha held back just long enough to ensure his victory before rushing over to Launch and slapping her awake.

Her eyes glazed over, she came to. 'I can't believe you…' she murmured. '...How did you learn to fly?'

'If you call ascending one foot at a time flying,' Yamcha said self-deprecating, 'then it was through trial-and-error.'

She groaned, turning her head on its side. 'Why didn't I look up…' she muttered to herself. Yamcha patiently waited for a moment, and eventually, Launch gave him the indication for him to help her up.

'So correct me if I'm wrong,' Yamcha said as he clasped his hand to Launch's, pulling her to her feet, 'but when your two selves merged, you gained a power boost, right? That's why you improved so much since the last time?'

'Yup.'

'And that was why you could do the two separate _ki_ attacks, right?'

'Well,' she scratched the back of her head, 'I don't think that's unique to me. I just think I have more familiarity with doing something like that with my _ki_ because… of my background,' she gestured vaguely, 'or whatever.'

'Mmm.'

Launch let Yamcha help her walk out onto the out-of-bounds grass, and without Yamcha's assistance, she began to climb over the outer wall into the spectator area. As she was about to jump down from the top of the wall to the other side, she turned back towards him. 'One more thing, Yamcha; we weren't that far apart in strength, right?'

'I only won because I got the drop on you,' Yamcha reassured her. 'Otherwise... we would have bled ourselves dry.' He said ominously.

Weirdly enough, Launch smiled at that. 'Good to know. Thank you.' She saluted him, then swung her legs over the wall and joined the crowd.

0o0o0

Victorious, Yamcha rejoined Tien and Krillin in the competitor's area, beaming like the sun itself. 'And then there were four!' He said as she clapped a hand on each one of their shoulders. 'Looks like this is my year!'

Tien smirked at him, and gestured to the fourth semifinalist eyeing them from the other side of the area. 'Did you forget about who you're fighting in the semifinals? The guy who may or may not be King Piccolo?'

Yamcha didn't frown, but he didn't exactly smile either. Instead, he performed what could best be described as a nervous laugh. 'How could I forget?'

* * *

A/N: Conceivably, this is the last tournament quarterfinal I will ever write... so this will probably be the longest chapter ever written for this story. **Holy cow** , was it a struggle. Hope it was fun to read though!

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** Yay!

 **Legendary-AI:** How do you think the description for this fic could be improved/ more informative? I'm open to any suggestions.

 **Guest:** Kind words! Thank you!

 **juste leave me alone:** Hey, don't shortchange the other gods at work! The characterization gods would like to object!

More serious, there are a couple reasons for Bulma's device coming about that'll become clear going forward. I think… three reasons. I think?


	34. All Eyes on Me

Sins of the Father

Chapter 34: All Eyes on Me

* * *

'Is… Bulma okay?' Launch was sitting behind the Capsule Corp heiress, her finger hovering within poking range. 'She looks… dead.'

'I asked the same question,' Rayne said, 'err- kind of.'

Launch shrugged, leaning away from Bulma. 'So we're the ungraceful quarterfinal losers eh?' She turned to her left; in between herself and Rayne, Chi-Chi was, like Bulma, snoring away. 'This sucks.'

'I don't know, it depends on how you look at it,' Rayne replied, casting her eyes towards the ring. 'If those idiots beat themselves within an inch of their lives and another after-tournament crisis happens, we'll have to save them. It's good to have that responsibility, right? Keeping yourself fresh for anything unexpected.'

'I guess,' Launch sourly agreed as she sank in her seat. 'Korin, I put on a good show, right?' she called out.

'Of course!' he replied positively, just out-of-sight.

In the row in front of Rayne, Chi-Chi, and Launch, and next to Bulma, Yajirobe frantically swung the device in his hands back and forth, up and down. 'Damn thing!... I got it to work before but now it's busted!' He tried to give the device back to Chiaotzu, who shrank away.

'Don't give it to me!' he protested. 'I don't know what I'm doing with that thing either.'

'Fine!' Yajirobe twisted to his other side. 'Then I'll just ask Bulma-'

'-Yajirobe, don't!-'

Yajirobe grabbed Bulma by the arm and started shaking her vigorously. 'Bulma! Bulmaaa!'

Chiaotzu gave a long, exasperated sigh.

Bulma's eyelids fluttered, then sleepily opened, as she slowly became aware of Yajirobe shaking her. '... What…' She turned to him, rubbing her eyes. '... What is it?...'

He presented the device. 'This thing is busted. It's not showing light on the screen anymore!'

When she saw the device, her expression instantly tightened, a frown pulling down on her face. 'Yea… that…' Bulma sighed, sinking her head into her hands. 'I don't know why I made that. It's not exact- it can't measure _ki_ levels on a scale. It just… pickups on them and represents them by the intensity of light on its display. Just like how the dragon radar works. That detects whatever waves the dragonballs emit.'

Chiaotzu furrowed his eyebrows. 'I don't understand- if you think the device is intentionally flawed, then why did you make it?'

'I don't know… I think I just wanted to keep up with you guys, feel like I'm a part,' she gestured to the ring, 'of this world, you know?'

'You mean… with martial arts, and training, and all that?' Chi-Chi speculated.

'Yeah, that I've always loved science: inventing, prototyping, engineering, theorizing… but when Yamcha left Capsule Corp a few years back, I felt like he was going down a road I couldn't follow- tuning his skills by throwing himself into a bunch of crazy and challenging training routines, I guess. It's the same with everyone. Go off to a remote corner of the world and train your hardest. Some of us can hang with that, do that… but some of us can't.' She sunk lower into her hands. 'I just wanted to feel involved… It was a stupid thing to stay up a week straight making...'

'Ahh, jeez,' Chiaotzu murmured, 'Bulma…' Chi-Chi, Launch, and Rayne, who were all sitting behind her, all patted her on the back. Chiaotzu leaned towards her, catching her eyes. 'You're always going to be involved- it's who you are. You're Bulma Briefs!'

'Yea,' Rayne added, 'I know I speak for all of us when I say Capsule Corp is always going to feel like a second home to us.' Chiaotzu, Launch, and Chi-Chi nodded in agreement. While none of them had actually _been_ inside Bulma's home, they trusted Rayne's word for the sake of making Bulma feel better. 'You've already helped us and kept with us in a ton of ways… if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have found the dragonballs, much less,' she made eye contact with Chi-Chi, ' _know about them._ So if it weren't for you, probably none of us would be here now. We only _know_ each other because of you, Bulma.'

Bulma twisted around in her seat, her eyes darting between every supportive face. 'I guess,' she gave a slight smile, 'you all have a point.' She rested her head in her hands. 'Hmm… I should think of more group events…'

Suddenly, Bulma froze. 'What round is it?'

0o0o0

'Laaaaadies and Gentleeeeemen!' The announcer, in true announcer fashion, bent himself into an incredible shape with his enthusiasm. 'We're moving right on to the semifinals! First up- a rematch of last year's first semi-final; Tien vs. Krillin!'

Waving to the crowd, both fighters walked out and began to move to their respective positions on the ring. The announcer continued to whip the crowd into a frenzy. 'This has the makings of the match of the tournament, folks! And I'm not just saying that because this match last time ended up being _very consequential_ in determining the winner, haha…' The announcer laughed nervously. 'No- what this match will showcase is two competitors, at the top of their games, giving all that they've got for us. Two fighters in their primes going at each other!' The crowd roared with approval. 'What's more exciting than that!?'

'So you're ready to throw down?' Krillin joked while bending his arms back, mimicking the enthusiasm of the announcer. 'I've got some new moves to try out…'

Tien pivoted on his pelvis, then settled into his trademark Crane defense. 'I've been waiting three years for this moment.'

No sooner had the word "BEGIN!" echo across the arena did the ring erupt into chaos. Krillin and Tien both blurred, their outlines zooming and jumping around. They would collide and become present for a few moments at a time whenever they landed hits on each other, but then they would again fade and dash away. Like phantoms, they moved around the ring at an impossible speed, so fast that any normal spectator _couldn't keep track of them._ The announcer shakily brought up the microphone to his mouth. 'I… something I can't see is surely happening!'

In the stands, even some of the trained fighters were having a hard time tracking Tien and Krillin. 'Are you kidding?...' Rayne muttered as she yanked her head to the left and right as when was needed of her. 'This is insane!'

'Is this... their warm-up?' Chi-Chi asked incredulously. 'How?'

'Eh,' Launch verbalized, decidedly unimpressed, 'it's not _that_ spectacular.' Her eyes seemed to be tracking the action a little bit better than Rayne and Chi-Chi.

Chiaotzu- even though he was having a similar amount of trouble keeping up with the action that Rayne and Chi-Chi had- seemed more familiar with the experience. 'Tien's been driving himself like a madman to improve… this is pretty much what I expected.'

'Looks like Krillin was doing the same,' Chi-Chi commented.

Suddenly, Tien and Krillin met in the middle of the ring with a resounding _booom_ , their legs pressed against one another. In the midst of their struggle, Tien smirked. 'Got you.'

Krillin's eyes contracted. 'What?'

A rush of wind swept towards the former monk's back and a pair of arms grappled Krillin from behind, lifting him off the ground and bending his arms backward. Trapped, Krillin began to receive a succession of blows hammering into his gut while the second Tien held him steady.

'Holy cow!' The announcer exclaimed, clearly excited that he was able to see what was going on again, 'Now there's _three_ of them!'

His feet dangling in the air, there wasn't much Krillin could do to break the grip on him. _So if you can't lose 'em… use 'em!_ Shifting his weight, he lurched forwards, dragging the second Tien lower to the ground. The original Tien couldn't pull his punch in time before smacking a heavy blow into his clone's head, dazing the copy and forcing him to release Krillin. Acting quickly, Krillin landed and jumped into the air, whipping Tien in the jaw with the tip of his foot and front-flipping to land behind the Crane fighter. Then, with as much energy as he could quickly summon, Krillin turned and launched a wide wave of _ki_ at the two Tiens. The blast struck and threw them both to the ground, forcing the two of them to merge back into the same body.

Krillin allowed himself a few brief moments of satisfaction before spinning around and knocking away a jab that had been gunning for his neck. 'I'm glad we got that technique out of the way,' Krillin teased, struggling forearm-to-forearm with Tien. 'It's such a pain to deal with.'

An evil smile spread across Tien's face. 'Oh, I'm not quite done with it. There are a few techniques I've learned to use _in conjunction_ with it…'

A few tense moments of staring, and they both resumed their high-speed game of cat-and-mouse.

0o0o0

'When did Krillin get so acrobatic?' Rayne wondered out loud as her eyes frantically flicked from side to side. 'He… he was… huh. I don't actually know... Was he an acrobat before joining up with us?'

'No, he was a monk,' Bulma answered. Opposed to everyone else around her, her eyes were glued to her device. Streaks of light were dancing in a strange pattern-like movement on the screen. For some reason or another, mild dissatisfaction dominated her face. 'The "Obin" temple, if I remember correctly'

'A monk?' Chi-Chi frowned, thinking. 'I guess that would explain his shaved head.'

'And the dots on his forehead,' Chiaotzu reminded everyone dryly. 'Seriously, did none of you make the connection when you saw those incense burns?'

Chi-Chi and Rayne let their silence speak for themselves.

'Launch,' Yajirobe asked after several seconds of this, 'do you, uh… have any more of those beans? The super special lima beans?'

'If you mean the _senzu beans_ ,' Launch responded, somewhat annoyed, 'then yes. But you're not allowed to have any.'

'What? Why not?'

'Because they're only to be used in an emergency,' Launch explained. 'They have incredible healing properties.'

'Oh, please.' Yajirobe began to stand up, 'just one more-'

'NO!' Launch snapped her head to Yajirobe and shot him a glare that could kill lesser beings. 'YOU GET NONE!'

More annoyed than scared, Yajirobe sat back down, grumbling to himself.

Chi-Chi's mouth squirmed for a moment, unsure how to proceed. 'I feel like you just overreacted,' she said eventually.

Launch glared at her, then Yajirobe. 'I've already had to explain how valuable the beans are to his cretin three times already. My patience is wearing thin.'

Surprised, Chi-Chi blinked. 'What? When?'

'After I gave him the bean the first time,' Launch sighed.

'But you were only together for like… a minute total after that.

'I know.'

'I concur with Launch,' Rayne jumped in, 'Yajirobe is an idiot.'

If he had heard or cared for what was just said about him, Yajirobe didn't react in the slightest.

0o0o0

Tien halted in the center of the ring and shot a thin golden beam from one finger at Krillin, then another, until a storm of blasts were heading in Krillin's direction. The Turtle fighter's form shifted and blurred as he moved forward, dodging the blasts like some sort of ephemeral ghost. As soon as Krillin come close enough, Tien ceased his _ki_ barrage and ran forward, holding behind him a heavy punch. Somewhat unprepared for this, Krillin had to duck underneath the last golden beam and slide forward, bracing his arms in an X. Like a hammer hitting an anvil, Tien's blow rang across the ring, loud enough to wake anyone who had been sleeping up until this point. Seemingly unfazed, Krillin jumped off his feet at the earliest moment and whirled away from Tien's follow-up kick.

0o0o0

'Crazy…' Chi-Chi mumbled to herself. Her hands were clamped down on the seat beneath her. _How are they this fast?_

'I know, huh?' someone responded to her right. Chi-Chi glanced over; she then did a double-take. 'Suno? How'd you sneak up on me?'

Suno looked at Chi-Chi like she had just asked an incredibly dumb question. 'You- all of you- are completely captivated by this match right now. You wouldn't notice if an army had crept up on you.' Suno turned her attention to the ring. 'Speaking of the match… are those your friends out there?'

'Sure is,' Chi-Chi replied, nodding. 'The tall one is Tien. The shorter one is Krillin.'

They watched in silence for a moment. Krillin and Tien broke out of their super-fast movement briefly to engage in a quick series of blows. Krillin pushed Tien backward with a rapid sequence of jabs and chops, forcing the Crane fighter on the defensive. Just as Krillin looked to be gaining the upper hand, his overhead double-fist passed harmlessly through Tien's body. A second later, Tien appeared behind Krillin and dive kicked him in the back down to the ground. Krillin vaulted and righted himself, then launched himself once more at Tien.

As their guards crashed against, Tien said through gritted teeth, 'Is this where we start getting serious?'

Krillin gave him a sly glance in response. 'I'm still warming up.'

'Hmm?' Tien grunted, tightening his face.

The next second, they were speeding across the ring again, locked in tight, close-quarter combat. There was a tangible difference in their exchange from earlier, however; Krillin's style had become much more complex. In addition to the heavy, damage-absorbing defense that was standard of the Turtle School, Krillin was also mixing in a more flowing style of offense that capitalized on successive and constant pressure. He landed four clean hits to Tien's block- and suddenly, the Crane fighter found Krillin in the air above him. The Turtle student flipped and planted two feet into the small of Tien's back. Tien toppled forward like a domino and narrowly rolled away from a knee Krillin planted into the tiles.

Krillin gave him a smile and faded away, using the afterimage again. Attentively, Tien twisted around, scanning the ring for where he had gone. Before he had even turned a half-circle, however, Krillin charged at him from across the ring like a train, rushing right up to him and landing an explosive uppercut to Tien's head, stunning the Crane fighter and sending him sailing through the air. Not wasting a single movement, Krillin immediately jumped up after Tien and gripped him at his sides like a plank of wood. With a heave, Krillin pulled and threw Tien's body back down onto the tiles, creating a short, shallow trough in the ring. No sooner had Krillin touched back down on the ground, a spurt of _ki_ blew him off his feet and onto his back.

Scratching the back of his head in confusion, the announcer passively watched Tien and Krillin scramble to their feet.

0o0o0

'They're not very showy, are they?' Launch said, suppressing an urge to yawn. 'I mean, yeah, they're fast, but do they know how to put on a good show?'

As if answering her question, Krillin lost his footing on a block and flopped to the ground, landing on his side. Only a quick roll saved him from being punted by Tien like a football.

'We're… past the warm-up stage, right?' Chi-Chi asked hesitantly.

'Sure are,' Korin mused. 'I bet even King Piccolo 2 in the corner is wishing for this match to end. If he had a set of dragonballs…'

'Haha,' Launch faux-laughed, 'very funny, Korin.'

Korin didn't look away from the ring. 'I'm not kidding. That's definitely him, or someone closely related to him.' He cocked his head to one side. 'Maybe a niece/nephew?'

'I thought we agreed that this guy couldn't possibly be King Piccolo,' Chi-Chi said, somewhat irritated.

'I didn't agree to anything,' Korin replied. 'Trust my eight-hundred-year-old cat brain; that guy is familiar…

'That's weird, because I don't remember you fighting King Piccolo in West City,' Launch said pointedly to Korin. 'How would you know if that guy looks familiar?'

Korin snorted. 'Did you catch what I just said? Eight-hundred-year-old cat brain? It's true, I didn't see him three years ago… but I certainly saw him three _hundred_ years before that.'

Everyone clammed up. 'You're… over three hundred years old?' Launch asked, voicing the question on everyone's mind. 'How?'

'I may or may not be immortal.' Korin frowned in thought. 'Doesn't matter,' he continued after a moment. 'Fact is, I got up close and personal with the first King Piccolo in his _first_ prime; you don't really forget something like that.'

'Something like what?' Rayne probed, curious.

'Standing toe-to-toe with the Demon King and trying to stop him yourself.' Korin's eyes glossed over, seemingly lost in a memory. 'Good times…' he said wistfully.

Leaning forward, Yajirobe glanced over at Korin and asked, 'How old did you say you were?'

0o0o0

Shaking off the last blow, Tien pulled himself up from one knee. He wiped away some blood trickling out of a gash on his jawline. Krillin, looking a little worse for wear, kept his eyes trained on Tien.

'Yea,' Tien said, his tone decidedly irked, 'I'm done with this.' Without any warning, Tien began flying up into the sky.

'...And there he goes!' The announcer proclaimed, adjusting his sunglasses as he tilted his head up.

On the ring, Krillin briefly debated whether to respond appropriately- _but I think the fewer techniques I use now, the better…_

Once he reached about fifty feet above the ring, Tien halted and froze statue-esque for a few moments. His body shimmered side-to-side, like a moving projection, until it separated totally into three separate Tiens. The Tiens quickly positioned themselves to form an airborne circle above Krillin.

0o0o0

'Why isn't Krillin doing anything?' Rayne demanded, 'Tien's getting all this time to prepare!'

'It's not like Krillin can really do anything,' Chiaotzu commented while stretching. I'm not sure if he can fly, and it's not like he can move out of bounds.'

'And it's hard to hit a moving target in the sky with a _ki_ blast,' Chi-Chi said. 'The best he can do is to wait for Tien to try something and counter-attack him. Or _them_ , in this case…'

0o0o0

'Remember what I said earlier?' One of the Tiens shouted down to Krillin, 'about using this move with something else?' Ominously, the three Tiens in unison formed a triangle with their hands, aiming at an angle towards a spot over Krillin's head. 'I call this!' another said, 'the Tri-Ray!' Another finished.

There was a pause as each Tien pulsed with light; then, a yellow triangular beam shot out from every pair of hands, screeching down towards a center-point in the sky. When these beams met, however, instead of detonating they merged together and shot down to the ring as one collective blast.

The attack bore down- before anyone could see what Krillin would do, the light from the blast obscured him.

'Woah!' The announcer nearly got swept off his feet by the wind rolling off the ring, as the blast _phoomed_ and _brcckkked_ into the earth. 'I… woah!'

Energy bled into the air, throwing up smoke and particles in a vertical plume. Silently, the three Tiens came back together as one. His shoulders drooping, he lowered himself closer to the ground to get a better view of how successful his attack had been.

A few seconds passed. The smoke cleared up some, but there was no sign of Krillin. _Oh, don't tell me…_ Filled with expectant dread, Tien lifted his head towards the sky.

Not a moment later, Krillin fell from the sky, landing square in the center of the ring. The bottom half of his _gi_ was singed, like he had run through fire, but even stranger, he was missing the top half of his _gi_ and his boots. If this was news to Krillin, he didn't show it; he was already positioning himself to continue the fight.

Tien glared down at Krillin before he strangled out through his disbelief, '...what?'

'I jumped,' Krillin replied quickly, 'now let's get on with the match!'

Confusion dominated Tien's face. _He… jumped? What!?_ Then, Tien noticed two things at once. He realized that he was tired- the energy attack he had used had consumed a lot of his energy- and that Krillin was catching his breath ever-so-slightly. A memory flashed through his head.

'This would have been a good match,' Tien said after a moment, hovering down to be closer to Krillin.

'Yea, it would-' Krillin halted mid-sentence. 'Wait, what?'

'Besides,' Tien added, 'I need to hold up my end of the deal.' Without any fanfare, Tien lowered himself to the grass, touching out-of-bounds.

'Ri- ring out!' The announcer forced out through his bewilderment. 'Tien is out-of-bounds! Krillin moves onto the finals!'

The crowd might as well not have existed to Krillin in that movement. He immediately ran over to Tien. 'What was that?' He questioned. 'Our match-'

'Was over. If we kept fighting, it would have gone on until one of us couldn't stand. I got a good look at how much you've improved- and I'm sure you got a good look at me. I'm satisfied in that regard. But I had to resign to fulfill my end of the deal from the last tournament.'

Their last match- and Tien's pre-match offer- zipped through Krillin's mind. 'But- but this is a different tournament. And I never agreed to let you resign for me!'

Tien shrugged. 'Doesn't matter. You didn't take the deal last time, so I made you take it this time. You know what this means, right?'

Completely lost, Krillin shook his head. 'No, I don't.'

Tien drew closer. 'It means,' he said to Krillin in a hush-hush tone, 'I trust you to _win._ To beat that guy in the final- distant relative of King Piccolo or not.'

Bemused, Krillin arched one eyebrow at Tien. 'You don't think it'll be Yamcha?'

Taking one look at the competitors' area, Tien gave Krillin a small, taciturn smile. He began turning to head towards where everyone was sitting in the stands, but he abruptly stopped himself halfway through. 'I would like to know how you got out of that last attack, though,' he asked.

Krillin glanced over at his discarded shirt; it was laying in a heap near Tien on the grass. 'Go pick up my shirt,' he said, smiling.

'What?'

'Just do it on your way out. Trust me.'

Tien gave Krillin a strange look, but in the end he relented and walked over to the garment. When he bent to pick it up, he nearly yanked himself to the ground when the thing didn't initially budge. Growling, and with both hands, he gathered up the item in his arms, cradling it and moving it slightly to get a feel of its weight. He gave it back to Krillin and said through clenched teeth, 'This- this weighs-'

Krillin shushed him, bringing a finger up this to his own mouth. 'Not. A word.'

'Uhgh,' Tien said, disgusted with himself. 'If I knew you were holding this much back, I would have stayed in the match longer.'

Krillin looked at him. 'Were you-'

Tien smiled, mimicking what Krillin had done earlier. 'Not. A word.'

0o0o0

Despite his outward appearance of disinterest, Majunior hadn't missed a single word of Tien and Krillin's conversation. He narrowed his eyes at Krillin as the Turtle student walked off the ring.

0o0o0

Everyone was staring at Tien as he noiselessly took a seat among them. After a few tense seconds of silence, Launch opened her mouth. 'Tien-'

'I was repaying a debt,' he said, 'a debt I now regret paying…'

0o0o0

There was a brief one-minute break for the tournament officials to inspect the ring for any damage- miraculously, there was none- before Yamcha and Majunior were led onto the ring by the announcer. Before Yamcha went up, he exchanged a curt nod with the returning Krillin.

 _This is it._ Summoning all the outward braggadocio he could, Yamcha played into the crowd's energy, waving and encouraging them to get louder. _If I learned one thing from all those posers in the quarterfinals,_ Yamcha thought while beaming at the stands, _it's that they would have been a lot more annoying to fight if they had a crowd behind them._ With one final gesture, he turned his attention to Majunior. The green-skinned humanoid looked wholly unconcerned with his lack of support from the crowd.

'All ready?' the announcer swung his head to both of them. After they both assented, the announcer turned back to the crowd, hyping into his mic as he walked off the ring. 'Ladies and Gentlemen! This, here and now, is the penultimate match of the tournament!' He paused to let the crowd explode into cheers.

As this was happening, Yamcha stepped closer to Majunior. 'I think I met your dad before,' Yamcha jeered.

Arms crossed, Majunior briefly glanced at the scarred fighter before looking away.

'Hmph.' Yamcha drew back to his side. _Worth a shot._

The crowd quieted some. The announcer brought the mic back to his mouth. 'I give to you, the wonderful crowd gathered here, the second semi-final of the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament! The announcer stepped out onto the grass and spun on his heels. 'Yamcha and Majunior,' he swung his arm to each as he said their name, 'begin!'

In an instant, Yamcha and Majunior met in the middle of the ring, their forearms crashing together and producing a _phoom_ that swept across the arena. From the very first strike, they were fighting at a higher level seen throughout the entire match between Chi-Chi and Piccolo.

0o0o0

Sulking in the stands, Chi-Chi stewed to herself. 'Should have trained more…' she muttered.

'Chi-Chi, can you give us any inside info on this guy?' Rayne asked from her left side. 'Something you learned during your match with him?'

'No… not really.' _Nothing I understood, anyway._ Rayne's question got her thinking. _What did Majunior mean when he said: "not a priority"? I guess, at the very least, he knew me well enough to sort me in importance… compared to others?_ She felt a headache coming on. _Great._

0o0o0

Yamcha palmed a fist from Majunior and jumped high into the air, his black hair fluttering around his face. When he landed behind Majunior, he lashed out a low kick, but with a ruffling of his _gi_ Majunior snapped around and blocked the kick with his own. Their legs struggled briefly with each other before Yamcha broke if off with a spin move that sent out a wayward blue ball of _ki_ towards his opponent. Majunior batted the attack into the air, grimacing. The blue ball zoomed into the sky and quickly dispersed.

Stopping his circular movement, Yamcha briefly tracked his blast fly away harmlessly. 'You know, I- Eeee!' He was cut off as an elbow flashed across his face, nearly hitting him if it weren't for his quick reflexes. Majunior threw himself on the offensive, unleashing a barrage of elbows, chops, and punches, all aimed at breaking open Yamcha's guard. While his feet were scraping back across the ring, Yamcha scanned the ground with his eyes.

 _There._ With a quick flip of his foot, Yamcha uprooted a tile from the ring's surface, revealing the packed dirt underneath. Focused on his offensive, Majunior misstepped into the small gap, momentarily losing his balance. Seizing the initiative, Yamcha ducked underneath an errant swing from Majunior and propelled himself forward, ramming his shoulder into Majunior's gut. Reeling, Majunior was defenseless as Yamcha released a savage series of blows, startling with their speed and weight. He finished by crashing two fists up into Majunior's jaw, knocking him off his feet and laying him up on the ring by his back. As quick as he was able to, Yamcha held up one triumphant fist for the crowd, intensifying their cheers. _I think I hear my own name out there…_

0o0o0

'What is he doing?' Tien asked irritably. 'He should be focusing on the fight.'

Suno looked around at the people in the stands around them. 'No, look…'

It became apparent that where they were sitting- where the actual friends of Yamcha were- was the quietest in its chants for the scarred fighter. All around them, people were jumping up and down and hollering with excitement. There were already _banners_ being flown around with Yamcha's name on it.

Launch was the first to see this. 'That was quick,' she said drily.

'So he has a bunch of cheering fans,' Tien grumbled. 'How does that help him win the fight?'

'Maybe he's trying to get under Majunior's skin?' Chiaotzu suggested. 'Rattle him and gain an advantage?'

'He doesn't seem like the type to be rattled easily,' Chi-Chi offered. 'From what I saw, at least. I guess we'll see…'

0o0o0

Majunior silently picked himself off the ground, a sneer stuck to his face. 'You're an annoyance,' he said succinctly, making it clear how little he thought of the human fighter.

'Oh? So it talks?'

Grimacing, Majunior grabbed the white cowl around his neck and began to loosen it, but half-way through pulling it off, he had an apparent change of heart and let the garment fall back on his shoulders. 'No,' he stated, 'not yet. Not for the likes of _you_. Hrrrm…' Bending himself closer to the ground, Majunior positioned his arms away from his body like the legs of a spider and bent his hands into fierce claws. A flicker of wind began to rush over the arena, briefly rustling through the out-of-bounds grass. Yamcha watched as Piccolo summoned a white-yellow aura, coiling and shimmering with unrequited power.

0o0o0

'Huh…' Bulma placed the device next to her feet. So much light was spilling across the screen to the point of being indecipherable. 'It's getting a little hot.'

A few seconds later, the device exploded. The sound it made and Bulma's yelp snapped everyone's attention from the fight.

She quickly grabbed as many pieces of it that were left and held it up pitifully. '...what?...'

0o0o0

Yamcha squinted through the haze of light emanating from Majunior. _Yea…. that's not good._

With one last yell, Majunior finished calling forth his _ki_. His aura faded back into nothingness- but anyone who could sense him knew better. Yamcha planted one foot behind him, a frown of concern spreading across his face.

In an instant, they were off, crashing against each other and going blow-for-blow in the center of the ring. Piccolo swept his leg underneath Yamcha, trying to topple the scarred fighter, but Yamcha preemptively jumped into the air, using his little knowledge of flight to push himself further into the sky. _Finally, a breath- Crap!_

Like a rocket, Majunior chased after Yamcha into the sky. Yamcha only had a moment to bring his arms up in a block before Piccolo's head smashed against it, shooting him further into the air. All at once Majunior was on him, ramming and kneeing the human fighter higher and higher off the ground. Snarling, Yamcha burned through more of his _ki_ to fly a bit faster, narrowly dodging a kick from Majunior, and drew his arms back to his side. 'Kamehameha!' He yelled as a thick, loping blue beam collided downwards against Majunior. After being pushed down for a few moments, Majunior succeeded in throwing off the blast, dispersing it harmlessly in a shower of fragmented _ki_ around him.

Yamcha thought to himself as clearly as he could, permitting the circumstances. _Okay. We're really high in the sky. I really can't go up any further. I have to come down-_ a diabolical idea crossed Yamcha's mind. _Why not bring a friend?_

Majunior rushed up again at Yamcha, swiping a hand through the human fighter's afterimage. Right above the afterimage, Yamcha came crashing down with a kick, impacting the center of Majunior's body. With Yamcha's momentum, the two of them began to plummet down to the ground.

A massive exchange of punches and kicks flew between them, many of them finding their targets due to the difficulty in defending while falling through the air. Yamcha seemed to be getting the worst of it- at one point, after a dazing blow to the head, Piccolo flipped in mid-air and planted both feet into Yamcha's midsection, accelerating his descent.

The ring was rapidly approaching now. Seizing the opportunity, Majunior accelerated himself to land one more clean blow on Yamcha before he cratered into the ground. Just as he reached the falling form of the human fighter, however, Yamcha faded away. A second later, two arms grabbed Majunior's shoulders from behind, restraining him. _'Going down!'_

Stacked on Majunior's back, Yamcha crashed into the ground with Majunior held as his landing pad. Whole tiles flew off into the sky as an impossibly huge cloud of dust obscured the entire arena. Spectators coughed and sputtered, loudest among them being the announcer, who had failed to shut off his microphone before breaking into a coughing fit.

By the time everyone had finished choking on dust, the air had cleared enough to make the ring visible once more. Surprisingly, neither fighter was standing- two motionless outlines could be seen in the impact crater.

0o0o0

'Did- did he do it?' Chi-Chi asked uncertainly. 'And knock himself out at the same time?'

'No-' Tien's face was crossed with concentration. 'It's faint, but you can still feel their _kis_ … this fight isn't over yet.'

0o0o0

The announcer slowly crept forward, watching for any sign of movement. He stopped encroaching, however, when one body in the crater started to stir. Haggardly, Yamcha began to stand. His _gi_ was scuffed and torn in some places, but amazingly, he looked largely unharmed. Stumbling like he was remembering how to use his arms and legs, he staggered over towards the announcer. 'Well?' he croaked. 'Get counting.'

Nodding, the announcer raised his mic. 'Majunior has ten seconds to rise! Nine! Eight!...'

Halfway through the word "seven", Majunior weakly pushed himself off the ground, his entire face screwed in concentration. Moving from a kneel to one knee to standing, Majunior kept himself composed the entire time. Startlingly, he looked to be in a similar shape to Yamcha; there were no clear injuries from the fall despite being on the worse end of it.

Once Yamcha saw Majunior walk out of the crater, he steeled himself, letting out a long sigh. Tensing, he raised his guard. _I'm not giving up. Not yet!_...

Majunior's eyes were fixed on him, gleaming with sinister intent. His hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly.

The announcer backed away from the ring like a frightened rabbit- the next moment, Yamcha and Majunior charged towards each other, each holding back a cocked fist. With a mighty _booom_ , they impacted fist-to-fist, each fighter briefly battling to push their opponent back.

Majunior ran out of patience first. Quickly raising his other hand, he point-blank hit Yamcha with a yellow _ki_ blast, knocking the scarred fighter off balance and causing his fist to slide to the left. Majunior surged forward with his original hand and delivered a crushing strike to Yamcha's chest, stunning the human fighter. Yamcha's body became a punching bag as Majunior rammed blow after blow into him, eliciting a groan of pain from Yamcha for every hit. Feebly, Yamcha hopped back and tried to raise his arms to block the next hit, but with lightning-quick speed Piccolo circled around and kneed Yamcha in the back, topping the scarred fighter to the ground. This time, Yamcha didn't bounce back up.

 _Yep… I'm almost ready to give up._ His legs shaking, Yamcha used his hands to rise to a squat. With even more effort, he stood.

Majunior had briefly moved away from the ring, seemingly interested by something in the crowd. His head was locked in place, throwing out his gaze like a lighthouse.

Yamcha wasn't going to question a gift like this; with all the focus he could muster, he slowly dragged his _ki_ to the surface, forming a gentle white-blue aura around him. This seemed to catch his opponent's attention- Majunior swung back towards Yamcha, his eyes betraying no amount of emotion.

 _I'm only going to have one shot at this…_ He pawed at the ground with his back foot, making faint scuff marks on the tiles. _All-or-nothing…_

Unintimidated by Yamcha's charge-up, Majunior began to advance. When Majunior was halfway across the ring, he was _beset._

With a loud yell, Yamcha had crashed against Majunior's hasty block with astounding speed, his aura dancing and curling off madly from his body. Strike after strike speeded in Majunior's direction, and slowly, an expression of exertion began to appear on his normally stoic face. Yamcha was relentless; his aura seemed to travel with his moves, almost forming a field around him that would batter against Majunior's body whenever Yamcha's physical strike was blocked.

A punch screamed towards Majunior's head. Cursing, Majunior wrenched his head down and backward as the fist passed a few inches away from his face. When the fist spent its forward momentum, however, Yamcha swung it downwards, slamming directly into Maunior's face. Staggering back, another fist rammed into Majunior, impacting into his gut like a cinder block. The intensity of Yamcha's offense jumped. With his first real opening in the current bout, Yamcha began to whisper under his breath, 'Wolf…'

The aura surrounding Yamcha coalesced, like a cloud condensing into a quickening rainstorm. More and more strikes pushed past Majunior's defenses. 'Fang!...' Yamcha said, just loud enough to be heard by the nearby announcer.

Thickened into a single thread, the aura suddenly expanded, forming a massive, streaking stack of thick blue lines in the air that surrounded Yamcha. Majunior was being battered now; any pretense of a defense was gone.

'FIST!' He yelled for all the crowd to hear as he brought his arms into an "X" and lashed out. His arms clawed and palmed from every angle imaginable, turning Majunior's purple _gi_ into scraps and ribbons that flew out to either side of him. Yamcha's _aura_ flew with his strikes, similarly slashing across Majunior like spectral swords. With a final motion, Yamcha brought his clawed hands above his head and raked Majunior diagonally in-sync with the last of the blue lines hovering around him. The force behind this was maneuver was so great- a deafening _brrrzh_ rang out- that both Majunior and Yamcha fell to the ground away from each other, both catching themselves on one knee.

With bated breath, everyone waited for one of them to stand.

It took some time, but eventually, Majunior pushed himself off the ground. The front to his _gi_ was almost non-existent, his green skin was patterned with thin trickles of purple blood, but his posture told a different story. His back was straight, unbent. For all the awe and terror Yamcha's attack invoked, Majunior was largely unharmed.

Yamcha, looking up and to his right, saw as much. With one weary wave of his hand, he signaled his intent to the rest of the world.

'Forfeit!' The announcer exhaled, clearly in as much suspense as the crowd had been in. 'Yamcha has forfeit! Thus; Majunior advances to the final!'

Still caught up in process of recovering from that tense moment, the crowd offered a half-hearted series of cheers.

For a moment, Majunior glowered down at Yamcha, his fingers working and weaving across his body to repair his _gi._ Once his clothes were in perfect condition again, he spoke. 'I don't know who you are,' Majunior growled, 'but-' his tone grew less hostile, '- considering that, you fought well for a human.' With a twirl of his cape, he strode off the ring.

Yamcha's eyes tracked the receding green-skinned fighter, his own glare gradually weakening with time. _Very… odd._

0o0o0

'So… that wasn't just me, right?' Chiaotzu asked, looking around at everyone else. 'Majunior looked _right at us,_ yeah?'

'Yep.'

'Uh huh.'

'Looks like it.'

'Maybe.'

'I'm not convinced.'

'Who?'

Everyone turned their heads to Yajirobe; the samurai had a confused expression on his face. 'Who are we talking about?'

0o0o0

As Majunior was walking back towards his side of the competitors' area- which at this point solely consisted of himself and his quarterfinal opponent- Krillin stepped into his path, a dark look tugging on his face. 'I'm surprised I didn't notice it earlier,' he breathed, his gaze never wavering from Majunior's. 'But when you looked towards the crowd, you gave yourself away…'

Nostrils flaring, Majunior glared at Krillin with as much scorn as he could muster. 'You were foolish to come here.' He pushed himself past; his cape flapped against Krillin's side. 'Every single one of you. Now, you'll have no chance to hide.'

For a moment, Krillin found himself staring at Majunior's back, his willingness to speak deserting him. But a burning question raged in his mind. 'We buried you...' Krillin muttered, 'in the dirt in West City… you can't-'

A soft, dark chuckle escaped from Majunior's mouth. Startled, Krillin turned towards the green-skinned humanoid. He had his head half-turned in Krillin's direction. 'Don't confuse me with my father,' he said almost advisory, 'or you'll make the same mistakes.' With that, Majunior walked off.

Dully, the announcer's voice floated into Krillin's consciousness, subsuming into the mental chaos he was experiencing. _Five Minutes. I have_ _ **five minutes**_ _..._

* * *

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** It was fun to write! And I always found it weird that the announcer didn't have a name.

 **OneofTen:** Your uncertainty just became a lot less uncertain. But I'm glad people came away from my story feeling that. Different characters are going to have different moments to shine throughout the entire story. No one person is going to dominate the entire way through.

Hey, you never know, right! I probably should have been more specific as to it being the last quarterfinal chapter "of DB". I'm not ruling out coming back to a tournament setting for a future chapter- but dang, they're always a ton of work.

 **Legendary-AI:** I took your recommendation and removed the previous title from the description. The fic name change was long enough ago now to be removed.

Right now I'm 50/50 as to whether post any power levels for this arc. I have vague numbers but nothing I'm really thought out. To be honest, I'm very excited to get to the point in the story where I can either a) introduce power levels organically through scouter readings or b) have some sort of strength tier system to place characters on. Dunno. We'll see.


	35. The Fate of a Tournament

Sins of the Father

Chapter 35: The Fate of a Tournament

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to the album _Emperor of Sand_ by Mastodon, and the particular song _Sultan's Curse._ That's a _song_.

Also, I lied. _THIS_ will, hopefully, be the longest chapter I ever write...

* * *

The crowd was absolutely enthralled; having had more than enough time to prepare at this point, numerous people in the stands were waving "KRILLIN" banners around. Some of these banners included drawn depictions of the plucky warrior- they either emphasized his brilliant orange _gi_ and matching Turtle School symbol, or his height. They drew attention to the latter by including a gratuitous drawing of a tall and evil looking Majunior looming over the human fighter.

Annoyed at one particularly demeaning characterization of Krillin's height, on his way to his seat Yamcha had wrenched a banner out of a couple's hands and torn it up in front of them. He returned their angry glares with his own before moving further into the stands to sit with the rest of the group. 'Pricks…' he muttered under her breath as he stomped away.

As it turns out, the first person who saw him approach the group was Bulma. She seemed to be cradling the remains of something mechanical in her hands.

Her mood brightened when she saw him. 'Hey!' she waved at him, 'Over here!'

Meekly, and suppressing an irrational urge to run, Yamcha crept closer to them, trading "Hi" with everyone who greeted him. He uncomfortably settled into the seat to Bulma's right. 'Soo…' he began, his eyes flicking between Bulma and the ring in front of them, 'What have you been-'

She hugged him, wrapping him tightly between her arms. 'I missed you,' she said softly into his shoulder.

Briefly, Yamcha froze, unsure what to do. Then, he gently returned Bulma's hug and laid his head on her shoulder like she had done. 'I… missed you, too.'

To the left of them, Chiaotzu had to slyly smack Yajirobe for rudely staring.

0o0o0

Piecemeal, Krillin took in every thought, image, sound, and shape that he was sensing. _The crowd's deafening roar. A smell of sweat and excitement in the air. The burning sensation of a hardened gaze on my back. The rapid beating of my own heart._

Sighing, Krillin approached the announcer.

'Ah!' the announcer exclaimed and spun to Krillin, pressing a microphone into the fighter's face. 'Krillin! Inform me and the audience; what are you feeling right now?'

'Uhh…' Krillin's gaze swept left and right, back and forth. 'Anticipation. Anxiety. You know, the usual stuff.'

'How are you feeling about your chances in this match?'

'What?'

0o0o0

'Is that guy doing a pre-match interview?' Yamcha asked, baffled. 'Why would they do something so… asinine?'

'I bet they're losing out on sponsorship and ad revenue to other sports,' Bulma said, 'the ones that build up a lot of fake drama, that is. You have to adapt or die in show business.'

They watched as Krillin awkwardly answered a few questions and exited from the interview as quickly as possible by rushing out onto the ring.

Surprisingly, this seemed to put the announcer more in his element. When Majunior inevitable approached him, he talked as slickly as he had the entire tournament. 'Now, Majunior-'

'Use my real name,' Majunior interrupted.

The announcer paused. 'Your... real name?'

'Yes.' He smirked. ' _Piccolo._ '

A murmur went through the crowds. Nervous chatter followed after it. _Piccolo?... I've heard that name before… Wasn't he the one… No, it can't be… I was in West City, trust me!…_ Reflexively, the announcer turned towards the crowd, their anxiety feeding into his own.

Piccolo stepped closer, his eyes dripping with disdain for his interviewer. 'I will say this _only_ once,' he pronounced. ' _When_ I win this match, I will turn this island into _ash_.'

The announcer adjusted his sunglasses. 'Sorry,' he said nervously, 'I think I misheard you. Can you say that one more time?'

The demon's nostrils flared. _Such impudence!_ 'I said,' he snarled, stepping even closer to speak into the announcer microphone, ' _I will kill everyone here once I win!_ '

Almost immediately the crowd's nervous chatter was replaced by an eerie silence. What began as a few people calmly exiting the stands devolved into a full-on flight, as people practically flew off their seats to escape from the arena. In stunned silence, the announcer watched the crowd shrink to practically nothing.

'I… woah.' The announcer stopped, hearing _how weird_ his voice carried in an empty stadium. He looked towards the tournament officials for direction as to what to do- but they had fled the scene as well, leaving behind a folded banner that said "ORGANIZERS" on the out-of-bounds grass.

In the center of the ring, Krillin waited. 'Hey,' he said impatiently, 'are you two done?'

'We are,' Piccolo snapped, disengaging from the on-ring interview. The announcer looked on in confusion towards Piccolo before realizing he himself was still on the ring; he quickly scampered off of it. 'Ahh- _heeem._ Alright…' he spoke once he was in the grass, 'I guess the interviews are done. Lad- gentle- the few people _still left_ , get ready for a fight!- err-.' He verbally groaned, wincing from how loud his voice was in the absence of a noisy audience. 'Just begin whenever you're ready.' he finished, frowning.

0o0o0

'So… we're rooting for Krillin, right?' Chiaotzu spoke into the dreadful silence that had descended upon them.

'Uh, yeah.'

'Of course!'

'I don't know…'

Several pairs of eyes snapped to Rayne; annoyed, she frowned back. 'Don't judge me. He did knock me out of the tournament, after all.'

'Piccolo will, most likely, kill all of us if he beats Krillin,' Tien said without an ounce of levity in his voice. 'Do you want to reconsider which horse you're backing?'

Rayne averted their gaze, staring off to the sky to her left. 'I'll consider it.'

0o0o0

One step at a time, Krillin advanced towards his fate. From his side of the ring, the Demon King reborn stood like a statue. His eyes, which tracked Krillin relentlessly, were the only indication of him being a living being.

Swallowing whatever was lodged in his throat, Krillin halted on his end of the ring. Every part of his body was tensed; the fight hadn't even begun and he felt terrible adrenaline coursing through his veins. _Kami… I'm not ready! I can't do this!_ A droplet of sweat rolled a few inches down Krillin's shaved head before he hurriedly dabbed at it with his arm. _How can I defeat Piccolo by myself?_ _I can't..._

For the briefest moment, Krillin glimpsed Piccolo flash a smile, brandishing his canine fangs in the light of day.

 _Weakness,_ Krillin immediately realized. _He sees_ _ **weakness**_ _._

Some sort of mental lock within Krillin broke. _No._ After some effort, he ceased his shaking and steadied his body. _I won't be seen as weak_ _ **again**_ _._ _Until one of us can't stand…_ Krillin angled himself into a guard, holding one arm out in front of him and the other parallel to his body- _I'll prove him wrong!_

Each fighter let out a few errant breaths, quickening their breathing. In the next instant, it began.

Krillin and Piccolo appeared in the dead center of the ring, Piccolo had his arms braced as if expecting a fighter to slam into him- but Krillin, being at least twice as short as Piccolo, simply rammed into the demon's legs at full force, toppling and flipping him onto his back. Disoriented, Piccolo had gotten to one knee when Krillin made another pass, clotheslining his opponent back towards the ground. Frustrated, Piccolo jumped up this time and began shooting rapid-fire yellow _ki_ blasts at Krillin. The human fighter began sprinting and jumping around the ring, narrowly avoiding being hit by any one of the blasts. Finally, when Krillin was boxed into a corner, he crossed his arms into an "X" and absorbed one blast to his block, pushing his feet off of the ring.

Everyone save for the announcer didn't even bother to check if Krillin had gone out-of-bounds. A moment later and Krillin was revealed to be floating just above the grass beyond the ring.

Acting quickly, the human fighter shot into the air. Piccolo followed in pursuit.

0o0o0

'They're not wasting any time…' Chiaotzu uttered as his eyes tracked the forms of Krillin and Piccolo flit through the sky. A flurry of blows was passing between them, pushing them collectively across their field of vision like a falling comet. At one point Krillin dashed in mid-air and kicked Piccolo's block up, wrenching his arms out of position. He immediately followed this up by flying around to the backside of Piccolo and ramming him higher into the sky. The green-skinned humanoid quickly recovered, however, and began trading blows with Krillin even as his momentum carried him higher into the sky.

'You… you can see them?' Bulma asked hesitantly as she blankly moved her head side-to-side, scanning the sky. 'I can only hear the sounds…'

'Barely,' Chi-Chi said, clearly awed. Up in the sky, Piccolo succeeded in backhanding Krillin away, granting himself a momentary breather. 'I can see they're _there_ , but beyond that…'

Out of everyone in the crowd, Tien seemed to be following the action best. His eyes darted left and right with deliberate motion. At one point, Launch elbowed him. 'What can you see?' she whispered in his ear.

'They seem pretty even.' He replied. 'I wonder-'

A series of heavy blows boomed from above; Krillin's body tumbled down from the sky a moment later. The human fighter slowed himself but failed to stop, and as a result bounced painfully on the surface of the ring a few times shortly after landing.

'... who's going to get knocked back to the ground first…' Tien finished morosely.

'Damn,' Suno spoke up, 'I missed that hit.'

0o0o0

Ignoring the aches of his messy landing, Krillin pushed himself off of one knee and looked towards the sky. Like a respondent god, Piccolo's sunlit form steadily descended from above. His arms were crossed; a sneer covered his face end to end. 'You enjoy this, don't you?' Krillin called out, balling his fists. 'It all feeds into you and your father's perverse sense of superiority.'

Piccolo wrinkled his nose. 'You clearly didn't know my father. He wasn't blinded by a false sense of privilege. He was guided by a _true_ possession of power and the will to use it. For him, becoming the ruler of this world represented taking his rightful place as lord over all life with the strength allotted to him. Achieving _utter_ domination of every mortal on this planet. Does not Kami, that old, sniveling _fool_ , do the same from the detached hideaway he pitifully calls "The Lookout?"' Piccolo spat after pronouncing that last word. 'I see the stink of him on you.' Piccolo's eyes seemed to pierce right through Krillin. 'By fighting against me and by extension my father's will to rule this world, you serve another would-be tyrant.'

Throughout Piccolo's uncharacteristic monologue, Krillin furrowed his eyebrows in consideration of what he was hearing. No sooner had Piccolo finished, however, did Krillin take one emphatic step forward. 'I can see the difference between what Kami represents and the deceased desires of your father. Kami strives for the peace and wellbeing of every living soul on this planet- your father brought death and destruction to every soul he touched. In my mind, they couldn't be any different!'

A thin, smug smile played itself across Piccolo's face. 'So little you know,' he mocked, 'so ignorant of what you're _dying_ for.'

Krillin frowned at Piccolo, taking the demon's blatant disrespect as a cue to resume fighting. Right before he dashed off, however, a thought crossed his mind. 'And you?' He asked. 'Where do you stand?'

'Hmph?' Piccolo dropped his previous demeanor. 'What do you mean?'

'You've spent a lot of time talking about your father, who he was, what he wanted- but what about you?' Krillin cautiously held eye contact with Piccolo. 'What do you desire?'

Indifferent, Piccolo entertained Krillin's line of questioning before breaking into a wicked grin. 'I desire what my father desired before me. I desire _the world_ \- and the death of any "hero" that tries to get in my way.'

'Pity.'

The next second, Piccolo appeared behind Krillin, ramming a heavy kick sideways into Krillin's full block. The human warrior tried to move away with the impact of the blow, but another kick struck him from the same side, accelerating him to a dangerous speed. Forced to focus on slowing down, Krillin belatedly realized he had lost sight of Piccolo. A second later an elbow crashed into his neck, snapping him to the ground. His nose smashed into the tiles, shooting a thick stream of blood out of his nose. A foot narrowly scraped past him, crashing down onto where he had rolled away. Lurching, Piccolo reached towards Krillin, his limbs strangely seeming to _extend_ for the briefest second-

But an impromptu _ki_ blast singed Piccolo's palms, forcing the demon to recoil and howl. Krillin jumped to his feet and leaped in an arc over his opponent, briefly pushing off Piccolo's head with his arms to stagger the demon forward. When he landed, Krillin thrust his arms to his sides and an immediate blue aura roared to life around him. 'KAMEHAMEHA!' he yelled as a blinding blue beam traveled a few feet and slammed into the backside of Piccolo. The resulting explosion burst into an obscuring haze of blinding light.

0o0o0

'Yea!' Chi-Chi cheered, getting Suno involved with her whooping as well, 'get that punk, Krillin!' She turned to Rayne. 'C'mon, do a little cheer.'

Rayne rolled her eyes. 'Woo-hoo,' she said unenthusiastically.

Chi-Chi smiled. 'That's better.'

'Wow… ' Yamcha was holding one hand to his head to shield his eyes from the light. 'I had no idea Krillin had gotten so strong… I wonder who he trained with-'

'Don't ask,' Rayne interrupted him.

Launch's gaze was fixed on the ring, but out of the corner of her eye she noticed Tien was motionless next to her. 'Tien?' she asked, turning.

'It's not enough…' The Crane student was shaking in his seat. Suddenly, he shot to his feet, restrained at the last moment by Launch and Yamcha. 'He needs me! It's not _enough!'_

0o0o0

Panting from the rapid expulsion of energy from his body, Krillin let his arms drop. In front of him, a haze of smoke and dust stretched out in a cone all the way to the end of the ring. He noted that his attack had ripped up a good chunk of the tiles from the ring. _Mental note for later. Buy the tournament announcer a drink._

He wasn't expecting Piccolo to be wholly incapacitated from the attack- but he hadn't expected the worst-case scenario to be true, either. Emerging from the smoke, and aside from his clothes being marred and torn and his body receiving a few odd scratches, Piccolo was wholly unscathed. As the particulates in the air dispersed around him, he bent his mouth into another malicious smile. 'I expected nothing more and nothing less from you, Krillin. My father's memories served me well.'

Before Krillin could say anything, a fist crashed into his forehead, rocking his body back. Not done, Piccolo followed up by unleashing a downpour of strikes onto the unguarded human's body. Krillin felt a handful of his ribs fracture as a final blow impacted his sternum, knocking the wind out from him and knocking him further back in the ring. He slid to a stop just as he felt his back foot half-stop over the edge of the ring. Wheezing, Krillin squinted towards his assailant.

Piccolo was seemingly gagging on something, his hands wrapped around his own neck. The devilish smile returned, however, right before Piccolo's jaw hinged open and unleashed a massive blast of _yellow_ ki, circular and ovalish at its head with a long, thin tail trailing after it. Krillin blinked a few times at the rapidly approaching blast.

 _Block-_ still sucking in breath, Krillin shook himself out of his confusion and frantically raised his arms. _BLOCK!_

With a deafening _boooom_ , the blast exploded against the human warrior. The wall between the stands and the ring came crashing down from the resulting shockwave, adding to the of Piccolo's wrath.

0o0o0

The announcer, who had flattened himself to the grass to weather the wind gusting around the ring, slowly got back to his feet. '...Incredi-in- IN-' he looked at his mic, flipping it on and off a few times. He had no luck; the last blast had busted either it or the speakers set up around the ring. Bitterly, he dropped the mic to the ground.

The debris thrown into the air from Piccolo's blast was easily double what Krillin's attack had produced- even as Krillin's end of the ring finally began to reappear, chunks of tile were still pattering down from the sky. With narrowed eyes, Piccolo attentively watched the smoke clear.

Krillin was revealed to be largely in the same position he was before. The fronts of his forearms were held out and red, as if burned, and his _gi_ was in tatters. There was barely anything left of the shirt- it clung to him by a single vertical strip of fabric hung around his shoulder.

Strangely enough, despite looking worse for wear, with some difficulty Krillin straightened and removed the remains of his shirt, tossing it onto the grass behind him. Ignoring Piccolo's confusion, he then set down on the ring and started pulling off his boots.

Out of habit, the announcer raised his empty hand to his mouth and began to speak; he soon realized what he was doing and glumly let his arm drop back to his side.

0o0o0

'What's… what's going on?' Rayne asked, perplexed. 'Why is he undressing?'

'A better question would be: why is Piccolo letting him?' Launch pointed out.

It was true; Piccolo hadn't moved from his spot, seemingly content to watch his opponent spend a minute removing his clothes. After tossing his boots behind him similar to where he had tossed his shirt, Krillin then proceeded to remove the wristbands.

Out in the stands, Tien had sat back down, calming down from earlier. Internally, he chided himself for getting himself so wound up. Knowing what to look for, he had seen Krillin's boots digging into the grass with their weight. _He's alright… for now._

0o0o0

'I should have assumed as much,' Piccolo spoke once Krillin had thrown his wristbands away. 'Kami always did enjoy his handicaps…'

Krillin took a few moments to stretch his arms and legs before bending closer to the ground. 'Wearing that stuff was my decision, not his,' Krillin said. 'My first master made me train with a weighted shell on my back. This time around, I decided to do my training a little less conspicuously.'

'First master?...' Something akin to a memory flashed across Piccolo's eyes. 'Yes… I can see it now.' His eyes locked on the front-facing Turtle symbol of Krillin's discarded shirt, which had miraculously survived his blast. 'Your master-'

Krillin vanished before Piccolo's eyes. A resounding blow crashed down on his skull, wrenching him down and forward. 'Don't you talk about him!' Krillin yelled, rushing around Piccolo and slamming another double-fist into Piccolo's gut. Irreparably jarred from the previous two strikes, Piccolo was defenseless as Krillin dashed and swarmed around him easily twice as fast before, raining down blows from seemingly every direction. Piccolo swung madly, trying to bat away the small human fighter, but his speed enabled him to keep himself one step ahead of Piccolo's attacks. A quick one-two kick aimed at the back of one of Piccolo's knees sank the demon to the ground, just barely catching himself on one knee. The next moment, Krillin pressed his back to the ground and bucked, donkey kicking Piccolo into an unintended and uncontrolled roll away from him. His opponent momentarily detained, Krillin extended one hand to the sky, putting all his body weight underneath his right arm. The next moment a thin yellow hue began to glow from his palm, slowly spiraling out to form the shape of a disk.

Piccolo had barely stopped himself when he felt a massive pressure of _ki_ build up behind him. Spinning, he came face-to-face with a massive yellow disk of _ki_ , as wide as Krillin was tall. The human warrior was struggling with the attack, his face screwed in intense concentration as the last errant spools of energy bleeding off from the construct were pulled into its center. Krillin made the briefest moment of eye contact with Piccolo before hardening his gaze. 'DESTRUCTO DISK!' he bellowed as he took one step forward and threw the disk through the air towards Piccolo.

Lacking any time to dodge, Piccolo angled his body sideways to the blast and held out his right arm. A fold of energy began to form up and down the length of his arm. The disk rotated in mid-air, approaching Piccolo diagonal to his body. With a mighty roar, the demon swung his leading arm- wreathed with overwhelming energy- down the length of the disk, intending to cut the attack in half. There was a horrible screeching noise as the two _kis_ clashed, cutting into each other. A flash of light enveloped the ring for a second; before anyone could see anything, they heard Krillin's disk hum off into the sky. A few seconds after that, the attack totally unraveled, sparking into a hundred yellow nodules.

0o0o0

Tien stifled a proud smile from rushing to his face. _He took my advice, after all…_

0o0o0

His leading arm still raised, Piccolo panted for a moment, clearly having expended a great deal of energy in altering the course of the disk. Grimacing from an unseen pain, he dropped the limb to his side- and two-thirds of his arm detached from his body at the upper arm, flinging purple blood when it hit the ring.

Cooly, Krillin glanced between the severed arm and the crippled Piccolo, who was forcefully gripping the maw of his gushing wound with his other arm. Krillin remembered he was still locked in his pose from earlier; he assumed a more casual stance. 'It's over-' he declared, 'you can't win with one arm. Give up.'

Snarling with unfathomable hatred, Piccolo released his grip on his grievous wound- in the process letting the spigot re-open- and very quickly grabbed his hat and tossed it to the ring. It _sunk_ into the tiles. He quickly did the same for his cape and cowl. They both crashed into the floor, ruining more of the ring.

A creeping feeling of dread snuck up on Krillin. 'You're- you're wearing weights, too?'

'Your master has, _had_ -' Piccolo winced, rushing to re-grip his open wound. '-some good ideas.'

'But…' Krillin muttered, 'you intend to fight on? With your arm-'

'-my arm?' Piccolo clenched his teeth, twisting his face into the purest expression of contempt and pain, 'What about it!?'

A sickening _sploshing_ sound, the cumulative auditory representation of an arm's worth of tissue and matter coming back into existence, reverberated across the ring. A fresh arm literally _shot_ out of Piccolo's ruined limb, covered in purple and green liquid. Testing it by curling and clenching it momentarily, Piccolo faced down Krillin once more. 'A hero's job is never done…' he chuckled darkly.

Krillin forced his face into a neutral expression. The wind tugged at both of their _gis_ before they disappeared into a series of blurs and _booms._

0o0o0

'I don't mean to make light of this situation,' Yamcha said as he, alongside everyone else, tried to track the high-speed movement of Krillin and Piccolo, 'but that was _incredibly_ gross.'

Everyone mumbled their own variation of "agreed".

'I feel bad for the announcer,' Chi-Chi said, a hint of sadness in her voice. 'he looks lost out there without the crowd…'

'Yea… actually-' Rayne stood and walked over to the first row of the stands. 'Hey!' she called out, waving towards the announcer. 'Come over here!'

The announcer snapped out of whatever thought he was lost in and turned to her. For the first time, he seemed to notice that there were still people _watching_. He promptly jogged over, stepping over the remains of the outer wall. 'Hey- you-' he looked at everyone beyond Rayne, 'and the others! You guys stuck around?'

'This is a pretty typical thing for us,' Chiaotzu said, 'if you could believe it. Someone or something threatening to kill us, that is.'

'Huh.' The announcer verbalized. 'Who'd have thought?'

0o0o0

High up in the sky, Krillin and Piccolo were locked into a high-speed exchange, only visible as darkened streaks of orange and purple respectively. With his smaller stature Krillin was able to keep himself constantly in movement around Piccolo, dodging and weaving any attack that came his way. Oppositely, Piccolo used his longer reach to dictate their terms of engagement- Krillin might as well have been playing jump rope considering how many times he'd had to fly over a warding arm or leg.

A succession of blows hammered against Piccolo's block before Krillin thrust himself backward. As expected, a green fist followed him, coming within inches of his face before stopping short. _Close one! Hah-_

Krillin's thoughts were cut off as the fist _extended_ towards him, slamming him clean in the cheek and sending him spiraling to the ground. Krillin acted quickly, pushing _ki_ out of his backside to slow his descent. To his surprise, he wasn't slowing; if anything, he was speeding up. Opening his eyes, Krillin sighted a green hand gripped around his midsection, latched onto him like a harness and steadily accelerating his imminent crash to the ground. Valiantly, Krillin tried to decouple himself, but just as he was getting a grip on the thing, he impacted the ring. Dirt and dust spewed up into the sky.

Up above, Piccolo quickly lowered himself to the ground, retracting his nearly fifty-foot arm back into his body in conjunction. Soon enough, the demon was back on solid ground.

As soon as he landed, Piccolo turned and caught a kick aiming for his side with both arms. Smirking, he twisted and lashed out a kick of his own, but amazingly, Krillin caught this attack just above his head. Neither one of them being able to break out of each other's grip, they simultaneously lurched forwards with all their weight. Their hands clamped together, each one vying to overpower the other. Slowly, they both began to yell, dragging all the _ki_ they had to the surface. Their auras burst into life, white, yellow, and blue hues moving and mixing with inconceivable speed.

Through clenched teeth, Krillin spat, 'Is this- Is this all!?' Slowly, he began to push Piccolo back- his aura beat back Piccolo's own. 'I can do this all day!'

Piccolo was forced to take another step backward, his feet struggling to find purchase on the ring. 'Haaaaaa….HAAAAAA!' Piccolo's aura intensified- burning brighter and stronger- and halted his backslide. 'I will show you-' his voice fluctuated and deepened, almost like his voice box was morphing as he spoke, 'the power of the DEMON KING!'

Krillin felt the force opposing him double, then triple, before he was forced to hop back and disengage. Just as he did this, a _massive_ leg swept across where he had been, forming a trench within the ring. Fearful, he tracked the limb towards its owner.

Towering tens of feet above the ring, Piccolo raised and stomped his foot, rumbling the entire area. 'Hahaha!' he thundered, as he vindictively stomped one gigantic leg into the ground.

0o0o0

Briefly, the stands seemed to be capable of withstanding the latest quake, but after a moment, everyone collectively felt a metal beam _snap_ somewhere beneath them. Soon enough the ground fell out from under them.

When the chaos and destruction ceased, half-buried people began clambering out of the debris. 'Is everyone okay!?' Launch yelled out. She did her best to scamper up the nearest, highest pile of rubble to get a better view of everyone. 'Okay… okay… okay…' She visually checked everyone was still up and breathing. 'Where's Bulma?'

'Over here,' a voice said from the edge of the group. A second later Yamcha stepped to the side, helping Bulma remove herself from the debris. 'I'm okay,' she confirmed, a weak smile on her face.

'We're all okay…' Launch breathed in relief. 'Thank goodness…'

'I'm starting to feel like I should have grown more senzu beans,' Korin said grimly, bringing everyone's attention back to the pressing matter at hand. Currently, Piccolo was taller than any other building at the tournament. 'At the rate this is going…'

'Wait…' Yajirobe's eyes locked on the white-furred cat. 'It's you? _You_ grow the beans?'

Korin blinked at him. 'That would be me, yes.'

Yajirobe looked at Korin for a long moment. 'We're going to have a conversation after this,' he decided.

The white cat returned his attention to the ring. 'If we survive this,' he replied, 'you can _live_ with me, for all I care.'

0o0o0

Krillin hopped back a second time, Piccolo's car-sized foot passing mere inches away from his body. The ring was punched through once more. 'I'll crush you!' Piccolo roared, swinging out a wave of energy towards the ground below him.

As the energy crashed against the ring, throwing up a huge cloud of dust, Krillin jumped up out of the cloud, blasting a two-handed wave of _ki_ at Piccolo's chest. The giant demon, however, casually batted the blast away and smacked the human warrior higher into the sky, spinning him head-over-heels. Just as Krillin regained a sense of where he was, he felt a pair of hands grip around him, wrenching back closer back to the ground. 'Ha- huh?' As Piccolo brought Krillin closer to his face, he noticed the human's outline blurring through his hands. Shortly thereafter, Krillin totally disappeared from Piccolo's sight. Enraged, Piccolo snapped his head side-to-side, jangling his massive antennae. 'Where are you, coward!?' He growled.

'Up here!' Krillin yelled from up above. The earth warrior had moved farther up in the sky, this time out of reach of Piccolo's limbs. In each hand, he had a smaller version of the Destructo Disk. 'Dodge these!' Krillin taunted as he threw them.

Moving quicker than Krillin would have thought possible, Piccolo jumped into the sky, clearing the disks save for a few grazes on his legs. Raising a two-handed fist above his head, the giant swung his massive arms down and smashed his opponent's body downwards. Seeing stars, it took everything Krillin had to decelerate himself down from a possibly fatal velocity. He had _definitely_ felt a few more ribs crack, maybe even one of his arms, but through pure, stubborn, force of will, he managed to regain control of his downward momentum.

Piccolo landed back on the ground before the human, planning to follow-up his earlier attack with an upwards facing palm-strike.

Barely avoiding a pair of hands, Krillin clumsily landed back on the ground. He then half-ran, half- _rolled_ his body into the side of Piccolo's ankle, causing the giant to swing a laggardly hand down to ward him off. Something occurred to Krillin. _Wait…._

Dodging another hand, Krillin ran around to the giant's backside. _Maybe… he's slow to turn!..._ Krillin zoomed underneath another stomp and jumped into the sky, hopping up the now-massive folds of Piccolo's _gi_. Annoyed, Piccolo tried to swat Krillin from the backs of his legs, but he reacted too slowly to prevent the human warrior from reaching his back. Once there, Krillin dodged a few reaching hands- Piccolo didn't have the greatest flexibility in reaching around to his backside- and propelled himself off of Piccolo's back.

Moving incredibly fast, Krillin flipped through the air to land and immediately kick himself off of the roof of the main tournament building that, remarkably, had remained standing during the current series of shockwaves. A few roof tiles skittered to the ground as Krillin pressed his arms to his chest and retracted his head as best he could into his body. A moment later, Krillin's head struck Piccolo's back, producing what was. quite possibly, the loudest shockwave anyone present had ever heard. Something akin to the human spine cracked so horribly and _loudly_ that the giant's body immediately began folding in on itself. As hands scrambled to cover ears, Piccolo sagged forwards and face-planted in a long line that stretched from the ring to the out-of-bounds grass to the ruins of the stands to the area beyond _that_.

Krillin let the protective _ki_ drain from his head and tapped back down on a still-intact section of the ring. Surveying the further damage Piccolo's fall had caused, he scratched the back of his head nervously. _Not… good. That's another drink I need to buy…_ As Piccolo's body began to shrink back to its normal size, Krillin felt a pang of weakness flash across his body. _Ki. Don't have much more ki…_ _I can't tread water for much longer; I need to end this decisively… Hopefully, I can buy a few more minutes to prepare…_

0o0o0

Tien's mouth moved and stalled over and over again, broken in a never-ending loop. Chiaotzu shook his friends' arm in an attempt to help. 'Tien? Are you okay?'

He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, then finally succeeding in forming words. 'He… I… how did he do that? How is that even possible?'

'Well, he-'

'If you say he trained with God,' Tien's glare seemed to pierce a few inches into Chiaotzu' skin, 'I swear to Kami-'

'Okay!' Chiaotzu relented. 'Okay. Message received.'

0o0o0

As every cell of his body shrank back down its normal size, compressing itself over and over again in repeatable, unrelenting agony, Piccolo tried to direct his anger at something, _anything_ , but himself. He felt the flesh around his back, particularly where his backbone is, hurry to knit back together. _I am the executor of my father's legacy. Armed with his memory and my own experimentation- and yet, here I am, temporarily crippled in the middle of a match. I shouldn't have done something so foolish..._

The fact that he had chosen to employ- and, ultimately, fail to utilize- a giant form similar to the ape monster his father had defeated showed a clear lapse in his judgment. _Did my own pride blind me to the weakness of that technique? Every vulnerability is magnified, enhanced… Otherwise, my father would have never defeated that monster in the first place..._

Strangely, Piccolo noticed that his opponent hadn't crept over him. With some effort he propped his head to his right, gazing at Krillin. The human warrior kept his distance, the tell-tale signs of exhaustion forcing his body closer to the ground. _Does he not realize his opportunity!..._

Another few tense seconds passed for Piccolo. After what felt like an eternity, he finally felt the regeneration in his back spill over, restoring to him his mobility. Carefully, he pushed himself to his feet.

He realized that he wanted nothing more to destroy everything. Every part of his being craved destruction, first and foremost this atrocious ring around him.

It became clear what he would do. He eyed his human opponent; his face was fixed in that tired, idiotic look of uncertainty of his. He looked further afield towards the other nervous looking humans standing amidst the ruins of the stands. They, too, had that same tense expression plastered across their faces. _I deserve to be feared._ _ **My father**_ _deserves to be feared..._

Crossing his arms and bending his knees, Piccolo began to pack _ki_ into every inch of his body, causing a full golden outline of his body to appear feet away from his skin. As he poured every possible ounce of energy into his attack, the outline began to shimmer and pulse outwards from Piccolo, as if the demon was becoming the sun itself. As one last wave shimmered away from him, Piccolo stood straight as a pillar, raising his arms high above his head. 'EXPLOSIVE DEMON WAVE!' he screamed, as a dome of ivory yellow consumed him.

0o0o0

Krillin, who was closest to the imminent blast, thrust his _ki_ to forearms, lacking any better move than to weather the storm. The tiles beneath began to rattle and shake- the energy being summoned was uprooting the entire ring. The last thing Krillin saw before everything went white was a red butterfly disintegrate into ashes.

0o0o0

'Suno! Get behind me!' As her student jolted backward, Chi-Chi jumped in front of her and braced her arms. Wind fled past her, leaving only a pressureless vacuum in the air around them. The next moment, energy flooded in.

0o0o0

'Woah!' Bulma cried as she was tackled to the ground by Yamcha. 'Hold on!' he yelled, as a wave of destruction passed over them.

0o0o0

'Help!' The announcer cried as he ran over to Yajirobe and Korin. 'Help me!'

Not wasting a second, Korin sprinted forward and planted his body between the announcer and the oncoming wave of energy. Yajirobe appeared behind him and pushed the announcer to the ground for safety. 'Prop me up from behind!' Korin commanded Yajirobe. The samurai had a moment to place his arms on Korin before an immense pressure descended on them.

0o0o0

Tien staggered against the force of the explosion before it had even reached him. As the wall of yellow energy rushed towards him, he shook himself out of his stupor. 'Brace yourselves!' he roared. Together with Launch and Chiaotzu, he dug his heels into the ground.

0o0o0

Rayne felt her feet start to slip off the ground before the blast had even reached her. She was helpless as a scattering of pre-impact rubble was sucked out from under her, burying her as the blast swept across the landscape.

0o0o0

'Hey, Waczinsky, check this out…'

'Hmm?' A woman pushed herself off the side of the wall next to her- she floated across the room and stopped herself against the opposite wall. 'What is it?' she asked.

'Look outside the window! Something crazy's going on!' He moved away from the round, thick window, making room for her.

Waczinsky pulled herself to the window and looked out. The Earth, blue and green surrounded by an inviting black, looked as normal as ever. 'What are you talking about?' she asked irritably, pushing herself away. 'There's nothing.'

The man pressed his face up against the window again. 'No! Look- what…' The small circle of yellow light he had seen briefly envelop a spot on the Southern Sea was gone. 'No!... there was something there!'

The woman snorted. 'Yea,' she pushed herself into another section of the station, 'sure there was.'

Distraught, the man pressed his entire frown against the glass.

0o0o0

For a few terrible moments that seemed to stretch into an eternity, nothing was seen or heard except for indescribable power that was, at best, indifferent to the fragile human lives it pressed down upon. Any free-standing structures still left standing were erased from existence, blown and blasted into a million pieces. The iconic tournament buildings, which have stood since the very first inception of the World Tournament, vanished into the explosion.

The energy behind the blast was so overwhelming that for a few brief moments Krillin thought he would simply become one with the blast, his body losing any and all resistance to such a terrifying attack. When the end finally did come, it stumbled to a close as remnant pockets of energy detonated and warped across what survived of the ground long after the initial attack. Krillin, upon opening his eyes, gazed out on an entirely different world.

The ring was gone- _everything_ was gone. What had been a formidable arena had been reduced to nothing. No trace or fragment of the shining white tiles that covered the ring end-to-end remained- instead, Krillin found himself standing in a slightly depressed dirt bowl, rounding out to ground level at its edges. He morbidly noted that Piccolo had replaced one ring with another.

A growing sensation of pain from the front of his body brought Krillin out of his thoughts. Inspecting himself, he found garish burns and wounds running up and down his body. As the adrenaline from trying to survive wore off, horrible pain floored him.

 _I'm lucky to be alive. To have survived this attack- for anyone to have survived-_

- _Wait!_

Spatial awareness returning to him, Krillin frantically spun to look behind him, scanning for any sign of his friends. Not a second after this, however, did a fist crash into his skull and bash him to the ground.

0o0o0

Choking on dust, Tien scrambled upwards, willing himself through the rubble that had swept over him like a wave of water. Burning through the last of his oxygen, he poked his head out, gasping for breath.

He wasted no time; even as he struggled to catch his breath, he hastily dug himself out. As soon as he was standing, he frantically scanned his surroundings.

Farther away, he made eye contact with Yamcha, who was limping towards him. One look passed between them; Yamcha immediately changed course towards the nearest pile of rubble. Near his feet, Tien noticed a hand sticking out. With a cry, he used all his strength and wrenched the person half-way out of the ground, even as his own feet crunched deeper into the rubble.

Shell-shocked, Launch's glossy eyes regarded him. 'Tien-'

'Help me get everyone out,' Tien barked as he finished freeing her, 'Now!'

0o0o0

Krillin crashed painfully into the ground, getting a mouthful of dirt in the process. A foot stomped into his back a number of times, digging him deeper into the ground. 'Do you understand!' the fuming figure above him roared. 'This!' Krillin's assailant picked up the human warrior and lifted him above his head, 'Is what _futility_ feels like!'

With a vicious swing, Piccolo brought Krillin down and kneed the human warrior in the gut. Blood spurted out of Krillin's mouth, falling to the earth in a thick red clump. Piccolo then kicked Krillin across the ground, skipping him like a stone across a lake of water. It was only when Krillin collided with an exposed boulder did he come to a stop.

Feeling his rage drain from him, Piccolo took a halting step forward, groaning as he let his right arm go limp. Up and down the limb's surface were deep, ragged cuts, almost like his arm had started to unravel. 'Damn arm…' he muttered to himself. _I pushed it too hard, too fast- and I don't have the ki_ _to regenerate it anymore…_ The top half of his _gi_ was gone, the unfortunate casualty of his previous attack. His upper body, similar to his arm, was matted with bruises and wounds. _No more regeneration..._

Bringing up his other arm to hold in place his damaged one, he carefully crept across the pan-like section of flattened dirt his attack had created. Smoke and dirt hung close to the ground, obscuring most of the area beyond the pan- but Piccolo could see in the few parts where the shroud split that nothing remained of this insufferable tournament.

In spite of all the indignities he had suffered today, Piccolo found some satisfaction from this fact.

As he crept closer to his opponent, Piccolo noticed Krillin was shaking, locked in a perpetual effort to stand. Amused, Piccolo watched as the human rose unsteadily to their feet, every inch of his body trembling. A ragged gash ran down the right side of Krillin's face, close enough to his right eye that he intermittently had to wipe the blood out of his vision. 'I'm- I'm not done yet.'

'Your persistence is admirable,' Piccolo growled as he stepped within range, 'but you'll die all the same!' Moving much slower than before, Piccolo swung a fist towards Krillin's chest, but the human warrior nimbly stepped forward and delivered a clean punch to Piccolo's chest. 'Gaakh!' Piccolo gasped as another punch impacted his stomach, driving him backward.

Lacking any energy to exploit this opening, Krillin swayed and rocked backward.

Snarling, Piccolo charged again, moving a bit quicker this time. Just like last time, Krillin narrowly avoided being hit, ducking underneath a horizontal chop and half-elbowing, half slamming his body against one of Piccolo's legs. The demon was knocked off balance and nearly toppled over, but he propped his back leg against the ground in the nick of time. Krillin found the energy to move forward, cocking back a fist-

At the same moment when a blistering punch cracked against the bottom of Piccolo's jaw, rocking the demon's head back, a fist planted itself into Krillin's gut.

Both fighters stood frozen for a second, the only movement between them being the wind passing through the tattered remains of their _gis_ and their twitching, pained expressions.

Krillin's knees buckled, then crumpled backward. He clutched at his abdomen.

'Hah…' Piccolo swung another crushing punch into Krillin's gut, bucking the human warrior's entire body and knocking him to his back. 'I have an uncomfortable truth to tell you,' he jeered, stepping over the fallen human's body. 'you can't kill me. Do you know why?'

A piercing kick rammed into Krillin's side, making him gasp and cough. 'You and Kami…' Krillin sputtered out, 'it's clear that you know each other…'

'Such an ignorant zealot,' Piccolo mocked. 'I've seen from your style that Kami has trained you, has taught you how to advance his cause- but has he ever told you what his cause is?'

Krillin didn't respond. It was unclear whether the human warrior had passed out. Piccolo's gaze raised towards the horizon, watching the other humans swarm and scrabble around like bugs. 'Kami's cause,' Piccolo went on after a moment, 'is to fight himself. To fight _me_. For he and I are from the same flawed person, who split himself in two to dedicate himself to "protecting" this world. Thus, we are linked, and so for however long that fool lives on, he will be cursed to live alongside the evil he expelled from himself. _You_ will lose this fight, and even if you hadn't, to kill me would be to kill Kami. You see,' Piccolo finished, drawing a satisfied breath, 'Kami put you in an impossible position to begin with. _That_ is the extent of his concern for his tools.'

Throughout this entire monologue, Krillin had remained silent.

When Piccolo looked down at his feet, a faint blue light reached up to his eyes. 'Go to hell!' Krillin furiously yelled as the blue ball of _ki_ shot up from his palms, crashing into Piccolo's midsection and launching him into the air. They flew upwards for a few moments before the ball detonated, sending another shockwave across the battered land.

0o0o0

Launch hobbled over to Tien, who was standing over an unconscious Suno. Chi-Chi and Yamcha were wearily sitting nearby. 'Everyone else is accounted for, safe-and-sound.' Launch informed them. 'Suno seems to be the only one who got knocked out.'

Tien glanced over at Launch, then sighed in relief. 'That's… good. I was worried there for a moment…'

'You still haven't found the Senzus?' Chi-Chi asked of Launch.

She shook her head. 'They came loose from my belt during the last attack. They could be buried under five feet of rubble for all I know.'

'Damn…' Yamcha muttered.

'With or without them, we need to prepare-,' Tien swung his head towards the ring, 'for what's going to happen next.'

'What do you mean?' Launch asked.

'They're both on their last legs,' Tien said, directing everyone's attention towards where the ring had been. 'This match is about to end.'

Just as they said this, an explosion rocked through the sky, followed by the descending form of Piccolo crashing to the ground.

0o0o0

The reincarnation of the Demon King, armed with a lifetime's worth of knowledge and abilities, had never done something as difficult as crawling out of the crater he found himself in. Dirt sloughed over and past his skin, seeking to forever entrap him below the surface of the larger dirt-pan ring. Purple blood ran down him in trickles, falling to the ground beneath and staining it. His midsection was horribly blackened, giving the impression he had been tied to a spit and burned by the roaring flames cooking him.

And yet, he persevered.

Staggering to his feet, Piccolo swung his head to and fro, expecting to see his opponent waiting for him. When he saw nothing, he began his slow walk across the ring towards where he had last seen Krillin. Smoke and dust billowed all around him, making the experience as much as a mental challenge as it was a physical one. His blood forming a trail behind him as he walked, he eventually stumbled into what he was looking for, just as a strong wind blew away the smoke and dust from the area.

Still laid up against the rock, Krillin eyed the demon, breathing heavily.

Piccolo forced his head to turn towards the small group of people watching them from the sides. 'Count!' he yelled, startling everyone. 'Start the count!'

Slowly, the man Piccolo recognized as the announcer emerged from the group. Both lenses for his shades were broken. '...What?' he squeaked.

'The count! Start the count!'

Out of habit, the announcer adjusted his broken shades. 'You… the match…'

'Is still ongoing!' Piccolo barked, 'so COUNT!'

Gulping, the announcer stepped closer towards Piccolo and Krillin. 'One, two…'

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the slightest stirring of movement from Krillin.

Nothing happened. Throughout the entire count Krillin watched on, frowning. Not even once did he try to stand or even move. He had no energy; he had nothing left to give.

Words tumbled into the air, shocking everyone. 'W- World Champion! Piccolo!' The announcer had to yell, pushing his voice to its limit to make sure everyone could hear him. 'Piccolo is the winner of the 23rd… _huaaah_ ,' he dried heaved, '...World Tournament…'

 _I win._ Piccolo looked once more at the frightened, distressed assembly that had stayed until the very end. _I won._ Any emotion he would have felt was buried underneath an undeniable weariness and a pressing sense of responsibility.

Exhausted, Piccolo turned and trudged over to stand over the immobilized Krillin. The human warrior was motionless, save for his eyes which followed Piccolo constantly. Unfazed by this, Piccolo leveled one hand towards Krillin's chest, prepared to puncture his stupid orange _gi_ once and for all-

' _Stop.'_

Piccolo lifted his head. The bald human, Tien, had stepped into the pan that now served as the ring. His arms were tensed, ready to strike. 'That's enough,' he warned. 'Step away from him.'

Growling, Piccolo adjusted his posture, angling himself in Tien's direction. 'This match may have ended but this fight _isn't_ over.'

'So you're going to go through with it, then?' Tien accused him. 'And once you've killed him you're going to fulfill the promise you made at the start of this match? _You're going to destroy this island? Kill us all?_ ' Tien's voice rang with a challenge. 'You think you can do that?' he taunted.

Piccolo grimaced. 'Maybe. Maybe not. I know what I _can_ do, however-' he clenched and unclenched the hand he held towards Krillin. 'Regardless of the outcome of anything you've just described.'

Tien's face contorted with anger. 'You wouldn't- we'll kill you, then!'

'Ah, but you see-' Piccolo chuckled, '-I know something about the dragonballs that you don't. For all intents and purposes, _I am them_. You kill me, and the dragonballs cease to exist. You will _never_. Be able to revive your pitiful friend.'

'Liar!' Tien yelled. 'Evil people like you abuse the dragonballs, not sustain them!'

'No, Tien,' Krillin called out above their exchange, coughing slightly. 'He's right. I never told you- or anyone this- but the dragonballs were created by Kami, _God_. And Piccolo… he's the evil half of Kami.'

Tien's gaze, as did everyone else's, flickered from Krillin to Piccolo and back again. 'What?' he choked out.

'It's true,' Tien heard someone say from behind him. Wrapping two hands around his staff, Korin walked forward. 'Or, it makes sense to me- King Piccolo's original rampage occurred at the same time when Kami became the Earth's guardian. I never put two and two together before now…'

'Feel his _ki_ ,' Krillin advised as best he could in his current condition to Tien. 'Compare it to what you felt during your match with Hero…'

Tien's fierce gaze lingered on Piccolo for a moment before gradually weakening, giving way to despair. 'It's true…' he said quietly. 'it's of the same nature…'

'I'm glad you've finally realized the sham of your purpose,' Piccolo spat. 'Now then-' The hand aimed towards Krillin stretched open, revealing a small orb of yellow _ki_. 'You _die._ '

To everyone's shock, when faced with imminent death, Krillin started to chuckle. 'Do you honestly believe,' he said after a moment, 'that you'll be free to go if you kill me? That whole concept is pretty funny to me…'

Piccolo's face twisted into a frustrated knot. 'Killing me after I killed you would destroy the dragonballs. _You_ could never be revived.'

'And you wouldn't care if I was revived a few days from now by the very dragonballs your life permits to exist?'

'Killing you once will set things right,' Piccolo said darkly. 'And I don't mind having to kill you a second time if need be. Today has demonstrated that that is within my abilities to do so.'

'An interesting way of seeing things,' Krillin commented. He seemed to think for a moment. 'But do you think I'm not prepared to die?'

Piccolo's eyes lingered on Krillin for a moment before closing his palm and dispersing his attack. 'What do you mean?' he growled.

'I mean that I'm okay with dying. If you're going to kill me, and if that means that you're going to die too, then I'm okay with that.'

'You would let your only lifeline to this world be severed?' Piccolo asked incredulously. 'Kami and the dragonballs are linked to me! You would condemn Kami to death?' He asked enraged.

For the first time since being knocked to the ground by Piccolo _ages_ ago Krillin moved- but it was only to painstakingly shift himself into a more comfortable position on the ground. 'That's your choice, not mine. But if you kill any of us,' he threatened, 'then you're dead.'

Piccolo's glare shot to Tien and the others. 'You would let him do this? Fulfill his suicidal wish?'

Tien briefly looked conflicted, but after meeting Krillin's gaze, he hardened his face and nodded. 'If he dies, you're not leaving here alive. _None_ of us would let you live after that.'

While Piccolo's face twisted in disgust and anger, Krillin laughed softly, making a concerted effort to not agitate any of his broken ribs. 'Take a good look around you. What do you see?' Krillin cautioned.

Piccolo watched as other fighters stepped forward, prepared to fight. The one with the scar, the short, pale one, the girl with the armor and the other one with the ponytail… even the man he had backhanded in the preliminaries. He groaned- he wasn't even sure he could kill _that clown_ in his present condition.

'So you see it, then,' Krillin resumed, 'considering I haven't been killed yet. You kill me… and they kill you.'

Piccolo looked down at Krillin again, angry disbelief splayed across his face. 'If I die, Kami dies!' He shouted at the human. 'The dragonballs cease to exist!' He swung towards the others. 'If you kill me after I kill him- then he can't be revived!' He swung back to Krillin. 'You would sacrifice that much?' His entire face was drained, either from exhaustion or desperation.

Even though he was probably more exhausted and more beat than at any other point in his life, Krillin still managed to smile. 'It's part of the job.'

Every fiber of his being screamed in injustice- but Piccolo was no fool. He had defeated every obstacle in his way, he _could_ have defeated any one of these would-be heroes on their own… but he wasn't strong enough to defeat them all. He was skeptical he could even defeat Krillin and Tien together had the two of them fought him together at full power. He was hopelessly trapped.

For a brief moment, he thought to call Krillin's bluff- blast away that insolent fool and see them try to destroy their one method of bringing him back- but he no longer doubted the resolve of these humans. Seeing them time after time throw themselves against a seemingly unbeatable opponent, and stand to fight until they couldn't, told him everything he needed to know. They would not hesitate to avenge Krillin if he himself wished it. _If I choose pride here, above all else… I'll die._

'HRRAAH!' Abruptly, Piccolo threw a string of _ki_ blasts into the dirt between him and the other human fighters, throwing dirt into the air. When it cleared, they saw Piccolo hovering weakly in the sky. 'Remember this day!' he shouted across the ruins, 'the day when the reincarnation of the Demon King Piccolo avenged his father! Let this day stand as a monument to my achievement!' He thought to add more, but as the words tumbled out of his own mouth he internally despised how hollow they sounded. He started to hover backward through the air, watching for any sign of pursuit. It seemed the humans were content to let him leave, however- none of them had moved. _They can't kill me as long as I'm tethered to that old fool Kami…_

 _I'll live to fight another day. I'll get stronger, faster, smarter- and maybe find that other one…_ _ **him**_ _..._ With one final sneer, Piccolo rolled around in the sky and flew away.

0o0o0

Through narrowed eyes, Krillin watched Piccolo's receding figure fade into the distance. Before his foe had disappeared completely, his friends, stumbling in one-and-all, blocked his view.

'Come on,' Tien said encouragingly, 'let's get you on your feet…'

Once Krillin up and about, Chiaotzu was the first to broach what had just happened. 'That was… kinda crazy, Krillin,' he said. 'You basically convinced Piccolo you two were in a suicide pact, and then convinced him to drop _out_ of the suicide pact. I'm…' Chiaotzu's mouth opened a closed a few times. 'I'm literally speechless.'

'It was a bit of a bluff,' Krillin admitted.

'You are _actually_ insane,' Chi-Chi said, a smile tugging on her face.

'That,' Launch stepped up to Krillin and shook him by his shoulders, 'Was a work of art, Krillin.'

Bulma, leaning on Yamcha's side, smiled warmly at Krillin. 'A lot has changed... ' she whispered to Yamcha.

Looking on in the back of the group, Korin smiled. 'He's come a long way- they've all come a long way,' he said wistfully.

'Are you talking about me? Am I included in that statement?' Yajirobe asked at his side.

'You? I barely _know_ you.'

Off to one side, Tien was staring off into the sky in the direction Piccolo had left by. 'We could have stopped him,' Tien said. 'I'm sorry, I should have gone after him immediately…'

'No, it's alright…' Krillin exhaled. 'it would have been a messy fight,' he continued. 'Some of us would have died. As it is, we're strong enough together to oppose him… and that's what really matters, right?' Krillin flashed a smile. 'We've battled him into a stalemate. The way I see it, that's good enough for us to go about our lives in peace.'

'But… he's _evil_ ,' Launch stressed. 'He would have killed _everyone_ on this island if he was still strong enough after winning.'

Krillin stared at her for a second. 'That may have been what he said, but honestly? I doubt he would have gone through with it,' Krillin argued. 'Three years ago, Kakarot nearly killed hundreds of spectators while lost in the thick of fighting. That was _true_ indifference- he didn't care if the crowd lived or died. All he cared about was winning his fight. By comparison, Piccolo never put the crowd in harm's way, and in the match where they would have actually been in danger, he tipped them off about who he was beforehand and sent them running away in terror _away from the fight_. There's something about him… maybe he has honor, maybe he feels a personal antagonism to us and no-one else- but he is nothing like his father. We all remember the unimaginable devastation King Piccolo wrought on West City. This came nowhere close to it. If he wanted to destroy a city, he would have shown himself in one.'

Everyone was, quite frankly, shocked by what Krillin was suggesting. 'When did you have time to think through all this?' Yamcha asked, astonished.

'After I launched my final _ki_ attack,' Krillin stated. 'I knew that I had lost the moment it left my palms. So my mind started to _really_ think about how I could survive this.'

'So were you not being serious about what you said earlier?' Tien asked, curious. 'About being willing to sacrifice yourself to kill Piccolo?'

'No, I was definitely ready to lay my life on the line…' Krillin's gaze lifted towards the sky. 'There's at least one person I would like to see again… but I should always try to live through these situations if I can, right?'

'Yes,' Yamcha said, laughing, 'you should.'

'Yeah, to add on to what Yamcha said,' Bulma jumped in, 'please do. We've been through a lot, all of us…'

A bit of life and chatter began to return to them- people took turns giving Krillin shoulders to hang on.

'Hello!' Launch abruptly bent down to the ground. 'Do I,' she straightened, holding up a plain brown pouch, 'have a surprise for all of you.' She twisted towards the remains of the stands. 'Rayne, over here!' she called out.

A few seconds later Rayne came into view, walking over with Suno in her arms. The briefest look passed between Rayne and Krillin- nothing more had to be said between them.

'Here,' Launch motioned, 'Bring Suno closer.' A moment after Launch had popped a senzu bean into Suno's mouth and helped her to chew, Suno's eyes shot open and she practically _leaped_ out of Rayne's arms. 'Woah!' she exclaimed, looking up and down her body. 'That's pretty neat.'

'And I've got a whole bunch more,' Launch smirked.

Yajirobe was about to open his mouth when Korin smacked him on the shoulder with his staff. 'I saw what you were about to do,' Korin said tersely as Yajirobe frowned at him. 'You get one _after_ everyone else gets one.'

'Alright…'

0o0o0

Amidst the tranquility of the Lookout, Mr. Popo flitted to one plant after another, watering can in hand. Nearby, their master was standing upright, unmoving, with two hands clasped around their gnarled, ancient staff.

Kami abruptly opened his eyes. 'It… is done. Somehow, _some way_ , they defied the odds.'

Mr. Popo, in a much better mood than they were in previously, continued to water the Lookout's extensive gardens. 'I always thought very highly of Krillin. He was always a very dedicated student.'

'It wasn't just him…' Kami walked closer to the edge of the platform and looked out to the blue sky below. 'it's _all_ of them. In my entire tenure as a Guardian, I have never seen such a committed and strong-willed group of individuals dedicated to the welfare of this world. Something truly wonderful has happened these past few years…'

'Surely it was because of your influence,' Mr. Popo said off-hand, still consumed with their gardening. 'Your influence on this world is not to be dismissed so easily.'

'Mr. Popo, I could never defend the good in this world by myself. The crises raised by my other half made that clear enough. I briefly entertained…' Kami stopped, and shook his head. 'It doesn't matter now. From what I can see, they have won a fragile peace. Considering the threats to them that still exist in some way shape and form, that is the best they can hope for.' Kami turned and began to walk away from the edge. 'Krillin will do things better down there…'

0o0o0

'Hey,' Rayne caught Krillin's attention, who was rummaging around in a pack he had brought. After everyone had healed up from the senzus they had all gone off to come what was left of the tournament for any packs or clothing that might be buried around. The announcer, after being profusely apologized to, accepted Krillin's zeni as an "apology drink". People were either leaving or had left; Krillin was one of the few ones sticking around. He was trying to find his boots- he doubted he would.

'Yea?' Krillin poked his head out from his pack. His smile amongst all the carnage and destruction around him cut a funny image.

'Well… I was thinking…' Rayne was trying to choose her words very carefully. _How do I say this?_

'Yeah? What is it?' Krillin asked.

'So… I built a house.'

'You built a house? That's... cool.'

'Yeah! It is cool.' She said, almost like she was affirming that to herself. 'It's in a pretty nice spot, too; I found this really nice river valley with lots of wide open space, a clear blue stream, tons of-'

'Can I see it?' Krillin jumped in.

She looked at him strangely. 'Would you believe it,' Rayne said with a smile on her face, 'that I was about to ask you the exact same thing?'

'You were going to ask if you could see your own house?'

'I-'

'Kidding,' Krillin smirked. 'Just kidding.'

Rayne glared at him in the kindest way possible. 'Very funny…'

'Is it far?' Krillin slung the pack over his shoulder.

'It's a bit of a trip. But you know what they say about every good journey…'

'Half the fun is getting there?'

' _And_ there's always a satisfying conclusion at the end.'

'I'll believe it when I see it…'

0o0o0

One-by-one, Chi-Chi watched everyone depart. They left in twos or threes- Yamcha and Bulma, then Krillin and Rayne, followed by Launch, Tien, and Chiaotzu. Strangely enough, Yajirobe and Korin also left together.

Suno was the last to go- she gave Chi-Chi a big, drawn-out hug. 'I'm excited to explore the world,' she had said, 'but I just wish you could have done it with me…'

Her teacher had hugged her back. 'I know… I know.'

Chi-Chi didn't know what compelled her to stay as long as she did. Even the announcer, after moping around the ruined grounds of the tournament, departed sometime before her. Without a single soul present on the pavilion… it was lonely, sad even. _This is what this place must look like between tournaments._ She spared a glance at the rest of the tournament grounds that had been completely obliterated from Piccolo's explosive dome. _Ignoring the remains of everything important, that is..._

 _We did it, guys! We closed the tournament! You know, in a way, that's probably a good thing. No more tournament means no more super strong, super bad people crawling out of the woodworks_ -

The sound of small, cautious footfalls reached her ear. To the right of the wide, gaping pavilion, a single bent tree stood alone, its leaves violently blown off of it sometime earlier. Because it was the same color as the bark, it took her a few moments to notice a thin tail wagging from behind it.

Her breath caught. The tail froze and Kakarot stopped out into the open. He had grown immeasurably- he now stood taller than her by a good half-foot, even though she herself had shot up in height since the last time they had crossed paths. The boy had become a man.

His face was scrunched, like he was dealing with some sort of unknown and inexpressible pain. 'Please,' he pleaded, stepping closer to Chi-Chi and extending one hand. 'I need your help.'

Chi-Chi saw no hostility, no antagonism, just a conflicted soul.

There was no doubt in her mind; there was a reason why she had stayed.

She didn't hesitate- she accepted his hand immediately.

* * *

A/N: Holy cannoli. The end of DB. I can't believe I'm writing these words. Considering that before writing this story, I had virtually no knowledge of the narrative specifics of DB and was largely learning the story as I went, I think it went pretty well! Now we're getting to the stuff I _actually_ know- DBZ. Expect some freakin' divergences.

Though not quite yet. Next chapter will wrap up _Sins of the Father_. See you then.

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** Yamcha got the short end of the stick too much in canon! He can be a competent fighter, too, damn it!

 **Guest (and the many reviews you left!):** I'm not sure Master Roshi would have followed Kakarot to fight him away from the tournament. I'd have to think about that a bit more.

Kakarot is in a bit of a weird situation in CH 19. He's injured and is dependant on Chi-Chi to survive, but he doesn't (and shouldn't) like her as a captor. Despite how he feels, he can't risk permanently pushing away his caretaker.

I don't think I hid Launch's power level. Maybe I did? It was a while ago and I wouldn't do that now, from how you described it.

I don't think the tournament is supposed to run for multiple days. Using that (flimsy) rule, I figured that if a fighter is indisposed, then they can't continue to compete.

He did get a zenkai, yeah.

Keep an eye on the tail!

A reasonable assumption. You'll find out soon enough.


	36. In a Perfect World

Sins of the Father

Chapter 36: In a Perfect World

* * *

Piccolo flew over the seemingly endless Southern Sea for a while, intermittently taking breaks on any small, errant island that came across his path. They were, for the most part, unremarkable. The first island he came across was barely more than a bunch of sediment piled up on an old and dying coral bed. It was just large enough to fit a small shack on top of it.

The next island Piccolo came across was large enough to fit a small town. Shaped into a crescent, it was mostly comprised of long, uninterrupted stretches of sandy coastline, with the smallest snatches of forest growth and trees farther inland. During his break on this island, Piccolo found no animal life- it was solely occupied by plant life.

He briefly considered decimating the place and wiping it off the face of the planet; eventually, however, he decided his energy would best be spent elsewhere.

The third island Piccolo came across was strangely rocky, lined by unclimbable rock faces and detritus that continually banged against its sides. It was here that Piccolo decided to stay, sit, and meditate.

 _Without question, I am the strongest being on this planet… I have surpassed my father, those humans- I have even surpassed Kami himself._

 _And yet, my victory was hollow._ _ **Feels**_ _hollow. Together, those damn fighters were too numerous, too powerful to defeat on my own. The memory given to me from you, father, isn't perfect- despite your best efforts, I lack the knowledge to create allies of my own. How, then, do I succeed where you have failed? How do I achieve an impossible goal?_

 _I have delivered the peace owed to you, father. Why, then, does your voice continue to nag at the back of my head?... What is it that you want from me?_

 _I have nothing but time. I can do nothing but train. For you, father, I hope that will be enough._

0o0o0

'So this is the tower, eh?' Yajirobe walked up to the base and looked skyward- he squinted after a moment. 'It's pretty tall.'

'That it is,' Korin replied from behind him. 'It's going to be a long climb, so you better prepare.'

'Huh?' Yajirobe looked over his shoulder at Korin. 'You're not climbing up?'

'No-'

'- don't you live up there?'

Korin scowled at Yajirobe. 'I have alternate means of transportation.' As if on cue, a dark yellow cloud billowed down from the sky. 'Gratefully returned to me by a former student.' The cat climbed on top of it, using the wooden stick to help himself up. 'I'll see you at the top.'

'I can't ride up with you?' Yajirobe asked dimly.

'...No, that'd defeat the whole purpose… of the test…' Korin cocked his head at Yajirobe. 'You said you were a martial artist?'

'Yea! A… * _cough*_ , martial artist.' Yajirobe gave Korin a big, convincing smile.

'... Alright. See you at the top.' The cloud backed up, then zoomed up into the sky.

Yajirobe watched Nimbus fly away for a moment. Once Korin had disappeared from sight, he spat on his hands and jumped up onto the tower, beginning his climb. _I won't be denied those beans!_

0o0o0

Keeping a steady pace behind Kakarot, Chi-Chi forced herself to stay alert. The forest was claustrophobic- shrubs and tree branches jutted into their path as much as they were able to, making it difficult for her to keep track of her guide. Her eyes flitted up briefly at Kakarot before looking back at the ground in front of her.

She had been traveling with him for a few months now, yet the breakthrough hadn't come. He infuriatingly continued to keep her at arm's length away from him; Chi-Chi guessed that he did this because he was either scared, distrustful, or both. She had hoped that Kakarot was _finally_ ready to address himself and the back-breaking baggage Chi-Chi had glimpsed him carry. With every passing aimless day they spent traveling together, however, she began to doubt that this was the case. Days would pass without him saying a single word to her; his only acknowledgment of her existence was the additional food he would forage or hunt from the land. The routes they traveled by were as wide as highways and as narrow as single-person dirt trails. The utter randomness of these paths caused her to wonder if Kakarot himself even knew where they were going.

Though something was different about today. Kakarot had started off in the morning a bit more urgent, had walked a bit faster than he usually did. Chi-Chi couldn't help but notice a rushed anxiety underlying these actions- how someone became when trying to hasten something good happening. She had a feeling that she was very consciously being led to something, to fulfill some type of role, regardless of her own say in the matter. Accordingly, a growing feeling of unease was taking hold of her. _And yet_ , _here I am._

The path they trudged upon slowly widened outwards and opened into a larger clearing. Chi-Chi first noticed how the trails of objects dragged away crisscrossed the area, forming dark marks in the freshly exposed dirt. To her right, she saw a squat, solitary shack, oddly untouched considering the recent activity all around it.

'Here,' Kakarot whispered, drawing her attention to another path that branched out of the clearing to her right. 'It's close.'

Chi-Chi narrowed her eyes and asked roughly the same question she had been asking for months: 'Close to what?'

He gave the briefest glance back at her before turning forwards and setting off. His tail was uncharacteristically still as he moved.

 _Yep, giving me a straight answer would be a little too much…_ Even as she turned to follow Kakarot, her eyes lingered on the shack. It was so out-of-place amidst the meticulously affected landscape.

The realization occurred to Chi-Chi- _he knows this place. The way he walks across the ground- he knows where he is._ She quickly set off after him.

'This is your home, isn't it?' she called out after him. He quickened his pace; she matched it. 'You grew up here. You-' she held out her hands in front of her, as if trying to cradle her own thought '- _brought_ me here-'

'So what?' Kakarot turned to her, fury brimming from his face. 'What does that matter? You think you know how to use this knowledge against me? _To destroy_ me?'

'I didn't say any of that,' Chi-Chi replied in a quiet voice.

The anger on his face passed. Revealed beneath it was a different form of anger- self-directed. 'We're close,' he muttered. 'We're so close…' He spun around, pointing. 'It's there…'

Chi-Chi glanced between his indication and the realm beyond it: a close-knit, tangled section of the forest littered with dead and snapped trees. She noted that the path forward looked to be unnaturally flattened by a hundred different heavy objects passing over it. The haphazard and random tree trunks she spotted up ahead fit the bill.

She took a few hesitant steps past Kakarot, watching the tree lines for movement of any kind. Stepping over a few logs, she emerged into some sort of grotto, meticulously constructed to cover something.

In the center of the makeshift structure was something Chi-Chi had never encountered before. A dull sheen ran up and down the length of a sphere, at once giving it both a hazily familiar and strikingly foreign appearance. She pressed her hand to its surface- it was cool to the touch, remarkably temperate. The door, she noticed as she pressed her hand against it, was caught on something at her feet. Reaching, she bent down-

A hand gripped her arm. 'Don't,' Kakarot said. 'Do that.'

She straightened, scowling. 'Why shouldn't I? You haven't told me a good reason _not_ to.'

He frowned at her, his eyes darting between her and the sphere behind her. 'You need to promise me-'

'I'm not going to promise _anything-_ '

'Promise me,' he continued, glaring at her, 'that you'll listen to me. To what I'm about to say.'

'I…' her scowl weakened. 'Fine. It's about time, anyway. Talk.'

The tension seemed to drain away from his face. 'I'm a Saiyan,' he said. 'and this,' he gestured, 'brought me to this _planet_.'

'You're…' she turned back to the sphere. 'This brought you here?...'

He held his joyless, haggard gaze.

0o0o0

It wasn't eminently clear what quality of the Capsule Corp gardens had so engrossed Yamcha. He had been here before. Some plants he remembered pruning or caring for in the darker moments of his life years earlier, while some were wholly unrecognizable to him.

It was only after he had sat on a wooden bench motionless for nearly two hours did it click. _This is the garden as it was. Wholly and totally regrown._ Capsule Corp, like the city around it, had rebuilt. The devastation of King Piccolo had clotted, healed, and disappeared, with nary a blemish to notice. At every wound, life had rushed in, filling in the gaps with as much, if not more, vitality than before.

Basking in such a pronounced scene, for the first time in years Yamcha felt tears well out from his eyes. Even this, however, gave way to a blanketing joy. What else was he supposed to do when confronted by such a sight?

Engrossed as he was, Yamcha completely failed to notice Bulma until she tapped the side of the bench. 'I was looking for you,' she said.

'Was this the first place you looked?' he asked.

'Second. First I checked whether you were sleeping in the guest room.'

Yamcha glanced at her, a wry expression on his face. He let the silence return, however, and resumed his idle watch of the gardens.

Side by side, one standing and one sitting, they admired.

'Yamcha,' Bulma said after a time, 'how do you feel? You aren't out here because… well-'

'-don't worry,' he assuaged her, 'it's not like before.' He settled into his seat some. 'A lot of things feel different now. I can't say if they're _actually_ different, but… I feel better.' He lifted his gaze from the garden and looked up at Bulma, a weak smile pulling up on his face. 'That's better, right?'

'It is.' Bulma placed a hand on Yamcha's shoulder and squeezed it. 'Wanna go get something to eat?'

He took a final look at the garden before moving his gaze out to West City beyond it. 'I'd like that.'

0o0o0

'Take a gander.'

Krillin whistled.

It was everything Rayne had said and _more_. The trees crept and bent down from the slopes, seeking to completely conceal the riverbank. Crystal clear water babbled downstream, interrupted by the odd rock or jut in the land. On a particularly level spot of land a squat, modest log cabin looked over the water.

Beaming, Rayne led Krillin closer. 'It took a while before I was able to identify the good trunks,' she explained as she ducked around a half-fallen tree, 'you know, tell the good wood from the bad. You'd be amazed by the amount of time I wasted doing that…'

Padding across the forest floor, Krillin walked right up to the door of the building and examined it up close. 'It's nice,' he said after a moment, 'but it can be improved.'

Behind him, Rayne's excited smile vanished. 'Excuse me?'

He moved to the side, sizing up a moderate plot of land next to Rayne's house. 'I'm going to improve on your design,' he announced, turning back to her. 'Do you mind if I try to build something right here?'

Her mouth boomeranged between annoyance and anger; after a moment, she reigned it into a horizontal line. 'I…' she blinked, then shook her head and walked into her house, shutting the door behind her.

'Huh,' Krillin said to himself. 'Weird.' He started scanning the nearby treeline for good building material. 'She also didn't say no…'

0o0o0

'Everything… makes sense,' Chi-Chi thought out-loud, leafing through a stack of journal entries. 'The anger, the hostility… it's all here. Since the day you arrived here, since the very moment you walked out from that spaceship, you were like this… but….' she lifted up another page, flipping it over to its back. '... it wasn't you… none of what you did was _you_ …'

Nearby, Kakarot leaned against the shack wall, lingering in the unlit gloom. His tail swished down and under from his legs.

'Don't you see?' She practically yelled, twisting and turning to him. 'This is it! The proof of who you are- of who you could be! It's all here!'

Aside from shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Kakarot didn't react.

'Did you enjoy doing _any_ of this? she asked after a moment, gesturing to the notes. 'The death and disobedience you enacted? This… this is…' her words deserted her, leaving her groping for meaning. 'The way Gohan described you… it doesn't seem like you enjoyed it.'

'I can't say,' he murmured. 'I don't know _anything_ for sure. I'm… very conflicted.' He rose off the wall and walked past her. Chi-Chi glared at his back and followed.

'What do you mean, you're _conflicted_?' she pressed. 'Are you saying you actually _enjoyed_ -'

'-maybe.' As they emerged outside, Kakarot swept his gaze across the clearing. 'I don't know- about any of this. I spent a few years after the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament confused, questioning- but that ended up creating more questions than answers, more ambiguity.' Slowly, he raised his arms, his eyes tracing every inch of every scar that patterned his body. 'I only have a few ways to judge myself. I can look at myself, for example. When I do, I see the blood of the dead, but none of my blood is on them…'

Chi-Chi frowned. 'Blood? What are you talking about?'

'It's like a measurement of sorts. I've gotten very good,' he said, oddly detached, 'at spilling other people's blood without spilling any of my own. I'm… _good_ at killing.' His eyes flicked over to hers. 'That's who I am.'

He spoke with such assurance that a chill went down Chi-Chi spine- numbly, she glimpsed his brown tail curling and fanning behind him. Taking a breath, she gathered her thoughts. 'Who sends an infant to another planet?' she asked him directly, forcing herself to stare back at Kakarot. 'What kind of person- society- does that?'

His gaze grew distant before shifting away. 'I wouldn't know. But maybe whoever did it is strong, or respects strength. Maybe they did it because I am strong, or because they wanted me to become strong. Anything but a weakling...'

'Bullshit.' She stepped closer and took a limp hand in one of her own. 'You don't believe that,' she asserted, 'you know that isn't true.'

'Oh?' Kakarot replied bitterly. 'What's true, then?'

While holding one of his hands, Chi-Chi jabbed a finger into his chest- it was, at the same time, reassuring and aggressive for Kakarot. 'They didn't care for you-' she said in a low voice, 'and so they shipped you off without a family or any of your own kind to another planet. They _abandoned_ you. That's the choice they made.'

'Possibly.'

The silence between them was suffocating; Chi-Chi let her grip on his hand loosen and break. Her internal conflict visibly surfaced on her face, forcing every inch and crease of her skin to take up a side. She took a deep breath. 'I'm not going to leave until you understand-'

'-understand what?'

'The full range of the lives in front of you.' Kakarot glanced up at her. 'What _could_ come next,' she finished.

0o0o0

Peering out her one-and-only window- she had, surprisingly, been able to find an abandoned pane of glass in the riverbed to fashion a window from- Rayne gazed out at Krillin's rising domicile, insultingly similar to her own. Her own mind was seized in astonishment towards his thick-headedness. _I literally couldn't be any clearer, barring turning… whatever this is into a booty call. What does, "Wanna see my house that's a few months travel away" mean to him!? A playdate!? Of all the…_ Rayne sighed. _Calm, happy thoughts…_

Krillin's head poked up from behind a wall; the next moment a log slapped down on the top of his house, propelled upwards by one of Krillin's strikes. After floating upwards and adjusting its position, he returned to the ground and sauntered over to Rayne's window. Behind the glass, she frowned. 'What's wrong?' he asked, his voice sounding strangely muffled to Rayne. 'I'm almost done with the house!'

She stared at him for a moment before moving away from the window and walking outside. She took a long look at his house before scowling at him. 'Your house looks exactly like mine,' she said unpleasantly. 'I'm not flattered.'

Krillin gave her a strange look. 'That was the point.'

'The… point?' Rayne swore she could hear the gears turning in her own head. 'What?'

He smiled. 'One second.' He walked around to the back of the house and picked up another tree trunk. 'Watch this!' he declared, as he thrust the tree trunk _through_ the wall of his half-built house and _into_ the side of Rayne's. The distinct clatter of furniture and fixtures being jumbled and ruined from within Rayne's house screeched into Rayne's ears.

She wasn't sure what her expression had been when she had turned to him after this, but she could barely see through the overwhelming amount of red spilling into her vision. 'What,' she seethed, 'the actual… fuck.'

Krillin moved over to the bisecting log and put one hand on it. 'We had to connect the houses at some point, right?' he said warmly, patting the log like it was a faithful pet. 'That…' he turned to her, a small smile on his face, 'was the point, right?'

Rayne took a moment to breathe- _yes, breathe_ \- before forcing her face into a blank expression. Without saying a word to Krillin, she turned and entered her house. 'Come help me clean up the mess you made,' her oddly calm voice floated out, 'please.'

Obliging, and making sure to close the door behind him, Krillin followed her in.

0o0o0

Over the course of the night, the flames dipped lower in the sky, returning into the charred remains of the firewood like a genie sucked back into its lamp. The light dancing off the trees and leaves slowly dimmed, progressively shrinking back from illuminating the unknown forest beyond it. The fire positioned between Kakarot and Chi-Chi was nearly dead; nothing separated them except for the errant, reaching lick of heat.

Neither of them said anything for a long while, electing instead to prop their heads on their knees upwards, looking out at the stars spilling across the sky above. A wide and cosmic streak of white and blue bisected the night, comprised of a hundred separate pigments. While lost in visual bewonderment, Kakarot reflected that he had never thought to look up at the night sky at any other time in his life when he had sat next to a similar fire. _Strange…_

The two of them were content to stare heavenwards for hours- as it was, however, Kakarot lowered his gaze back to Earth and cleared his throat. 'There's something you should tell me, if you can,' he said, 'and something I should tell you.'

Chi-Chi lowered her gaze and tilted her head at him, illuminating her face at an odd angle. 'Yes?'

'Who…' Kakarot screwed his face, clearly searching for a word. 'Who is… Piccolo… _King. King Piccolo.'_

She blinked at him. 'You… don't know? You don't _remember_?'

Kakarot sullenly shook his head at her. 'So much of my life is a blur… I've forgotten so much.' he stretched his legs before going still again. 'But that's the name, right? King Piccolo.'

Chi-Chi nodded. 'Yes. He was… evil, in the fullest sense of the word. He cared nothing about the lives of ordinary people. He only sought to exert power over others and exact his wicked will on them.'

'So that's evil?' Kakarot questioned. 'Seeking to control and dominate others?'

'That's part of it, yeah.' Chi-Chi began scratching her side. 'It depends on who you ask… but personally, I see evil as causing discomfort or pain for other people. None of us should be in the business of causing bad things to happen.'

Kakarot glanced at Chi-Chi out of the corner of his eyes. _Us…_ He mulled the word over in his head for a brief period of time before speaking again. 'I asked about King Piccolo because- I think I met him twice before.'

Chi-Chi looked over at him. 'No, that's not possible…' she sat up some, angling her back more vertical to the ground. 'You met him once, and only once, more than three years ago. He died afterward, without a doubt.'

Kakarot took a moment to tighten his features in thought. 'I met someone recently,' he said, 'who matched- or "jogged", more accurately- a fuzzy memory I have. This person was green and had a familiar look about them.'

'How long ago was this?' she asked. 'The most recent encounter, that is.'

He adjusted once more his posture, his eyes drifted up towards the sky again, and he began to recount.

0o0o0

 _The sun bent low to the ground; spring was making way for summer and the life that came with it. Beauty present in the nascent, blooming flowers was suffocated by a wave of buzzing, unabiding life. Amidst this cacophony, Kakarot rested within the forest, the pod that brought him to this planet not five feet away from him. His eyes idly traced the outlines of the forest growth that still remained on it. On the ground near the pod clumps of leaves and stems cluttered the ground. He was, slowly but surely, freeing his past from forest around it._

 _A sound curled into the air, driven and delivered by a distant engine. Straightening, Kakarot rose and turned towards the sound's direction. After a few moments of walking, a figure abruptly and rapidly descended from the sky._

 _The stranger was bedecked in a flowing white cape, which flagged so furiously in the wind that Kakarot could see nothing but that garment. When they landed, the stranger drew their arm forward and back, whipping their cape back behind them. A green-skinned humanoid clad in a purple gi was revealed._

 _Kakarot was so disillusioned with the state of his own life that he hadn't reacted to any of these developments. It was only the stranger's sibilant voice that shook him out of his stupor. 'Of course,' he said, 'your tail is gone, now…'_

 _The saiyan narrowed his eyes, lucidity returning to him. 'You talk of me like you know me- but I don't know you.' Kakarot felt his muscles clench with tension. 'And how do you know about my tail?' he accused._

 _The stranger chuckled, drawing out the darkest, most unsettling notes his voice could produce. 'Why, I was the one who removed it, of course.'_

 _A number of things happened then. Kakarot preemptively dodged and rolled away from a blast the stranger had launched without any warning, incinerating a path down the forest. Kakarot closed and rammed a powerful fist into the stranger's jaw. When he turned towards Kakarot, however, he simply gripped Kakarot's hand by his wrist and painfully wrenched it away. 'You were never on par with him,' the stranger said as they forced a pained Kakarot closer to the ground, 'the near-victory you achieved was an ABERRATION!' A knee crashed into Kakarot's back, slamming his body to the ground. Gasping, and before he had even pushed his chest off the ground, Kakarot saw a dangerous glow burgeon into life from above._

' _For father.'_

 _At the very instant those words left the stranger's mouth, Kakarot rolled and released a blast of his own. He didn't intend to outright kill his opponent or detonate his attack (as the resulting explosion would have surely killed him) but instead released his ki as physical force. The stranger's face twisted in surprise as he was lifted off the ground and careened high into the sky. Once the green-skinned attacker was far enough away from him, Kakarot shot another ki attack after him, detonating with the stranger's previously prepared attack. Even as a giant explosion bloomed across the sky, the saiyan ducked and ran for the nearest hiding spot nearby, eventually diving into and pressing his back to a ditch hidden by a line of bushes._

 _The stranger's rage had lasted for longer than Kakarot could remember. After an unknown period of time, Kakarot trusted his ki sense once again and crawled out from his hiding spot. The forest was haphazardly filled by craters- the mark of an aimless, frustrated rage._

 _During his hiding, while frightened beyond any and all comprehension, Kakarot hadn't even felt six inches of a new appendage shoot out the back of his tailbone._

0o0o0

'He would have killed me,' Kakarot shuddered, pulling his arms closer around him. 'The tone in his voice, the unapproachable finality… is that what it's like?' he asked in a quiet voice. 'When someone is about to kill? Is that how _I_ sound like?'

While Kakarot was consumed in the retelling of his close brush with Piccolo and death, Chi-Chi had remained silent and attentive in respect to his story. When he had finished, however, Chi-Chi struggled to respond to his cutting self-doubt. She glanced over at him briefly before fleeing from his gaze. 'I don't know,' she said after a moment. 'I was never on your _bad_ end, after all…'

The fire crept closer to the ground and finally folded into the charred logs. Faint, glowing embers provided just enough light to see each other in the enveloping darkness. Perturbed, Kakarot turned his head to the side and anxiously ran his hands over his shirt in an effort to straighten it. This methodic sound was just loud enough to stave off a fully fledged silence.

Chi-Chi watched Kakarot for a moment before rising and walking out into the night's darkness. A moment later she returned with a handful of small sticks and branches. Tossing them onto the embers, she nursed the fire back to life.

Kakarot stared into the reborn flames. 'I used to be more prideful. I _thought_ I was powerful, unassailable- but enough time spent hiding or questioning yourself can drive away even the most foolish notions.' He brought his hands to his head and clutched it. 'How can I become a destroyer, sate the burning task buried within me, when faced with such truths? I'm a _coward._ And a coward could never do…' Kakarot shook his head. 'It doesn't matter. It never mattered, considering where I am now. I've chosen to hide too many times.'

Chi-Chi opened her mouth to reply, but Kakarot continued. 'I tried to train, travel, do _anything_ to change what I saw in myself- but…' he clenched and released his hand, mimicking the motion of catching nothing. 'no. No change.'

'Is this… task, you're referring to, so critical to who you are?' Chi-Chi inquired. 'Can't you be _more_ than that?'

'You tell me,' he said bitterly. 'You seem to know more about me than myself.'

It was a simple, spur-of-the-moment admission for Kakarot to make, but immediately, he realized the implications behind the statement. He blushed and turned his body a bit aways from Chi-Chi. 'Or you _claim_ to, anyway.'

Unseen by Kakarot, Chi-Chi gave him a quizzical look. 'You know, I'm curious about something,' Chi-Chi asked as she scooted closer to Kakarot. 'I think I understand why you didn't compete at the tournament… but then, why did you come at all?'

He turned his head towards her. The fire was shrinking back into nothing; Chi-Chi's face was barely illuminated. 'I meant to find you. I thought you could help parse through what was going on in my head.'

'Did I?'

'In a way. You've… let me release a lot of thoughts that were jumbling around in my head. Sorta like… uh…'

'A release valve?'

'Yes. Like that.'

A glance passed between them just before the fire died a second death.

0o0o0

'Mmhm.' A yawn, then a touch of movement. She noticed that he was awake. 'Krillin? Why-'

'I'm thinking.'

Thoughtful silence descended on the room. 'What now?' he asked.

'We go on living.' A vaguely irritated sound filled the room. 'And you still need to patch the hole in my living room.'

He chuckled. 'Okay, okay…'

0o0o0

Stirring from his sleep. Kakarot dully shimmied away from the object he was pressed up against. _I must have fallen asleep against a wall, or maybe a chair-_

He opened his eyes. Flush against his chest, Chi-Chi was sound sleep, a small, contented smile on her face. His eyes meandered downwards. Beneath a thick wool blanket, he saw skin- _so much skin, but-_

I remember. His breath caught in his throat. _I remember..._

With as much control as he could muster, he pried Chi-Chi away from his body and jumped off the straw mat. He half tip-toed, half sprinted towards the shack door, grabbing his shirt and pants as he walked out.

A moment later, he was outside the shack, panting and fully clothed. Physically and mentally trying to escape what- _whatever happened, what was it, I don't know-_ he ran off into the woods, stumbling over in the dark. _This is wrong… this is all wrong!..._ Kakarot had no idea where he was going-

His foot caught on a gnarled tree root- he tripped and tumbled down the side of a hill, sploshing newly rained-on mud up and down his clothes. When he inevitably came to a messy stop, he carefully and languidly took his time to stand and get a sense of his surroundings.

Not fifty feet from him was the pod, mocking Kakarot with its stoicness. An object utterly unattributable, bland-

Kakarot rose to his feet, feeling the mud slosh against his feet. Tensing his body, he slowly propped his arms out in front of him, positioned as if about to shove someone. A moment later, light began to glow from his palms. He dimly became aware of his own voice rushing to fill the night air.

 _I chose none of this- I chose all of this- I was given a task- I embraced a task._ His nose wrinkled, crinkling with disgust. _I hurt this planet- I helped this planet. Useless! All this thought!_ He felt his legs push deeper into the mud, forced down by the immense pressure gathering in his palms. _Every problem- it started here! That man, that house, that_ _ **girl**_ _, with her lies of who I am, what I've done!_ His mouth twisted, wrapping up and around his teeth like a bind of rope. The forest around him began to shake.

With a final, cathartic yell, he released the blue-ish energy from his palms, pouring out all his anger, frustration, and confusion into a single blast. The energy burned, coalescing into a blast wide enough to fully encompass his body. Heat evaporated the tears from his face, and gradually, he began to notice the forest start to catch on fire all around him. _I don't care!_ _I don't care about anything!_

The pod was enveloped by the blast, completely obscuring it from Kakarot's sight, but judging from the resistance he felt, he knew it was still there. 'HAAAH!' He pushed more energy out of him, twisting his feet deeper into the mud, but still, he felt a pressure pushing back on his attack.

Futility start to boil up within him, threatening to seize every muscle and ounce of determination that was keeping his attack afloat. _Useless! Hider, Coward,_ _ **Weakling**_ _!_ Energy was leaving him in droves as his mind rehearsed the doubt and failure that plagued him over and over and _over again. This… is pointless. I'm trapped here…_ His muscles burned, his body was in agony- _I'll never understand… no matter how hard I push._

 _... but that doesn't matter._ A wild, reckless jolt of adrenaline shot through him, as if given to him by some cosmic force. _Will… is everything!_ His mind roared with newly discovered resolve. _AND MY WILL WON'T BE DENIED!_ 'HRAAAAAAAAAH!' A concentrated ring of energy swelled and passed through the blast, speeding towards the pod. The extra energy made contact with the object- and Kakarot felt a crumple, then total collapse, of any resistance to his attack. The forest beyond was overshadowed and consumed by bright blue light- his arms dropped to the ground as an entire section of forest unraveled before his eyes, returning to the dust from whence it came. When the sound and fury finally expired into the quiet night air, there was no sign of… anything. The pod was utterly destroyed. _It's… gone. It's actually gone._

Calming himself, Kakarot slowed his breathing, letting his exhaustion pull him closer to the ground. He remembered where he was- he took one look back in the direction he had come, up and over the hill he had slid down. One last glimpse at a way forward that was given to him, mercifully and graciously, by someone who sought to help him.

But it wasn't _his_ way. He knew- deep down in the core of his being- that taking up a future like that would irreversibly alter who he was. And he wasn't prepared for such a change.

Shuddering from the amount of energy he had spent, Kakarot stumbled down another path.

0o0o0

In a darkened cockpit, far out in the deep recesses of space, a soft red glow began to blink on-and-off. The inhabitant, formerly in a coma-like state, began to move as puffs of visible air particles began to spray into the cockpit's small chamber. Groggily, this person leaned over to his left, tapping a few times into a display. His face shifted from disinterest, to confusion, to dissatisfaction.

After a moment, he leaned back against his seat, his wild, long spiky black hair acting more like a cushion than the actual seat. He scratched at his thick, oval-plated armor while his eyes darted to distant thoughts. The cockpit was silent save for the steady wheeze of some sort of ventilation system.

Stretching his neck, the person leaned forward once more, dragging their finger across the screen from earlier and typing in a quick string of numbers. He paused for another moment, then tapped a finger to the display one more time, bringing about a dimming of the cockpit's lights and the growing whine of the machinery around him. Air particles began to filter into the cockpit once more; he began to feel sleepy. Just before he closed his eyes, an emotionless, computerized voice rumbled. ' _SYSTEM TARGET CHANGED. COURSE CORRECTED._ '

Satisfied, Raditz drifted into a contented sleep.

* * *

A/N: And that's… the real ending of _Sins of the Father._ As arcs go, this one was a long one; 9 chapters to bring about the end of DB. Crazy. While we may be at the end of DB, we're actually not quite at the end of this story's first (and probably 1 of 3) major story chunk. When the next arc, _Endgame_ , wraps up, I'll talk about that a bit more. Hope you've enjoyed the ride so far and are looking forward to all the crazy fun stuff ahead!

Now, if you're strictly a story reader, you can stop reading here. I've decided that this is a good point for me to talk about some meta stuff with everyone, such as my rationale for some of the big story developments, to explain/give context to how I've approached this story so far. Proceed at your own immersion breaking risk.

So what I'm talking about is:

1) Rayne's purpose as an OC character (long).

2) And the (maybe unexpected?) pairing between Krillin and Rayne (longer).

You, the reader, may be wondering why Krillin isn't pairing with his traditional and canon love interest, Eighteen. "A dirty OC?", you may be thinking. "That's who you paired Krillin with?" To explain why this happened, I feel that I need to explain my motivations for creating and having Rayne around as a character.

Rayne was originally conceived as 1) a mechanism to get Chi-Chi involved in Dragon Ball as a main character and 2) a main female fighter, considering the dearth of them in DB and DBZ in general.

The way I figured it, unless Chi-Chi is roped into a common cause with Rayne and the others in the beginning, there's no reason for her to tag along for the entire rest of DB, nor have the early interactions with Kakarot I wanted to have happen. Helping out in the beginning gets her into Turtle training, and with that, her involvement in the rest of the story comes naturally. Rayne brings her into the fold a bit more easily (in my opinion) and also adds another female fighter in the process. Two birds, one stone.

I hadn't planned that Krillin and Rayne would be a pairing when I started this story. I did have a vague idea of how Kakarot was going to affect the progression of the Red Ribbon Army (in other words affect the development of android 17/18 somehow), but it wasn't until the middle of the Escalation Arc did I conceptualize what that change was going to be. Being as vague as possible, with the direction the Red Ribbon Army is going in right now, Eighteen won't be the 'same' Eighteen she was in canon, if she even comes into existence at all. It amounts to a long-running change rippling through the universe, stemming from Kakarot being Kakarot, not Goku.

At the end of the day, I liked writing scenes between Krillin and Rayne, and knowing that 18 was functionally unavailable, I kept running in that direction.

If you're not satisfied with this explanation, that's perfectly okay, but stuff like this ^^^ is hard to express in the text and I felt the need to provide some context to any long-time readers. If you have any and all thoughts about ANY of this, please share it with me with a review. Now that we've wrapped up a coherent chunk of the story, I want to hear your thoughts about what you liked, didn't like, about anything that comes to mind when thinking about this fic. It'll give me good direction as to what to try and replicate and what not to going forward in the story. As always, thank you so much for the support. We've got a long way to go but I'm committed to getting this done.

Alright, on to the reviews!

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** I cannot believe it either. We out, DB!

 **Luke:** Nice to hear some appreciation for a good ol' fashioned narrative tease.

 **TC9078 (who kindly padded my review count):** I must have read this review ten times front-to-back without figuring out how to respond to it. All I can say is that your praise leaves me wordless. It means a lot to me to see people are that impressed by my work. When I set out doing this I had never written a long-form piece of fiction before; I just had a dream of living up to some of the sprawling epics in the DBZ fandom, like _Break Through the Limit_ and _Bringer of Death_ , that I came to love over the years. Thank you for sharing your (Such kind thoughts)!

 **Guest:** Turns out they had a nice, calm discussion before the tournament…

 **OneofTen:** As much as _**the original?**_ Holy moley…


	37. Open Invite

Endgame

Chapter 37: Open Invite

A/N: Heads-up for readers: the academic year has begun again and with it comes a likely slowdown in the pace of updating. Don't expect what happened this time last year to happen again, though- I'm still writing every day and whenever I get a chance. With that, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Trudging through the snow, Chiaotzu carefully made his way down a neatly blanketed path, leaning forward to carry the precarious pack of supplies on his back. The storm had let up a few hours earlier- he reckoned he had another few hours of clear weather to finish his trek up the mountain

He groaned. _I hate drawing the short stick… And it doesn't even make sense for me for doing this kind of stuff._ He nearly tripped after stepping into a too-deep patch of snow. _This would be much easier if I was allowed to fly._

Hours passed. Chiaotzu legs' became progressively heavier, slowing him down to a crawl. Even worse, the storm was creeping back down the mountain, threatening to resume its earlier flurry. Caught up in self-pity, Chiaotzu failed to notice he had come to the end of his hike. Rounding a corner around a cluster of boulders, he abruptly saw the familiar shack amidst the snow. He promptly picked up his pace, burning through a chunk of energy he had kept in reserve.

He reached the shack and unstrapped himself, setting the pack down next to the door. He was about to walk inside when the door swung inwards for him. Near a small table in the center of the shack, Tien was scowling at a piece of paper, seemingly upset at the content of it. Launch had pulled the door open. 'I'll find Chiaotzu,' she barked over her shoulder at Tien, 'and get his- Oh.' She turned, halting once she saw him. 'Great timing!' Launch ushered Chiaotzu inside. A moment later, Tien shoved the piece of paper into Chiaotzu's hands.

'This had to be a joke,' Tien said bitterly, 'who would send us a-'

'Just let him read it,' Launch chided Tien.

The paper was blank except for a date typed into the center of the and two black "Cs" printed into the top left corner. 'That's it?' Chiaotzu asked after a moment. 'What is this?'

'Turn it over,' Launch directed him.

He did so. "Party" was hand-written in black ink on the other side. 'Is this a party invite?'

'That's what I think,' Launch said. 'Considering the date on the front. But there's no address…'

'Who would send a party invite halfway up a mountain?' Tien argued. 'Trust me- this is blackmail, or some sort of a trap.'

Launch looked away from Tien, rolling her eyes.

Chiaotzu took another look at the first side he had examined. After a moment, it clicked. 'Isn't this the Capsule Corp. logo?' He asked, holding up the front side of the paper to them.

Launch squinted at the paper for a moment, then snapped her fingers. 'Bulma's throwing a party! So the date-'

'New Year's Day, 758,' Chiaotzu answered for her. 'So pretty soon...'

'What are you talking about? A year from now isn't "soon".' Launch said.

Tien and Chiaotzu exchanged looks. 'Wait here a second,' Tien instructed Launch. He walked away; a few seconds later he came back brandishing a calendar. 'You see the year on the top?'

Launch took the calendar and examined it. Progressively, her face drew into a more and more confused expression. 'Really?' Launch scratched the back of her head. 'The tournament was nearly two years ago? Doesn't feel that long. And why do you own a calendar?' She questioned Tien, narrowing her eyes.

'Because you constantly forget the date,' Tien replied, swiping the calendar from her hand. 'You aren't very good at keeping time…'

'I lose track of time _one time_ and I never hear the end of it!' Launch shouted, throwing up her arms.

'That's because you left me stranded on a mountain fifty miles away when I was too tired to fly!' Tien shouted back.

'Uhh… so we're going to the party, right?' Chiaotzu asked meekly.

They both seemed to remember Chiaotzu was present; they turned their heads to him. 'I'll think about it,' Tien said after a moment.

'Do we need to send her a message that we're coming? You know, like an RSVP?'

'Chiaotzu, please,' Launch said, 'this is Bulma Briefs we're talking about. There's _no way_ she thinks we're _not coming_.'

0o0o0

'Uhh, Korin... ' Yajirobe called as he examined a small card in his hands. 'you better see this.'

From below the floor, Korin climbed up a stairwell, his staff and the steps creaking in equal measure. 'What? What is it?' he responded crankily. 'I'm knee deep in it, you know that-'

'I have to go to a party,' Yajirobe stated.

'What?'

Yajirobe handed the card to Korin. The cat quickly skimmed it. 'Next month? Are you kidding me? This is the busiest part of the year!' Korin went to rip up the card but Yajirobe quickly grabbed it out of Korin's hands. 'I can't care for all the crops by myself! I don't have that much love and attention to throw around!'

Yajirobe briefly considered giving in to Korin's demand, but ultimately, he held his ground. 'Korin, I know we have a deal, but I haven't left this tower in _years_ ,' Yajirobe said sternly. 'I deserve a break!'

Korin glared at Yajirobe. 'I thought you liked it up here!'

'A man needs to be let out of his cage every once in a while!'

'Fine!' He smacked his staff into the floor. 'Go ahead, then! There'll be more senzu beans for myself!'

The samurai flinched at the last sentence, but he held his nerve and let out a long, measured breath. 'I'll be seeing you,' he said before tightening his sword-and-scabbard to his waist, walking over to the edge, and swinging over to climb down.

Left alone, Korin felt a pang of loneliness strike him. _Come back soon, you oaf._

0o0o0

The first thing Krillin did every morning was rise out of bed, wander over to the river, and bath in his thoughts. It was never a particularly fun experience. Instead, it was more akin to a period of considerate thoughtfulness; in the river he could sit and take stock of where he had gone _(Did I finish chopping up all the wood yesterday?),_ where he would go today _(Is today or tomorrow the day I need to run to East City for some supplies?)_ and where he was going _(If I train tomorrow and the day after, and do a little today, I should be on track…)_. As his mind moved from topic to topic water would meander past him, matching the speed of his own thoughts.

Occasionally, Rayne would join him. _Those_ were the more exciting days.

Today, as it were, after Krillin rinsed, scrubbed, and rinsed again, he wandered back to the house, curious as to whether Rayne was up and about yet. When he entered into the clearing that contained their odd, almost two-building house, he found her outside, examining a package on the ground. 'What's that?' he asked, stepping closer.

Rayne glanced at the sky, back at the package, and then at the sky again. 'This just… dropped from above. With no explanation. There are no markings, no return address.' She looked over at Krillin. 'You thinking what I'm thinking?'

Krillin caught her gaze. They were both silent for a moment before they both quickly said in unison, 'BOMB.'

'I want to open it,' Rayne said, grinning.

'I want to open it,' Krillin said, playfully pouting.

'Tough luck. I found it!' Triumphantly, she tossed the box into the air. When it came back down, she impaled it on one _ki_ -extended hand. Dexterously, she spun the box around, sawing it open and in two, and caught one half in each hand.

Krillin applauded.

It only took Rayne a few seconds for her to judge what was inside. 'Krillin,' she announced, 'it's time we found a tailor.'

'What?'

'Or a decent outlet store.'

0o0o0

Retu had a habit of making the workshop as dark as possible. He would tape up the windows, doors, even the air ducts, to prevent any light from entering the room. Once that was done, he would use his own _ki_ like a workman's lamp, lighting specific sections of the device he was working on when needed. He found this practice to be very useful in doing focused mechanical work. It also caused him to be scared shitless at times.

'Retu!' Bulma yelled as she burst into the room, letting in a flood of harsh white from the hallway outside. Retu nearly toppled over in his chair and would have crashed to the ground if not for him quickly anchoring himself to the counter. The immediate shock over, he steadied himself and glared at Bulma. 'Really? After all I've said?'

She pouted. 'I know, I know. But I'm just so excited!' She ran over to him and slammed a piece of paper on the top of the workshop. 'Look at this!'

Curious, Retu picked up the piece of paper and quickly examined both sides. He quickly frowned and set it back down. 'This is an invitation to your party. Bulma, I know you want everyone to participate, but-'

'No buts!' she exclaimed, pressing a shushing finger over his mouth. 'You're always making excuses not to come to my social events. Well I'm done letting you have your way! You can't spend your entire life cooped up in the dark in this lab!

'Bulma, there's a reason I don't come to your parties, 'Retu said, sighing. 'I don't, you know, _actually enjoy_ parties…'

A sneaky look passed over Bulma's face. 'Oh?' she asked. 'And what if I told you who was coming?'

A few seconds later, Retu's expression of mild disinterest morphed into genuine excitement in record time.

0o0o0

The multi-day journey to West City went as planned. Tien and Launch dropped into the West City skyline just as the sun was dipping below the horizon. It wasn't very difficult to spot the visually noteworthy Capsule Corp building, and it was even easier to distinguish a large, lighted gazebo as where the party was taking place. Bulma's flair manifested as a blinding source of light in an otherwise unlit outdoor garden.

Almost immediately after they touched down, Bulma and Yamcha approached them arm in arm. They were in full formalwear- Bulma was laced up in a brilliant and simple purple dress, while Yamcha was decked out in a black suit.

'Welcome! It's so nice of you to come!' Bulma spoke first, trying to offer each of them a glass of wine. Launch graciously accepted the drink- Tien waved his glass away.

'How could we refuse such an invite?' Launch asked before taking a sip of her wine. 'Neither of us have seen what a Bulma Briefs party entails, after all. Isn't that right, Tien?'

Tien muttered something to himself, then said, 'Yes…'

Yamcha stifled a laugh. 'To be honest, I'm surprised you're here, Tien,' he said before taking a sip from his own wine glass. 'I wouldn't have figured you as a party person.'

'I'm really not,' Tien replied unintentionally monotone. 'The original plan was for Chiaotzu to come with Launch,' Tien explained, 'but he had some kind of stomach bug. So _I'm_ going in his stead…' Tien said full of self-loathing.

'Oh, don't be such a downer,' Launch said, slapping Tien in the back and causing him to jolt upwards. 'You're going to have a good time here even if it _kills_ you.'

'That's not very comforting,' Tien muttered to himself.

Bulma smiled at them, and then with the awareness of a hostess, tugged on Yamcha's held arm. 'Come on, Yamcha. Let's mingle with the other guests for a bit.'

Yamcha nodded and the two of them moved away.

After they wandered off, Tien got a good look at everyone else in attendance. It seemed like he and Launch were the last ones to arrive. On one end of the room, he saw Krillin, Rayne, and Suno chatting away. On the other side, he saw Yajirobe and some older people he thought he recognized as Bulma's parents. Overall, it was a pretty small party, but he felt out of place when he saw Krillin was also dressed in a full formal suit. _Where the hell did Krillin get a suit?_ He noticed Krillin and Rayne were side-by-side, joking and exchanging a lot of quick looks between them. Tien thought on this for a moment. _They must be training together a lot._

Launch nudged him, bringing him out of his thoughts. 'You _do_ know that you're supposed to talk at a party, right?' She placed her hands on his back and began pushing him forward. 'C'mon, it won't kill you to speak…'

Tien grumbled accordingly.

0o0o0

'I like your outfit, Suno,' Krillin said. 'It really says "World Traveler".'

Suno cursorily looked over her dark blue _gi_ , tightened to her body by white straps and belts going across her wrists, ankles, and waist. On top of this, she was wearing a thin snug black cowl, which she had wrapped around her body. 'The _gi_ was originally given to me by my mom- I had to check back in Jingle Village and get that fixed up after the tournament. The black coat was given to me by someone I met on my travels- a farmer that I helped out of a bind.'

'A farmer? How'd you help them?' Krillin asked.

'Uhh…' Suno scratched the back of her head. 'It's kind of a long story… all I'll say is that it involves some bureaucratic corruption and negligence.'

'Ah,' Rayne said, 'classic.'

'For sure.' Suno took a swig from the wine glass in her hand.

Krillin and Rayne looked at each other. 'Suno,' Krillin inquired, 'how old are you, abouts?'

'Get off my case, _dad_ ,' Suno said flippantly. 'I turned 18 a few months ago.'

'It was just a question…'

'Since when did you become an adult?' Suno asked after taking another sip.

Krillin and Rayne looked at each other again. 'It's a gradual process,' Rayne said with a sneaky smile.

Suno snorted. 'Alright, sure.' Disinterested, she wandered off.

Once she was gone, Krillin did a snort of his own. 'Adults. We're not adults.' He faced her. 'Right?'

Rayne let out a little laugh. 'No, we're not. In fact, we're-' mid-turn, she noticed that tears were welling up in the corners of Krillin's eyes. She immediately dropped her jovialness. 'Krillin... ' Rayne brought one arm around him and pulled him closer to her. 'What's the matter?'

'I- I don't know.' His gaze swept over the rest of the party. 'I'm looking at everyone, and I'm… sad.' His mouth contorted. 'I can't place it. I don't know why.'

Rayne held him close, feeling his voice resonate up and down his body. 'Okay. That's okay.' She hugged him. 'Do you want a drink? Would that help get your mind off of… whatever it's on?'

His gaze lingered on the other attendees of the party. 'Yes,' he replied, 'it might.'

'Wait one second,' she told him, 'I'll be right back.' She squeezed one of his hands and left his side, trotting to the other end of the gazebo. _Bulma better have a freakin' ton of wine._ As she approached what she presumed to be the drink table, the round, brown object dominating its center came into focus. _Is that… a keg?_ Perplexed, Rayne grabbed an empty glass and filled it from the keg's tap. A dark purple wine flowed out, sploshing peacefully into the glass. _A_ _ **wine**_ _keg? Bulma… you evil genius…_

As she was filling up a glass of her own, someone tapped her on the shoulder. 'Could you get me a glass?' the person behind her asked.

Rayne prepared herself; she recognized that flat voice anywhere. 'Yajirobe,' she said as she turned and handed him a glass of wine. 'It's been a while.'

'Yep. It has.' He took a long, greedy sip of his drink. 'Feels nice to get out of the house.'

'You mean that shack out to the north?'

'Nah, I haven't been there in years. I've been living with Korin.'

'Huh? Why?' Rayne paused. 'Also, where does Korin live _?_ '

Yajirobe patted his stomach, jiggling it. 'I help him grow senzu beans so I can eat some myself. And we live in a giant tower to the south-west of here.'

'Is… is it nice?' Rayne asked.

'Yeah.' Yajirobe took in another mouthful of wine. 'It's alright. Korin gets on my nerves, though. He didn't want me to come to this party.'

'Why?'

'I dunno. He's weird.' Yajirobe looked at something over Rayne's shoulder and distractedly walked off in that direction.

 _They're probably good for each other,_ Rayne mentally decided after a moment. She turned back to the wine keg and after preparing two wine glasses started traveling back to Krillin. She sighted him talking to Tien and Launch. 'Hey,' she greeted them as she handed a glass to Krillin, 'it's nice to see you two.'

'Hey!' Launch thrust her glass into Tien's startled hands and threw one arm around Rayne's neck, pulling her closer. 'What's up!' As she said this, however, she leaned in and started whispering in Rayne's ear. Rayne's gaze flickered to Tien. 'Excuse us,' Rayne said. Suspiciously, she and Launch drew back, still whispering.

Tien stepped to Krillin's side. 'Do you have any idea what that was about?' he asked.

Krillin shook his head no and took a sip of his glass. 'Beats me.'

'Hmmph,' Tien grunted. 'Coming here was a bad idea.'

'Why?'

'This is _easily_ the most dangerous position I've ever put myself in my life.'

'Tien, surely you're jokin-'

Krillin withered under a startlingly severe stare from Tien. The moment passed, however, and Tien let out a long, drawn-out sigh. 'Sorry. Forget I mentioned it. How's… how's, uh…'

'How am I?' Krillin finished.

'Yeah. That.'

'I'm good. Things are good.' Krillin glanced over at Rayne, who, along with Launch, was skirting around the keg on the other side of the gazebo. 'We're… good,' he ended warmly.

'You and Rayne?'

Krillin cast a strange look at Tien. 'Who else would I be talking about?'

'Just checking. I mean, it makes sense.'

'Really? How so?'

'Training together helps builds friendships.'

'Friendships? You-' Krillin shut himself up, suppressing a laugh. 'Sure. That makes sense…'

0o0o0

Bulma was in the midst of directing some caterers when Suno grabbed her by the arm and spun her around. 'Bulma,' she said somewhat drunkenly, 'tell me you invited Chi-Chi…'

'I did!' Bulma waved her hands appeasingly. 'I promise. I dropped the invitation off at Fire Mountain personally. She'll come.'

Suno briefly let go of Bulma swayed for a second before rocking back forward and seizing Bulma's arm again. 'Good…' she detached herself from Bulma. 'Good. I have some things to tell her…'

Bulma looked up and down Suno before making a snap judgment and snatching the glass of wine out of Suno's hands. 'Are you okay?' Bulma asked while casually placing the glass on a tray of a passing waiter.

Suno swayed again, then nearly fell into Bulma's arms. 'Ugh…' she muttered.

Moving with Suno's weight, Bulma staggered backward. She fastened her grip around Suno's arms and half-led, half-dragged the younger woman into a chair near the edge of the gazebo patio. Ungracefully, Suno plopped down into it.

'Is she alright?' Tien asked, walking over with Krillin. 'She looks…'

'Drunk, yes, I know.' Bulma squatted down and snapped her fingers in Suno's face a few times. Suno lethargically blinked. 'What's wrong with her? Has she never drank before?'

'Probably,' Krillin said. 'She _just_ turned 18.'

'Nooo…' Suno spoke up, catching everyone's attention. She shifted in her seat- her movement was a bit too coordinated for her to be drunk, but it was also a bit too sloppy to be considered sober. 'It's not that… I'm just sad…'

'Sad? Why?' Krillin asked.

'So she's a _sad_ drunk,' Bulma murmured. 'Interesting...'

'Chi-Chi's not here…' Suno frowned. 'There's so much I wanted to tell her. All the cool things I did, people I met-' Suno's face froze. 'People… person… cat…'

'Korin?' Krillin jumped in.

'No!' Suno yelped. 'No… oh, yeah!' Suno snapped her fingers. 'Puar!... Puar had a message?'

"Did you just say Puar?' Yamcha had walked over to see what everyone was gathering for. 'What about her?'

'She… uh…' Suno's face went limp for a second, like she was trying to remember how to _remember_. 'she says… hi.'

'Really?' Yamcha's eyes lit up. 'I haven't seen her in years… Where is she? What's she doing?' He asked, his voice growing more excited.

'She said hi-' Suno screwed her face in thought, '-back at the World Tournament.'

'World Tournament?-' Yamcha choked on his words. He drew back, hurt.

'What?' Suno looked from Yamcha to the others. 'What?'

'Suno,' Bulma said calmly, 'that was over _two_ years ago…'

'Yeah,' Suno replied somewhat annoyed, 'I knew that…'

Yamcha and Bulma exchanged glances. Sighing, he started walking over to the wine keg.

'You really are a sad drunk…' Bulma tutted.

Suno gave a sluggish shrug.

0o0o0

Retu was having fun watching things unfold from the sidelines of the party when someone came up to his side. 'You okay over here?' the person asked.

Adjusting himself on his crutches, Retu angled himself slightly towards Yajirobe. 'I'm fine. I'm just not a big party person. It's nice to watch everyone interact, though.'

'How so?' Yajirobe asked, genuinely curious.

'You get to see the little things people do with each other,' Retu explained. 'Like how Tien keeps his arms as close to his body as possible. And how Launch likes to startle him and jolt his arms out.'

'What else do you see?'

'Uhh…' Retu squinted. 'I see Rayne and Krillin are very clearly enamored with each other. I also see how Bulma and Yajirobe are not.'

'Wow.' Yajirobe looked towards everyone else for a moment. 'You want a drink?'

'I'm good.'

They stood next to each other for a few minutes. Unexpectedly, Retu started turning. 'I'm going to call it a night,' he said to Yajirobe. 'I'm feeling pretty tired anyway.'

'Really? You don't want to talk to anyone else?'

'Nah,' Retu responded. 'I already chatted with Krillin. That was nice.' He glanced at the crowd of people once more; his sight seemed to catch on one spot. 'Yeah, I'm going to bed.' He began moving away. 'Goodnight.'

Yajirobe waved to Retu's backside. After this, he examined his wine glass and ultimately gave it to a nearby waiter and leaned against the gazebo's railing. _That guy sounded like he was having fun watching people. I'm gonna watch some people._ So Yajirobe watched.

0o0o0

Krillin came up behind Yamcha, who was filling up another glass. 'You okay, bud?'

Numbly, Yamcha nodded before turning and leaning to sit on the table. 'Yeah.' He was rubbing his arms together. 'I'm alright…'

'You miss Puar?'

'I do,' Yamcha admitted. 'I haven't seen her in… _forever_. I saw her very briefly at the tournament- but she didn't tell me what she was up to.'

'Hmph.' Krillin moved closer to the table and sat on it next to Yamcha. 'You know, I don't think you ever told me how you and Puar met.'

Yamcha cracked a small smile. 'Puar was my first real friend. She was basically the reason I left the village I grew up in in the first place. Somehow, she filled my head with a bunch of dreams and convinced me to go off and search for them. Honestly, I don't know what I'd be doing if I hadn't met her.'

'Wait, so… that's what you were pursuing when me and Bulma met you out in the desert? You were trying to fulfill your dreams? Are you telling me,' Krillin asked, chuckling, 'your dream was to be a bandit?'

'Yes!' Yamcha nudged Krillin in an effort to quiet him. 'What's so funny about that?'

'It's… just…' Krillin reigned himself in. 'I don't know… what's so desirable about being a bandit?'

'Bandits take what they want, when they want. If they see a nice car, they take it. If they see a nice home, they take it. If they see- you get the idea.'

'Huh.' Krillin leaned back and put a hand to his chin in thought. 'When you put it like that, I can the allure.'

'My village wasn't exactly the cheeriest place, if that puts things in context more,' Yamcha said. 'Most people who left went on to become criminals.'

'Really? Why?'

'It was a bad place,' Yamcha said, his eyes glossing over an old memory. 'I'm guessing you grew up in a better place?'

'Eh, not really. I don't remember anything before growing up in a temple. No idea who my parents are- same goes for my peers. The older monks never told us any of that stuff.' Weirdly enough, Krillin looked around him, as if paranoid that some Orin temple monk might hear them. 'Wanna hear my personal theory?'

'Sure.'

'I think parents who can't deal with their young children dump them at the temple. Leave us on the doorstep, give us away, that sort of thing.' Krillin grabbed a glass from his right and sipped on his wine. 'I don't see any other reason for why the other kids my age were such dickheads.'

'They were that bad?'

'That bad.' Krillin paused and set his glass down. 'We had pretty crappy childhoods, huh?'

'Yeah…' Yamcha's gaze swept out over the 'Look at us now, though.'

'Hmm?' Krillin glanced at Yamcha. 'What do you mean?'

'We made it- kind of. Considering where we came from, what we did, what we _saw_ … we came out alright, right?'

Krillin's mouth fluctuated, caught between a smile and a frown. 'We had a lot of help along the way. He…'

'You don't have to say it- I miss him too,' Yamcha said.

'Yeah…'

'Have you been to his house?' Yamcha asked. 'I keep meaning to, but…'

'Soon,' Krillin stated. 'Soon.' He turned to Yamcha and extended a hand as if to shake. 'We'll go together?'

Yamcha nodded, grabbing Krillin's hand. 'Together.'

After they shook, Krillin stood. 'C'mon,' Krillin motioned to Yamcha, 'let's get back in there.'

0o0o0

Surprisingly, by the time Krillin and Yamcha had rejoined the general group, they found that Suno was up and on her feet and looking remarkably coherent. 'I met some really _strange_ people in my adventures,' Suno loudly said to everyone in earshot. As she was talking, she deftly grabbed a plate of appetizers from a waiter and started plopping them into her mouth. 'A dog samurai-'

Tien's face jumped up from the glass of water he was sipping on. 'Dog samurai? Why does that sound familiar…'

'You're losing it,' Launch teased from behind him. The next moment she appeared next to Tien, gripping a large bottle of wine by each hand. 'Or, should I say,' she continued, pushing a bottle into Tien's arms, 'about to lose… it…' She frowned. 'That sounded better in my head.'

'What are you talking about?' Tien asked, suppressing the fear he felt from earlier.

'I figured out how to get you to have fun. We're going to have a competition. Whoever can drink more from their bottle in ten seconds wins,' she explained.

'Wins? Wins what?' Tien questioned.

'There's no prize.'

'...okay… then why would-'

'-You're going to compete,' Launch interrupted him, 'because you _hate_ losing.'

Tien scoffed. 'That's now true. I chose to lose at the World Tournament!'

'Did you, though?'

Something flashed across Tien's face. 'What are you implying?'

She motioned to their bottles and started raising hers.

After a moment, Tien did the same.

Krillin turned to Yamcha to crack a joke but froze when he saw Yamcha raising a bottle of his own to his face. He glared at Yamcha. 'What?' Yamcha asked, offended. 'I want in on the fun too.'

'I guess…' Krillin said hesitantly, 'I'll go get a stopwatch.'

0o0o0

'Thanks for the bottle of wine,' Rayne said to Bulma, who had returned to her hostess duties. 'I think Tien might be able to loosen up some now.'

'Glad to be of service to you two.' Bulma finished smoothing out a fresh tablecloth; Yamcha spilled wine on the previous one. 'Does this look good?'

'Perfect.' Rayne made a point of picking up Bulma's untouched glass of wine and handing it to her. After eyeing the glass, Bulma accepted it and took a swig. 'Thanks,' she said after swallowing. 'Sometimes I forget to breathe at parties.'

'You do know we're all friends, right Bulma?' Rayne asked. 'You don't have to impress us by having everything perfect.'

'Who said I'm throwing this party for you?' Bulma asked flippantly, putting her hands on her hips. 'Maybe I'm making it perfect for myself.'

Rayne pursued her mouth- eventually, Bulma rolled her eyes. 'I'm doing it for both of us,' she griped, compromising.

'Glad to hear it.'

0o0o0

As time wore on, the atmosphere at the party became more and more friendly. They were old friends, after all- two years isn't nearly a long enough period of time to change that. Gradually, everyone approached their own preferred level of tipsy. Suno in particular made a heroic comeback from her brief lapse earlier in the night. She frequently found herself in the center of the gazebo, recounting her adventures to a psychologically captured audience.

'Let's see, who else…' Suno rhythmically tapped a finger to her chin. 'I met a guy with a tail-'

Everyone's ears collectively perked up-

'- who turned out to be a very friendly Werepig in disguise-'

And several sighs were let out at once.

'-but, otherwise,' Suno finished, smiling, 'it was time well spent. I can't imagine I would have gone to most of the places I went to if I wasn't pushing myself to see as much as I could. I need to thank Chi-Chi for the idea-' Suno hitched, her eyes going wide with recognition. 'Actually, speaking of, is she here yet?'

A few people gave half-hearted shrugs. Yamcha, however, stepped forward with a big, alcohol-induced grin plastered across the face. 'Who cares!' he obnoxiously yelled, raising a glass of wine above his head haphazardly. 'The night is still young!'

Bulma very quickly went to his side and pried the wine glass from his hands. 'Haha- Yamcha, could you help me with something?' she asked as politely as someone hiding their anger could.

Dumbly, Yamcha gave an exaggerated nod and let himself be led away by his arm. 'This night… so young…' he babbled to himself.

Tien and Launch were locked in a tipsy and good-natured sniping duel with each other. They had already recited all their pet peeves about living with each other verbatim- they both agreed, however, that Chiaotzu was an absolute joy to live with. Close by, Yajirobe was stuffing himself with finger foods.

It was at this moment that, after trading a warm smile with Rayne from across the room, Krillin disengaged from the group and walked out to the edge of the gazebo. In his slightly inebriated state, he _really_ wanted to look at the stars. High above them, the sky was alight with a thousand different distant pricks of light. Amongst it all, the moon shone with a powerful sheen- it was nearly full.

After a few minutes of skygazing, Krillin looked back at the gazebo full of friends. _My friends._

Krillin wasn't particularly prone to pride or vanity, but a part of him always felt proud about his actions at the 23rd World Tournament. Sure, he may not have won, but preventing a bloodbath with the person whose existence permits them to come back from the dead? That felt special. Seeing everyone here, in this time and place… he suddenly felt responsible for every single good and happy thing that had and was happening tonight.

 _By Kami, this is the wine thinking and feeling for me, but… this is because of me. This is all me. If I didn't exist, wasn't fulfilling this role… none of this would be here. That's certainly something._ He rose his own glass, leading a one-person toast. _To me, and them_ -

 _Tac._ The tell-tale sound of boots touching back to the ground sounded from behind Krillin. In his slightly tipsy state, he was overjoyed. _I'm going to be the first person to welcome Chi-Chi to this party, if it's the_ _ **last**_ _thing I do-_

'You-' a distinctly unfamiliar voice called out, '-who are _you_?'

Krillin turned around. Somewhat disappointed by what he saw, he replied with a question of his own. 'Who are _you_?'

The stranger, who had a tangled mane of black, spiky hair and was clothed in strange, sectioned armor, gave him a grin. An eminently baneful one. 'I'm going to ask you nicely one more time, so as to not disrupt this pleasant occasion-' his expression darkened, drawing his mouth into a long, violent grimace. 'Who are you, and _where is Kakarot?_ '

* * *

A/N: _Endgame_ begins in earnest. I don't mean to overhype things, but… this is going to be a really fucking important arc in the story. Be warned.

Also, timeline note: this is two years after the 23rd World Tournament. In canon, Raditz didn't arrive on Earth until five years after the 23rd World Tournament. A consequential change...

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** I freaking love character development! Characters are the life and blood of a narrative! If your characters aren't interesting then there's no point in writing a story.

 **TC9078:** Write. Write a heck-ton. Write until you're sick of writing and then write some more. In my opinion, the collected canon of DB/DBZ is such a weird, scattershot collection of tropes and genres that there is a _ton_ of potential wherever you go in the universe. I, for one, am very excited to embrace Dragon Ball's sci-fi themes very soon.

And I agree! Chi-Chi is underrated! Great character with tons of potential IMO.

 **Luke:** Keep your fingers crossed. The narrative is going places.

 **Red:** I'm not quite sure what it is about negative reviews, but for whatever reason, I always learn a lot from the commentary left by them. And regardless of what you thought of my story, thank you for leaving a review!

I plugged your comment into google translate and here were my thoughts in order:

Well, the plot actually does differ from canon, mostly because I barely knew DB canon as I was writing. I didn't even bother to write the weird rabbit arc.

I think google translate mangled most of your review.

I had to look up who Kirito is. Apparently he's a character from Sword Art Online? I've never read or watched that thing so honestly, I would be impressed if my character exactly matched a character from it. Can other reviewers follow up and tell me if this is true?

 **Guest/ Anon12 (I think you two are the same person?):** Yea, messed up on my math there. I'll edit my timeline explanation/age approximation out of the previous chapter at some point.


	38. Strange Bedfellows

Endgame

Chapter 38: Strange Bedfellows

* * *

Krillin had a take a moment to get his bearings- _Kakarot? Who- the- what- now?_ Steadying himself, he cocked his head to the side. 'Kakarot… haven't heard that name in a while… haven't seen him in a while, either…' he said, more to himself than the stranger in front of him.

Narrowing his eyes, Raditz raised on hand to his face and tapped the side of a weird, one-eyed glass vizor. Light flashed on the lens. 'You? You're the reading I detected?' He sneered. 'Pitiful. Two 300s, a few 200s, and a smattering of lives beneath my interest…'

'Krillin?' Rayne's voice floated over to them a moment before she came up to Krillin's side. She looked over the stranger and noticed what Krillin had not- a tail was wrapped around Raditz's waist. 'You... ' Her eyes darted up from the tail to his face. 'You're like _Kakarot_ …'

'You know him too?' Raditz suddenly straightened, his gaze shifting towards the crowd of people beyond Rayne and Krillin. ' _Do you all know him?'_ He demanded loudly.

A suffocating silence fell upon the party; every side conversation and quibble fell away, leaving the music of the small brass band Bulma had hired as the only sound present. That is until Bulma quickly ran over and silenced them as well.

'I see it on your faces… the way you look at _me_ …' Consciously, Raditz unwound his tail, letting it waver behind him for the first time since stepping foot on this planet. 'You know Kakarot…'

More and more people approached the edge of the gazebo, forming a wall of people inbetwixt Rayne and Krillin. 'Who are you?' Tien asked, his hands conspicuously empty of any drink.

'Unimportant,' Raditz bluntly answered. 'What _is_ important is that one of you point me in the direction of Kakarot. Otherwise, this party will be _irreversibly disturbed._ '

'Uh, buddy,' Yamcha said while sauntering forward, 'I don't think you know who you're dealing with. You pretty much ran into the most powerful group of people on the planet!' Yamcha swung an arm to everyone present and nearly stumbled over.

Despite the tangible unease lingering in the air, everyone chuckled at Yamcha's not-quite-drunk antics. What he was saying was true, after all.

A flicker of amusement flashed across Raditz's face. 'Oh? Is that so? Are my efforts to find my brother so amusing to you all?'

'Brother?' Launch muttered under her breath.

'I don't like your tone!' Yamcha said somewhat drunkenly. 'We were having a _great_ time until you and your annoying questions came around. So how about you go and _get_ before we show you the type of power we can throw around!' he threatened.

'Power?' Suddenly, Raditz bent down and clenched his arms, a manic look spilling across his face. 'What do you know of _power_!?'

0o0o0

On a distant island, high above the churning and foaming sea below, Piccolo sat, scrubbing every bit of emotion from his mind. _Fear!... Such a despicable emotion!..._ Furiously, he worked to rationalize what he had seen- what he had _felt_. _It can't be a coincidence that he had a tail, too… but what does it mean? Why haven't I encountered him before? His power is overwhelming!... It doesn't make sense!_

Then, all at once, it descended on him. Like a foul beacon shining down on him in the night, a terrible tingle ran up and down his spine, setting every inch of his skin aflame. Jolting to his feet, Piccolo turned towards the far-off distance, his eyes focusing on some unseen thing. _Impossible… this is the true depths of his power?_ He then vaguely noticed the group of smaller powers nearby. _Damn it! Of course he would go to them next!_

A few tortured seconds passed as Piccolo visibly struggled to move. Something clicked, however, and the demon blasted off into the sky.

0o0o0

Kami stumbled, catching himself with his staff at the very last second. Pressure raced up and down his flesh, seeking to burst from his body wherever possible. He feebly tried to stand- his body refused. Mr. Popo wasted no time in rushing to his side. 'Kami!' They cried.

Wheezing, Kami took a moment to catch his breath. Even with Mr. Popo's help, it took him a long time to stand.

0o0o0

'Hmm?'

Dr. Gero wheeled to his right to a table full of displays. 'Impossible…' he muttered under his breath. 'The amount of energy- aah!'

A glass measurement device exploded, showering tiny glass shards across the room. Another similar one quickly did the same- soon enough, a cascade of exploding glass fixtures triggered across the room, forcing the Red Ribbon scientist to duck his head and his body underneath his desk. For a few seconds, his hearing was filled with a chorus of breaking glass before slowly tapering off. Once his lab was silent again, Gero cautiously poked his head out and above from his desk. Despite the carnage he now saw, his mind was filled with frenzied speculation. _He's finally resurfaced! I must move quickly!_ Rushing over to his console, he began to furiously type away. _He won't slip through my grasp again!_

0o0o0

During the perfect day amid the perfect calm Chi-Chi had carefully constructed within her room, a smidget of sensation started prodding against the edges of her mind. Taking a breath, she pushed it away. _Not today. Dad told me to rest, to relax. I can't let my mind be dragged along by something else…_

The sensation grew stronger. Closing her eyes, she willed her mind to ignore the growing feeling, but that only succeeded in making it more prominent.

The sensation remained, an infuriating prodding at the very edge of her consciousness. Giving up, she opened his eyes and threw the sheets off of her, sat up in her bed, and broke the sensory shell around her.

Her eyes widened, then dilated. Abject terror seized her. Her hands unconsciously shot to her abdomen, but a moment later she jumped out of bed and burst out of the room.

0o0o0

Stupefied, terrified, frightened, scared, overwhelmed- feeling after feeling after feeling rushed at Krillin, drowning out any coherent thought he might have formed. _This… is impossible,_ he mentally pieced together. _No person should be this powerful…_

The wind whipped past them in cruel indifference. Yamcha, as drunk as he was, was actually pushed off his feet by the fast-moving gusts. To some degree, they all felt repulsed by the monstrous energy; each and every one of them gradually recoiled backward, moving deeper into the gazebo. Finally, having demonstrated what he wished to demonstrate, Raditz let his power recede back into him, disguising any trace of what he had shown.

 _They reacted just as the green man had…_ 'I have not come here to negotiate,' Raditz announced to a crowd of horrified spectators. 'I have come to find out what I want to know,' he said haughtily, 'and I _will_ find out. Either you tell me where Kakarot is or _what_ happened to him, or you'll hurdle faster towards the inevitable. Your choice.'

Before Krillin- or anyone, for that matter- could say anything in response, Yamcha surged past him, running towards Raditz. 'Get lost, pal!' He yelled, pulling back his right arm and emphatically driving it towards Raditz's chest.

The fist made contact, stopping like a car slamming into a concrete wall. Yamcha's expression laggardly drooped.

In one clean movement, Raditz stepped forward and wrenched Yamcha's arm up at an impossibly fast speed, snapping the humerus at the mid-way point and wrenching the arm out of its socket. Wailing, Yamcha was pulled off his feet and thrown over Raditz's shoulder towards the ground like a sack of potatoes; his back cratered into the grass.

Launch was the next to charge, running forward with two _ki_ blasts charged with her hand. When she was five feet away from Raditz, a beam ready to erupt from each hand, Krillin blinked. When he opened his eyes, Raditz was positioned behind Launch, pulling back his elbow from an already delivered strike. She crashed face-first against the ground.

Fighters began swarming Raditz, enveloping him- briefly. A flash of a limb and Suno was sent spiraling backward, crashing through the floor of the gazebo. A twirl of a leg and Rayne was slammed into the ground, her limbs spraying outwards before coming to a morbid stop. Even Tien, who had acted quickly and had approached Raditz from behind, was caught totally unaware when his jab sailed through the air where Raditz' neck had been. A fist then rammed down on Tien's head from above, stunning the warrior. He briefly held himself upright before Raditz snorted from behind him and shoved him to the ground.

Throughout this, Krillin had remained motionless, half-frozen by fear and rapid calculation. He felt a prick of energy well up in his hand.

When Raditz went to step over Tien's prone body, Krillin acted. Jumping up, he held his right arm and blasted a short cone of energy point-blank at Raditz's head, hoping to stun him in some way. A flurry of sound and energy erupted, but with a wave of his hand Raditz swept through the haze, dispersing what remained of the attack.

Raditz smirked. 'Aren't you a fiery one!' The next moment, Krillin felt a knee slam into his gut, delivering such crippling pain than he was immobilized and collapsed to the ground in a heap.

This entire sequence of events had taken a little under five seconds. For Raditz, it took him five seconds to topple Earth's strongest warriors. In what as well had been a different plane of existence from their own, he surveyed the fallen fighters around him. 'Pathetic.'

The only ones left standing at this point was Bulma and Yajirobe- and the samurai was shaking so badly that his sword was rattling up and out from his scabbard. 'Can you tell me something they couldn't?' Raditz mocked.

A low beep emanated from the device on Raditz's head. By habit, his sight shifted toward the glass. 'Interesting.' His gaze swept over the felled fighters before him. 'You strike me as a lucky bunch. I imagine we'll see each other again very soon, but until then…' Raditz's feet lifted off the ground. In a few seconds, he was gone.

0o0o0

Bulma's mouth was frozen in place for a few seconds, her attention locked in the direction Raditz had departed by. When her total paralysis inevitably broke, her eyes began frantically scanning her friends scattered like garbage across the ground. Wasting no time, she turned to Yajirobe. 'Korin grows those special green things-'

'-senzu beans?' Yajirobe replied, his teeth clattering from the residual adrenaline.

'Yes! Those!' She gripped him by the shoulders and shook him. 'Get back to Korin and get them now!'

'-but'

She slapped him. 'NOW!'

The slap seemed to shake him out of his terror. Stiffening his face, Yajirobe shook his head once. He then took a few steps away from the gazebo, took a deep breath, and yelled, 'NIMBUS!'

A yellow cloud appeared from above. With some difficulty, Yajirobe clumsily climbed onto it. 'I'll be back as soon as possible,' he said to Bulma. 'But I can't guarantee that I'll have enough beans for everyone.'

'That's fine!' Bulma yelled, shooing him away. 'Just go!'

Yajirobe nodded again. Swinging his gaze to the cloud below him and gripping onto it for dear life, he closed his eyes. The next moment, it sped off into the sky.

As soon as he was out of sight, Bulma spun on her heels towards the frightened waiters and musicians scattered around the gazebo. 'All of you! Run over to the medical wing of Capsule Corp. and tell the interns they're about to get some hands-on experience! And then wake the actual doctors!'

A brave soul said, 'But we're not being paid to do that-'

The person ducked as a heel sailed over their head. Bulma gave him the most vicious look she had ever given to a _living_ thing in her life. 'Now!' she screamed.

Like a rack of pins being hit by a bowling ball, the various party workers burst into action as newly-minted emergency personnel.

0o0o0

Chi-Chi, despite her terror, pushed the door open as quietly as she could. Carefully, she poked her head into the room. 'Is he asleep?' she asked at a whisper.

The Ox-King, her father, who with the strength of a hundred men had carved out a realm from lawlessness and villainy well before her time, cradled a baby no more than half a year old. He held up a short, stout finger and pressed it to his mouth.

Silently, Chi-Chi closed the door behind her and crept over to him. After motioning with her arms, the Ox-King relented and handed the baby over to her. Pressing him to her chest, Chi-Chi noticed a tuft of hair creeping down the center of his face. _He's going to look a lot like his father when he grows up._

She held him like this for a few minutes before walking over to the crib and placing him down. 'We need to talk,' she said to her father.

A few seconds later, Chi-Chi closed the door behind them in the hallway. 'What is it?' The Ox-King rumbled unintentionally- he naturally had a very booming voice.

'Something bad is going on,' Chi-Chi curled a hand into a fist and placed it over her chest. 'I feel it in _here._ Something is very _wrong_.'

The Ox-King placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. 'Chi-Chi, I know these past few years have been tough- but you can't keep leaping at every shadow you see. Gohan's dad doesn't care about his son…'

'It's not that!' She lashed out, shirking off her dad's arm. Reflexively, they both looked at the door to Gohan's room- after a half-minute of silence, they exhaled. 'Down there,' the Ox-King pointed down the hallway.

'Sorry, I'm sorry…' Chi-Chi resumed once they had moved farther away. 'It's just…', she pressed her hands to her temples in an attempt to collect her thoughts. 'It's not about him… or, at least, I don't think it is.'

'Then what?' he asked. 'What is it about?'

'I don't have a perfect sense of things… I haven't honed or even _used_ my _ki_ sense in a while… but I felt something in the very corner of my mind. It was familiar, dad. It reminded me of his energy.'

'But it's not him?' The Ox-King sought to clarify. 'You're sure it's not him?'

'Dad,' Chi-Chi said with an air of patience, 'I carried Gohan for nine months. I woke, went about my day, and slept with a constant sensory reminder of him. And the _ki_ I felt was not that.'

The Ox-King raised a hand to his face and began running his hand through his beard, intermittently working at some tangles. 'But why now? Why would this be happening now?' He glanced at her. 'The _ki_ was familiar, you said?'

Chi-Chi nodded. 'It had to be someone related to him- some sort of… Saiyan. This person…' she wrapped her arms around her. 'their _ki_ is terrifying…'

'Could he have contacted someone? Maybe there was a transmitter, or a device or some kind?'

She thought on this. '…No, I don't think so. The only thing he ever showed me was his ship, and you saw first-hand that he destroyed it…'

'Are you sure he didn't use the ship?' The Ox-King stopped running his hand through his beard. 'Maybe he left the planet and returned with some of his own kind?'

Chi-Chi shook her head. 'No, the ship was in terrible condition when I saw it. There's no way that thing could fly. And Kakarot never struck me as an engineering, can-repair-anything type.' A certain lavender-haired woman flashed through Chi-Chi's mind; Chi-Chi smiled.

'So we know nothing,' The Ox-King summarized, 'and there's probably nothing we can do about this new person. So why are we discussing this?'

She struggled with her thoughts for a moment, then said, 'if this person is persuasive, or gains Kakarot's trust in some way…, then things are going to get bad. _Very_ bad.'

'How so?'

'You don't know him like I do, Dad,' Chi-Chi explained. 'The last time I saw him, he was totally in flux. I was getting through to him- I know I was getting through to him-'

'Chi-Chi,' the Ox-King groaned, 'please don't explicate.'

'The point _being_ ,' Chi-Chi said, somewhat flustered, 'he's on the edge. Any push in the wrong direction… and he's going to fall down a path he can't return from.'

'That was two years ago, Chi-Chi. How do you know he hasn't changed?'

'I don't,' Chi-Chi admitted. 'But I do know there are a few things I haven't tried yet. I owe it to him to try, right?'

'Chi-Chi,' The Ox-King said in a dark tone, 'you know I care nothing for that man. If he wasn't the father of my grandson I wouldn't let his name be spoken in this house. He can rot in hell, for all I care.'

'And you know I can't cast him out of my life like that!' she pressed. 'if there's a chance- any chance that he can _change_ , or that I can stop him from getting _worse_ -'

'-he's a monster!' The Ox-King yelled. 'You told me yourself- he slaughtered innocent people- he slaughtered _our_ people!'

Both of them fell silent for a moment, the Ox-King's huffing the only sound in the hallway. Chi-Chi's mouth quivered. 'I know,' she said quietly. 'I _know_ …' Stepping closer, she took one of her father's hands in her own. 'I will _never_ forget that. That's why I left in the first place, but… Dad... I- he doesn't know,' Chi-Chi confessed. 'Kakarot doesn't know he has a son...'

The Ox-King's face settled into a long, definite line; he eyed her for a period of time. 'I see.' He let his hand limply slide out of her grip and turned away from her. 'It makes sense, now.'

'I have to tell him,' Chi-Chi said, her voice trembling. 'If someone from his race has come to Earth, I need to try and act against that… I need to _try_.'

'No.'

Chi-Chi's eyes shot up to her towering father. 'Dad! I-'

'This is final, Chi-Chi,' The Ox-King thundered. 'You may be an adult now, but I can't let you put both you _and_ your son- my grandson- in harm's way. I-' he turned back to her, a tear running down his grieving face. 'I haven't forgotten about your mother. I don't want to be forced to do the same for you.' He paused, wiping a hand across his face. 'Just sleep on it. Take some time to think it through. In the morning, we'll sit down together and decide what to do.'

Chi-Chi stared at him, then twisted her head away in quiet agony, but in the end she still nodded. 'Fine. Tomorrow morning. You better be up early...'

'I promise.' He turned away from her again- he couldn't bring himself to face her. 'Tomorrow…'

0o0o0

Nestled within a glade far away from any stretch of civilization, hidden between two sides of a tall alpine river valley, there was a cave that sat over a waterfall. The contents of it were minuscule- a few bound books with yellowing edges, a pile of discarded fabric and clothes with the look and musk of having been rained on a hundred times, and in the farthest corner of the cave, a modest scattering of lamps, oil, a bedroll, and a sliver of bright, polished metal. Surrounded by the mementos of his past, Kakarot languished in the darkness.

As like other days, with all the momentum and motivation of a daily, rote task, he rose to his feet. Moving past the weak, flickering shadows dancing off the walls, he padded out of the cave, a crude wooden spear in his right hand. His patchy brown shirt and pants hung tight against his skin, wrapping and draping across the cables of muscles hidden just beneath his skin.

His walk took him outside to a platform at the cave's exit that overlooked the luminescent waterfall below and the deep alpine pool at the bottom.

Kakarot peered downwards for a second before springing forward and jumping off the platform.

A few minutes later, Kakarot emerged from the alpine pool, his spear dragging a huge fish behind him. With a twist of his weapon, the fish lurched up and over Kakarot's head and slid further down the spear, skewering it like a kebab. He then stepped closer to a makeshift stone firepit and hoisted the spear in a metal frame. Exhaling _ki_ from his mouth, he breathed a fire below the fish into life.

The sun was rising in the sky- it was still early in the morning. Though he had woken up a few hours previously, Kakarot had spent the better part of his day so far thinking. He was doing a lot of that nowadays.

The silence throughout the forest, punctuated by the splitting, hissing sound of cooking meat, was abruptly ruptured by a deep, booming echo. Something was moving through the air _very_ _quickly_ and _very fast._ Carefully, Kakarot moved into a crouch and ambled into the water. After taking a deep breath, he ducked his head underneath the surface. None of this was new. He had done this a few times over the past few years.

After swimming a few feet deeper, Kakarot let his _ki_ sense spread out over the surrounding area. Expecting it to be another false alarm, Kakarot very nearly choked when he felt a sizable energy drop to the ground where he had been just a minute earlier. He clamped both of his hands over his mouth in an effort to suppress the bubbles of air spilling out.

Several seconds passed in tortured silence. Kakarot could see nor hear anything beyond the silt-laden pond. His lungs started to ache- he would have to come up for air soon.

Just then, faster than Kakarot could react, a hand shot into the pond, grabbed him by the hair on his head, and pulled him out of the water. Kakarot sputtered and coughed as he was wrenched up and tossed to the side, landing awkwardly on a few broken tree branches and cracking them.

As he wiped water from his face, a piece of dry fabric was thrust into his groping hands. Hesitantly, Kakarot accepted it and dried his eyes. He looked up. _Chi… Chi-Chi?..._

Before Kakarot was a tall, muscular man. Spiky black hair ran down their backside like a cape, jutting out in every possible direction. 'Better?' the stranger asked.

Kakarot handed the fabric back to the man. '...Better,' Kakarot replied. His eyes adjusted- the stranger's features came into focus more, not least the strangely characteristic angularity of their hair. _Where have I seen that before?_

The man stood over Kakarot for a moment; he seemed to be examining him. Then, the man burst into spontaneous laughter. 'Hah! I feel so foolish! To think that those weaklings could have ever done anything to you!' he barked out laughter, puffing out his chest. 'You see, _brother_ ,' he said after his laughter died down, 'you and I, we're different from them.'

'B-Brother?'

'You don't see it?' Raditz drew one hand behind him- his tail swung around a second later. 'I assume you haven't met many people who have these in your travels…'

Kakarot's hands sprung to his own tail, which coiled and shrank with equal parts fear and suspicion. _No… this… can't be…_ 'You're- you're a Saiyan!' Kakarot exclaimed.

'Correct,' Raditz gave a ghastly grin. 'or "your brother", to be more exact. You and I have _a lot_ to catch up on…'

0o0o0

Capsule Corp. had become a madhouse. Frenzied people ran to-and-fro compelled by a frightening and overbearing taskmaster. Bulma stood like a pillar amidst the madness, serving as the only stable and sure thing as friend after friend was wheeled off to a far-flung corner of the medical ward. Alas, she couldn't keep it up forever- she collapsed into a folding chair in the center of the ward just as the sun poked up above the bottoms of the windows.

 _I have… never been so exhausted in my life._ Even now, her eyes tracked people rushing back and forth across her vision on autopilot. She felt her body _merge_ into the chair beneath her- she was going to sleep well tonight.

 _Not yet._ Something mentally prodded at Bulma to stay awake. _Not… huh?_ Belatedly, she noticed someone was _physically_ prodding her. She opened her eyes.

Before her was her Mom; despite the craziness and concern that no doubt had flooded her as it had for Bulma, she was still smiling. 'Dear,' she said, 'we have a visitor.'

Bulma shook herself, trying to wake herself up. 'Huh?...' she asked as her Mom forced her to stand. 'Don't we have better things to worry about right now?…' she asked groggily.

'Bulma,' Mrs. Briefs said fair but firmly, 'it would be better if you just walked with me.'

Guided by her mom, Bulma was led outside Capsule Corp. She reflexively raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun's bright rays.

Her mom pulled her hand away. 'Mom!' Bulma cried. 'It's bright out!'

' _Bulma_ ,' Mrs. Brief insisted, 'look _ahead_ …'

Reluctantly, Bulma let her eyes adjust to the harsh sunlight. After a few moments, she became aware of a figure sitting on the ground amidst the gardens surrounding Capsule Corp. Another moment after that, she recognized who it was.

'...Piccolo?' She breathed, as if unsure if she was still dreaming.

'Your father and I can handle everything inside, but…' Mrs. Brief's voice shook for a moment. 'We can't handle this. I don't mean to pressure you, but-'

'No, Mom,' Bulma said authoritatively, 'I got this. Go back inside.' She rubbed her mom's shoulder supportively. 'Go.'

Taking one last look at the dreadful visitor, Mrs. Brief turned back to Bulma and nodded. 'Alright.' Somewhat rattled, she walked back inside.

Bulma took a moment to compose herself- she made sure to steady her breathing as best she could- before stomping over. Just as she was about to launch into her spiel, however, Piccolo spoke without opening his eyes.

'I wouldn't recommend you trying to intimidate me when I've already heard the fear in your voice,' he said, giving her a hard glare.

Bulma stopped short, confusion rising on her face. 'But-'

'I also don't care,' Piccolo said brusquely, 'about whatever desires _you_ may have in this situation. I am here to communicate _my_ intentions.'

She had a feeling that listening was the best thing she could do at the moment, so she pushed her indignation to a place within her far away from her mouth. 'What are your intentions?' she asked evenly.

'You and your friends were attacked by a stranger, correct?'

'...Yes, that's correct…'

'And this stranger had a _tail?_ '

'...Yes.'

'Then we both face a common enemy,' Piccolo remarked. 'For I believe that this stranger is either finding or has found the _other_ one with a tail, and that together, they will wreak destruction on this planet.'

'You- you can't be serious-'

'If I didn't believe any of what I just said to be true,' Piccolo snarled, 'we wouldn't be having this conversation. Do you understand?'

The implication was clear enough. Bulma's mortality flashed through her mind.

'Convey this to those who can still fight,' Piccolo finished. 'I seek an alliance against a greater threat.'

0o0o0

'Kakarot.'

Halted by the mention of his own name, Kakarot turned away from the food he was munching on towards his brother. _His brother_. Having any sort of family was proving to be a weird concept for Kakarot to wrap his head around. _Having someone who'll help me…_ 'Yes?'

Sitting against a tree, Raditz was consumed with fingering the vizor he had previously worn over his left eye. 'If we're going to know each other, we need to establish trust.' He looked towards Kakarot. 'Do you trust me?'

Kakarot held his brother's gaze for a long moment. 'No,' Kakarot admitted, 'I don't.'

To Kakarot's surprise, Raditz narrowed his eyes and nodded. 'Then you are a Saiyan, after all.'

'I-'

'It is reflective of who we are,' Raditz said, standing. 'Our people killed and fought each other long before our race was brought to the edge of extinction. Even now, we hold on to old grudges and seek to kill each other.' As Raditz said this last part, he seemed to grow distant, like he was envisioning someone or something far-off. He then shook his head, however, and turned fully towards Kakarot. 'Do you understand why am I here? What I have _consigned_ myself to to come here?'

Kakarot remained silent, a tacit response of _no._

'I have disobeyed what remains of our race,' Raditz continued. 'The leader among us, _Prince Vegeta_ ,' Raditz practically spat when he said this, 'sees himself fit as to dictate what I and another do with our lives to the exact minute. The other Saiyan, Nappa, has been charged with guarding Prince Vegeta's life- he will never disobey a direct order. So,' Raditz sighed, 'that leaves me. I am not a royal like Vegeta, nor am I an old soldier, dedicated to preserving the last font of authority among our race. I am… a normal Saiyan. And I owe _nothing_ to the prince.'

Raditz locked eyes with Kakarot. 'I disobeyed a direct order to come here. I have cut off all communication with the other Saiyans- they are, in effect, dead to me. Do you know _why_ I did this, Kakarot?'

More silence. Kakarot was motionless.

'I did this for _you_ , Kakarot. When I saw your ship had been destroyed, I thought you were in danger, or _worse._ When I landed and saw this planet in pristine condition, I assumed you had failed, and that the natives who lived here had claimed death over one of the last remaining Saiyans in the universe. But, as it turns out, you're still alive.'

'...You saw that?' Kakarot tentatively asked, feeling his stomach drop and his skin start to sweat. 'You saw the ship be destroyed? How?'

'Saiyans ships were sent to every corner of the galaxy, some containing Saiyan children,' Raditz explained. Consequently, every Saiyan ship was outfitted with a complex tracking system- built to be the last part of the ship to fail- which painstakingly transmitted the trajectory, landing, and status of the pod out into the galaxy. My ship is one of the few ships left that still receive these signals. The moment your ship was destroyed, I became aware of this fact.'

 _He doesn't actually know_ _ **how**_ _my ship was destroyed…_ 'So… that's why you came here?' Kakarot asked. 'You saw my ship was destroyed and you were worried for me?'

'Yes… but…' Raditz suddenly brought his hands together and twisted them so hard that his knuckles began to go white. 'You're so _weak_ ,' Raditz half-choked out, half-lamented, as if suppressing something far more insidious than anger. 'I could have lived with you being dead… but your power level… it might as well not _exist_ …'

A flash of anger ripped through Kakarot's mind- he stood. 'I have survived on this planet by myself for _years._ What gives you the right to call me weak?'

Raditz looked at his younger brother, then sighed. 'Here,' Raditz said, tossing the glass peripheral he had been fidgeting with to Kakarot. 'Put this on.'

Kakarot turned over the object in his hands. 'Why? What is it?'

'It's called a scouter. It measures the power level of living beings. Put it on and power up. You'll see what I mean.'

Skeptical, Kakarot placed the scouter over his left eye and slowly summoned his _ki_. A number appeared and began increasing on the vizor. '200… 250… 279? Is that me?'

'279?' Raditz asked, surprised. He motioned for Kakarot to hand the scouter back over. He checked the number himself. 'You're right,' Raditz said, somewhat shocked. 'Before your power level was 50. How did you manage to increase your strength so much?'

'I wasn't showing it all before,' Kakarot said. 'And "279" wasn't my full power, either.'

'Hmm,' Raditz grunted. 'Interesting.' He handed the scouter back to his brother. 'Regardless, measure my power level. Press the button on its side- it'll lock onto me.'

Kakarot did as requested. Immediately, the number on the screen jumped up, stabilizing at 1,000. '1,000? Is that you?'

Raditz bristled. 'What, are you surprised?'

'No…' Kakarot's eyes drifted up in thought. 'I just never thought of _ki_ sensing in that way. I didn't know it could be compared between different people…'

'Ki sensing? What are you talking about?'

'Hmm?' Kakarot looked back up at Raditz. 'You can't feel me?'

'Your attempts of humor are lost on me.' Antsily, Raditz gestured for Kakarot to hand over the scouter. 'Now give me that back. I'm practically naked without it.'

A small smile crept up on Kakarot's face. 'It turns out the weakling knows something after all.'

 _Woosh_. Kakarot blinked- the scouter was in his hand one second and was gone the next.

Scowling, Raditz re-affixed the scouter to his face. 'Cockiness isn't a good look on you,' Raditz warned Kakarot. 'You would do well to remember that.'

Kakarot glared at his brother for a second, but he grudgingly nodded, sat back down, and began munching on his food again. Leaning against a tree, Raditz watched his brother. Idly, he tapped repeatedly against the side of his scouter. It was in this way that the two Saiyans slipped into silence.

0o0o0

Yajirobe hadn't even needed to tell Korin what had happened when he arrived at the tower- the white cat already had a pouch of senzu beans tied and held out for him when he arrived. Korin had, however, given him the bad news that he had feared: ' _The full crop isn't ready- won't be ready for some time. As of now, I only have four beans…_

He tightened his grip around the pouch. _Worry later. Move fast now._

By the time Nimbus returned to West City, the sun had risen high into the sky- Yajirobe had ridden the better part of the night. The cloud dropped him off in the gardens, near the now ruined gazebo. He had taken one step forward when he sighted a person sitting in a folding chair outside. 'Hey!' Bulma yelled, waving. 'Over here.'

Somewhat confused, Yajirobe proceeded over to her. He held the bag up. 'I have the beans-'

'Yeah, I saw,' Bulma snipped, sipping on a cup of coffee. 'Everyone's stable, so using those aren't a priority right now. Actually,' she adjusted in her seat. 'That-'

Bulma suddenly flinched, like she was realizing something extremely important. 'Come with me,' she directed Yajirobe, taking him by the arm and leading him inside Capsule Corp.

After passing through a few doors and hallways, they stepped into what resembled a panic room, padded to the ceilings with white cushioning. Yajirobe resisted the urge to comment.

'We should be safe in here,' Bulma said, downing her coffee in disturbing bursts.

'Safe from what?' Yajirobe asked.

'If you hadn't noticed, Piccolo was outside.'

'What!?' Yajirobe practically jumped, throwing the pouch into the air before he awkwardly caught it again. 'That guy!? What the hell is he doing here?'

'That-' Bulma shook her head. 'I should back-up. Him being here is a good thing.'

Yajirobe's face went blank. 'How?' he asked exasperatedly.

'Piccolo seems to be spooked by the same person that "visited" us; he offered an alliance against our supposedly common enemy.'

'But no-one can fight right now! Except-' Yajirobe's face soured, then shrunk. 'Not me! Tell me you didn't offer me as an ally!'

'No, you don't understand- see, until we give these beans to everyone, we're in no position to fight, follow?'

Yajirobe cocked his head to one side. '...Yes?...So the idea is?…'

'We can hold on to these beans for a little while so as to keep Piccolo's offer open. Get a feeling of his true intentions. Or at least see if he's willing to suffer some minor inconveniences to get what he wants.'

' _Bulma_ ,' Yajirobe stressed, grabbing her by her shoulders. 'This is a _terrible_ idea. How do you know he's not going to do something while any friend of ours who could lay a finger on him is bedridden? And you would let everyone continue to suffer in pain?' He started to shake her. 'Are you insane!?'

Bulma gave him a flat, unamused look. She pried his hands off of her one-by-one. 'I may be horribly sleep deprived but I'm _not_ crazy. I made sure everyone is drugged and pain-free right now. And we clearly need time to think through our options. Do you disagree?'

He looked askance. 'No,' he said, sighing, 'you're probably right… but jeez…'

'What?'

'I hate the feeling of being the first and last line of defense…'

0o0o0

After ushering Yajirobe onto a couch- he promptly fell into a deep sleep- Bulma returned to her watch outside. Internally, her mind was spinning. _You're playing with fire here, Bulma. Piccolo could rise into the sky right now, raise one palm, and wipe Capsule Corp. off the face of the planet. What good would all your scheming do then?_

As she was considering this, her body took her back outside to her fold-out chair. Surprisingly, Piccolo was standing near it. 'I've inferred that every one of your friends is too grievously injured to fight,' he said to Bulma.

She forced her face to remain static. 'Oh?' She said. 'How'd you figure that?'

'I'm talking to you, aren't I?' he sneered.

Bulma felt her face burn- not from shame or embarrassment, but from anger. Still, she kept control. 'So what have you decided to do?' She questioned. 'Are you going to kill us all?'

Piccolo's expression soured, as if she had intimately peered into his thoughts. 'A part of me wishes that,' he conceded, 'but that part would then surely die in the battle to come after that. If I must choose between pride and survival, I will choose survival.' He turned. 'Heal your foolish friends as soon as possible.'

With that, he strode back to the spot Bulma had seen him sitting in earlier. He sat back down and resumed… whatever he was doing. _Is he meditating?_.

She watched this; after a moment, she fell into her fold-out chair, the weight of the past twenty-four hours catching up to her.

 _Well, I assumed one thing right..._

* * *

A/N: Not much to say. New chapter, new stuff. Hope everyone's falls (or autumns?) are going well.

 **Reviews:**

 **TC9078:** Things played out roughly how you expected them to. Lovely Raditz's total dismissal of them probably helped them out in this situation.

 **LWexe:** Ah yes, the party before the storm...

 **Luke:** It got a little wild for a few minutes there.

 **Legendary-AI:** Potentially, it could have been pretty bad. Luckily for everyone, right now Raditz' mind is geared towards finding his brother more than anything else. Information was his primary goal. Otherwise, I imagine the fight would have gone very differently.

And I have seen that fic! Super detailed, super well-thought out, and super well-written. Very talented writer.

 **skyreal:** Thank you! Always super nice to see someone stumbling across the story and getting a lot of enjoyment from it. To answer your questions:

King Piccolo laid the egg containing Piccolo between being hit by Krillin's Kamehameha and being executed by Tien a few minutes later. The time it took for Krillin and Tien to find King Piccolo gave him just enough time to lay an egg without being discovered. I never explicitly wrote this, but it's what I wanted readers to assume/infer based on how I wrote the scene.

Yep, Dr. Gero did create Android 8 in this universe. RIP Android 8.

Chi-Chi was pregnant with Gohan (!).

Thank you for the questions! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	39. Know Thy Enemy

Endgame

Chapter 39: Know Thy Enemy

* * *

For the better part of the day Raditz has been content to watch Kakarot go about his daily routine. He had initially reacted to his brother's actions with mild interest- in his entire time as a soldier, Raditz had never seen how a civilian had lived. He was accustomed to stealing, threatening, or killing for food. Kakarot gathered or caught food from the land around him. Raditz would commandeer his victims' houses to sleep in when needed. Kakarot, in his own way, had built his home. Raditz took what he wanted, when he wanted. Kakarot took nothing more than he needed. In every circumstance where Raditz's initial impulse would have been to use violence, Kakarot had used less forceful measures.

The association he had formed with his brother disgusted him. _Civilian. What has he become?_

At a certain point, his confusion became too great to not express it. 'I don't understand…' Raditz said to Kakarot when he had returned from his hunt. 'Why are you out here?'

Kakarot threw the deer carcass off his shoulder and against a spit. 'Because… I am. I can't really tell you anything more than that.' He plunged a hand into the deer, yanking away a chunk of meat and placing it on the spit. The fire sparked into life soon after.

Raditz hesitated for a moment, then asked, 'Do you remember why you were sent to this planet? Do you remember anything at all?'

Checking that the fire was at a good heat, Kakarot leaned back and sat on the ground. 'No. I just felt a constant urge to destroy, kill. So I killed a lot. And that's how I acted for a few years. Going from place to place, decimating villages, looking for a challenge.'

'And?'

'I found a challenge I couldn't beat.' Kakarot's eyes locked with Raditz's. 'Turns out, I'm not the strongest person on this planet. Not by far. And most of the stronger people would kill me if they were given the chance. So I've been here for a few years now.'

Raditz's face hardened with an air of consideration- he turned and twisted his gaze to the ground. 'So… you're hiding? Were you waiting for something? Were you waiting for me?'

Kakarot's eyes briefly flicked to the side. 'No,' he said, returning his gaze to Raditz. 'I've just been… here. By myself.' His eyes jumped away again. 'No-one else.'

The older brother thought on this for a moment, taking the opportunity to sit next to the fire as well. 'I don't understand.' Raditz said. 'You are a Saiyan, you should-'

'I don't know what your upbringing was like,' Kakarot said, looking through Raditz, 'but I imagine it was very different from my own. You don't understand who I am, what I've _been_ through. I've had my bones broken, my skin splintered,' he stated, rising. Once standing, Kakarot removed his shirt, revealing the startling amount of scars crisscrossing his body. 'Every bit of my body has felt pain- _insufferable pain._ I have killed both the defenseless and the defended, wiped towns off the map, and for what?' He gestured to his body. 'For these living reminders of my struggle? For the cave I call a _home?_ For the planet I've purged of all my enemies?' He said bitterly. 'This valley and the few possessions I own is all I have to show for over twenty years of struggle.' Kakarot let a look of disgust flout across his face before sitting again. 'Fighting had gotten me nowhere. _That_ is why I am here- because I'm too cowardly to do anything else. If you can't accept or understand that, then you should leave.'

Kakarot's last statement echoed into the woods around them, fluttering across the valley like a gentle wind. Frankly, Raditz was floored by his brother's words. Even that brief disclosure of self-doubt and vulnerability was more than he had ever heard expressed by all the other Saiyans he had known in his life combined. _He may look like father, but the similarity ends there… what has this planet done to you, Kakarot?_

Abruptly, Kakarot stood again and put back on his shirt. 'This food is yours,' Kakarot huffed, pointing to the deer carcass laid near them. 'I'll get my own.' Flustered, he dove back into the forest.

Raditz was left to his thoughts.

0o0o0

For a stretch of his not-quite-conscious-unconsciousness, all Krillin could experience was an incessant sensation of movement across his face. It was maddening- it was the most rote, unidimensional sensation he had ever felt in his life. After what felt like forever, the haze around him lifted- he felt his eyelids creep open.

Bulma stood over him, staring down intently. 'Yajirobe,' she said, chewing on her lip in concern, you can stop,'

Yajirobe grunted out-of-sight. The weird, continual sensation Krillin had felt ceased. He tried moving his mouth for a few seconds- it felt very numb. 'Bulma?' He eventually managed.

'Crap…' She looked at something behind Krillin's head. 'How much did they give you?'

'Hmeauh?' he mangled back.

Bulma ducked for something to her right. 'You may not like this,' she said with a note of worry, 'but I need to have a conversation with you. And, well, your injuries aren't _that_ bad…'

'Hemealh?' He had the faintest sensation of something touching the right side of his body. Then an excruciating pain bloomed out from his right arm, running across his entire body. In seconds, every part of his him was screaming in agony.

Underneath Yajirobe and Bulma's uncomfortable gazes, Krillin took a full minute to collect his breath to speak. 'I…' he sputtered, 'this is, quite possibly, the _worst_ pain-'

'Yeah, I know,' Bulma said grumpily, 'and the second worst time was when you fought Piccolo and the third worst time was when you fought Piccolo's _dad_ , and the fourth worst-'

'What do you want?' Krillin exhaled before hyperventilating through a few gasps of shock. 'The last thing I remember was… being hit really hard by that guy at the party.'

'Can you focus on what I'm saying?'

Krillin moved his eyes up and down in a nodding motion.

'Alright,' Bulma said, calming herself down. 'Here's the situation. Piccolo is here and wants to ally with us against our party crasher. Yes or no?'

'Huh?'

'Do we ally with him?'

'This is a lot to jump on me at once, Bulma,' Krillin groaned as another flash of pain hit him. 'Are you telling me Piccolo wants to _help_ us?'

'That is what I'm saying, yes.'

Krillin was silent for a span of time; his eyes drifted up to the ceiling. 'Have you talked to anyone else?' He asked.

Bulma shook her head. 'You're the first to wake up- err, the first we consciously tried to wake. Everyone else is still asleep.'

'So everyone is okay?' Krillin asked weakly. 'I- I just remembered-'

'Yes,' Bulma assured him, 'everyone is fine.'

Krillin went quiet again. 'What's the point in even considering Piccolo's offer?' He asked after another stretch of time. 'If everyone else is in as bad as shape as me, then none of us are fighting anytime soon…'

'Actually,' Yajirobe but in, 'I've got good news and bad news about that. Good news is that I've gotten some senzu beans from Korin. Bad news is that I've only got… four…' Yajirobe pouted.

'And we have six people bedridden right now,' Bulma finished for him. 'So, at some point, we'll have to figure out who to give those out to…'

Krillin momentarily clenched his teeth from the pain. 'Me, Tien, Yamcha, Launch,' he said quickly before groaning again. 'We're the strongest of the four. Give the beans to us.'

'You sure-'

'Yes!' Krillin exclaimed. 'Or at least give me one or drug me back to sleep!'

Bulma exchanged a look with Yajirobe; he untied the bag's opening, pulled out a single bean, and popped it into Krillin's mouth. With some effort, Krillin chewed and swallowed it.

The next instant, he jumped out of bed and snatched the bag of senzu beans from Yajirobe. 'Ridiculous. And one more thing,' he said as he pulled his glare from Yajirobe to Bulma. 'How long have I been out?'

'No more than half a day,' Bulma answered.

'Alright… I need to think…' Scratching his head, Krillin walked away.

'Told ya you shouldn't have held off on using the senzus,' Yajirobe whispered to Bulma.

'Oh, shut up.'

0o0o0

Walking through his home, the Ox-King ran his hands across the ancient wooden and stone walls. As the story goes, the castle atop of Fire Mountain was built and lived in by a powerful clan of giants long ago. With an iron fist, they ruled over the small village at the base of the mountain and the lands around it, forcing the people underneath their thumbs to toil the land for them. It was only after that the villagers rose up, led by a hero whose name was lost to time, did they rebel against their giant overlords and storm the castle. It is said that the entire clan of giants was slaughtered in one night. For this reason, the Ox-King had never told his daughter Chi-Chi this story.

 _Why am I thinking about this right now?..._ He fretted as he continued his trek through the castle. Perhaps it was the huge size of the rooms and halls- he imagined that only a group of people as big as him would have built a castle with such ridiculously huge proportions. He always did find it funny that the village at the base of the mountain had crowned him "King" simply because he appeared to be a giant moving back into his home. In reality, he wasn't even from around here and was looking for a place to hide-out. _Funny how things can work out._

 _Ahh, but that was a long time ago now._ He entered into a smaller, straight corridor with a number of doors on its left side. As he walked down the hallway's length, he had to bend his head down to avoid bumping into the ceiling.

Several feet down the hall, he came to an unremarkable door and opened it. Half-expecting to see Chi-Chi inside Gohan's room he was a bit surprised when he saw no-one was inside. _It's been a few hours… she should have checked up on Gohan in that time._

He moved towards the crib in the far corner- the crib was empty. Gohan was _gone._

It took him only a moment for him to realize what had happened; it was as simple as accepting a nagging fear he had pushed to the back of his mind as true. He didn't feel betrayed- he was just afraid. _Chi-Chi, please be careful..._

0o0o0

Krillin dreaded the last room he had to enter, but he had checked in with every person he had remembered being at the party so far- there was no getting out of this. Bracing himself, he pushed through the doorway.

Rayne was sitting up in her hospital bed, peering out of the window to her right that overlooked the Capsule Corp. gardens. When he entered, she swung her head to him, a weak smile crossing her face. 'Krillin.'

'Hi,' he said warmly, as he came to her side and sat down on the foot of her bed. 'How's the old flesh prison holding up?'

She frowned at him and rolled her eyes. 'You know I hate that joke. But... my body could be worse. A few broken ribs, a fracture in the right forearm, but judging from what Bulma told me earlier, I got away better than everyone else. I- wait.' Rayne looked up and down Krillin again. 'Shouldn't you be bedridden like me?'

Krillin flashed her a sly smile. 'Senzu beans; they do wonders, huh?

'Ah. Any for me?'

'Err… we're out.'

'Oh.' She sunk a bit deeper into her bed. 'I see.'

'We only had four,' Krillin explained, 'and we had to give them to the strongest among us. Because- well-'

'I know,' Rayne glared at him, 'you, Tien, Yamcha, and Launch need to track down that guy who attacked us. I can sense _ki_ too, you know.'

'You're not mad?'

'Krillin,' Rayne spoke directly, 'you _know_ me better than anyone else. If you were about to jump into a darkened pit lined with spikes because you thought it was necessary, I would be right at your side falling to the bottom.' She briefly glanced out to the garden, then back at him. 'But those three are the strongest. And, more importantly, _they'll keep you alive._ As long as they do that, they'll be doing my job for me.'

'Hmm,' Krillin vocalized with a smile.

Despite his facial expression, Rayne sensed there was something Krillin wasn't saying. 'Are you okay?' she asked, bunching her eyebrows in concern.

Krillin's smile faded, replaced with an expressionless, emotionless visage of worry. 'I'm… scared,' Krillin admitted. 'Rayne, he was… incredibly powerful. I can't put it into words. I honestly don't know if we can beat him…'

'Hey, I sensed him too, remember?' Rayne comforted him. 'He didn't feel that tough.'

Krillin shot her a look. Rayne decided to switch tactics. 'I bet that was his full strength,' she hypothesized, 'considering that he was barely hiding his power beforehand. Did you notice that? He was continually _bleeding ki_ into the air around him.'

'Yeah… actually…' Krillin screwed his face in thought. 'That makes sense. He never really tried to hide his power, even before powering up. It was just… there.'

'Use that to your advantage,' Rayne advised, '...somehow. I'm not really sure on the " _how_ ". At least you know what you're getting into though, right?'

Krillin nodded and smiled. 'Right. I'll figure it out.' They met each other's' gaze- they locked hands a few seconds later.

'Be safe,' she said, forcing her voice to be steady.

'As best I can.'

'That's not reassuring.'

'I promise to try.'

'Try again.'

'I'll save the world.'

'Better.'

0o0o0

'So, that's that?' Launch asked as Krillin emerged from Rayne's room; the former monk's face was a bit downcast. 'Filled her in on the details?'

'More or less,' Krillin replied, looking between Tien, Yamcha, and Launch. Every one of them was stretching, testing the newly regained strength and mobility. 'So… we need to talk about Piccolo now.'

'I don't trust him,' Tien said bluntly while crossing his arms. 'His father tried to kill us. _He_ would have killed us if he had the energy to at the 23rd World Tournament. Can we actually trust someone like that?'

'...Yes, actually,' Yamcha spoke up. 'He may have been our enemy at the tournament, but I don't think he actually _hates_ us… or, at least, he doesn't _actively_ despise us. There's a big difference between that and whatever weird opinion Kakarot had of us… way back then.'

'Kakarot never struck me as _consciously_ evil though,' Launch commented. 'What he did seemed more like "first intuition" type of stuff. Piccolo, on the other hand, said some pretty nasty stuff back at the tournament. Outwardly, he certainly resembles his father.'

'I think Piccolo can respect us as fighters,' Yamcha said, more forcefully than before. 'That's certainly a start for an alliance.'

'How'd you figure that?' Launch asked.

'He… complimented my fighting skills as a human at the 23rd World Tournament.'

Tien pinched his nose. 'You _cannot_ be serious…'

'I don't think it's important whether or not we trust Piccolo. I think it's more important to decide whether we can trust his offer.' Krillin interjected, trying to get everyone's attention. 'Are there any reasons to trust his offer?'

'I doubt it,' Tien said dryly. 'Could be that he wants us to take the brunt of the fighting so he can finish both that guy _and_ us in one go.'

'Let's consider the worst case scenario,' Yamcha argued, 'Let's say that Piccolo doesn't trust us at all, and that he's planning to betray us after the fight. Can we deal with that?'

'Hard to say. It depends how banged up we are after the fight,' Krillin said.

'Hey,' Launch chimed in, 'maybe we should probably consider whether we need to defeat our uninvited guest at all. Could be the case that we're starting a fight we don't need to.' Everyone gave her a look. 'What?' she defended herself. 'Just because he attacked us doesn't mean he's going to be a major threat or anything.'

'Launch,' Tien said slowly, 'would you really be okay letting someone like that roam around unchallenged? With as much power as he has?'

She frowned. 'I was… just throwing it out there,' she said, sighing. 'I certainly don't like the idea of facing off against him now knowing about his ridiculous strength.'

'I don't think any of us likes it,' Krillin said for the rest of them, reading the uneasy expressions on his friends' faces, 'but… we have to. If we don't, who will?'

No-one could deny Krillin's statement. No-one particularly liked it, though.

'I don't like to talk chances,' Yamcha said, 'but, probabilistically, what do you think the chances are that we can beat that guy with just the four of us, without Piccolo?'

'...not high,' Tien admitted.

'So it sounds like we really don't have any other options,' Launch said bitterly. 'We have to take Piccolo's offer whether we want to or not.'

'Should we try to gather the dragonballs?' Yamcha asked, brightening up at his own suggestion. 'Yeah, actually, we can wish for the guy to disappear or not even exist in the first place! Problem solved!'

Krillin thought on this. 'No,' he said after a few seconds, 'I don't think that's possible. The dragonballs are linked to Kami.'

'Wait a second,' Launch groaned, 'what does that have to do with anything? And I thought the dragonballs were linked to _Piccolo_.'

'They are. Piccolo and Kami were once one person,' Krillin explained.

'Confusing, but that still doesn't explain why them being linked to Kami is a bad thing.'

'The dragonballs have limitations placed on them- they can do nothing Kami cannot do. That includes matters of strength.'

'What,' Yamcha scoffed, 'are you saying the guy who clocked us is stronger than literal _God?_ '

Krillin's look said it all. Yamcha went as white as a sheet. 'Oh,' he said.'Well, surely there are other things we can use the dragonballs for,' Yamcha stressed. 'They might not be strong enough to affect Raditz, but maybe we can use them to boost our own strength?'

'Maybe. I'm skeptical.'

'Why?'

'Because I don't think we have the time to gather the dragonballs or do anything else time-consuming,' Krillin professed. 'I have a feeling in my gut that we're going to have to move sooner rather than later. Otherwise, I would say that we should train with Kami at the Lookout- but, as it is, I don't think we have the time.'

'So,' Launch enumerated for everyone's convenience, 'if we have to move soon, we can't use the dragonballs and we can't train at the Lookout. Then the question becomes… do we trust Piccolo to fight with us as long as we have a common enemy?'

'If the enemy is stronger? Then yeah, I do,' Yamcha voiced his thoughts. 'He wants to be ruler of the world, or some garbage like that, right? Well, he can't be that while that other, stronger guy is around.'

'I trust him to that extent,' Krillin said. 'I think he's reasonably pragmatic.'

'Tien?' Launch turned towards the Crane fighter. 'What about you?'

Tien held his gaze down at the ground. 'I don't like any part of it,' he expressed, 'but I don't see any other way to win the coming fight without him.' He looked at everyone else. 'I'm in.'

'Alright, I'm in too, then,' Launch said. 'Let's roll the dice with Piccolo.'

0o0o0

 _Storms. So many storms. Like a ship streaking through a storm of asteroids, Kakarot felt an immeasurable sense of claustrophobia. Light and shapes bounced off his environment at weird angles, creating an illusion of what ought to be real. Familiar faces twisted and warped, detached and reattached to heads, and ultimately swirled and merged into one overwhelming globule. Tangled beyond salvaging, this mass approached him from above, shrinking and expanding at weird, horrifying angles-_

 _Kakarot found himself in a shack. The walls oozed and dripped with rot- the air stunk of someone long dead. Taking one tentative step forward, he swung his head to-and-fro looking- looking for something-_

 _A specter coalesced into a single entity before him, black and colored and like a flower bed hidden by night. Dull eyes regarded him with a tiredness Kakarot had seen once, maybe a hundred times before-_

 _Sound pounded against the walls of the shack, driving the rotten room deeper in. The specter made a sad face at Kakarot, mouthed something, before being crushed and dispersed into the air._

'HAAAH!' Kakarot shot up off the ground, one hand reaching forward into the darkness of the cave beyond.

He realized where he was; he felt the rough fabric of his bedroll beneath him. Kakarot remembered that he had taken an afternoon nap. Carefully, he drew his hand back, inspecting it. He then quickly stood and stomped outside.

Standing inches away from the platform's edge, Raditz watched the valley beyond with his arms crossed and his back to him. He didn't turn to address Kakarot. 'Our conversation earlier has made me consider a number of things. You are not a Saiyan,' Raditz said flatly. 'Your time on this planet has irreversibly changed you; if our homeworld still existed, if the _Saiyans_ still existed- you could never become one of our own.'

Kakarot felt a blunt anxiety grip him- _so it was true, wasn't it? I… never could…_

'However,' Raditz said, turning to Kakarot. 'Our homeworld is _gone_. The Saiyans, for all intents and purposes, _are gone_. As your brother, I do not care about your personality, traits, or tendencies.' He stepped closer to Kakarot. 'Except for _one_ detail.' A heavy finger jabbed into Kakarot's chest. 'You are _weak_. Your body is weak, and your _mind_ is weak.'

'I…' Kakarot tried to respond, 'I… don't understand.'

'Look around!' Raditz swept one arm across the river valley around them. 'A Saiyan cares nothing for peace, nature, or order, and yet you have surrounded yourself with it! Your mission required you to purge this planet of all sentient life but in twenty years you have done nothing! The people of this planet openly flout their existence! I flew over their cities and their homes- they live as if they have the strength to defend themselves! But they're weak! They're all so weak!' Raditz shouted. ' _You_ have let them continue on in this way, you have let them go on _unpunished_ for their ignorance.'

'I-'

'And the _worst_ thing of all,' Raditz said, darkening his tone, 'was that I had to _find_ you, as if you were hiding like a qoolian,' his nostrils flared after saying the last word. 'Two separate times I approached a power level reading I thought might be you before discovering that you were the fourth or fifth strongest being on this planet. How does that make you feel? To be the weakest by _far_?' Raditz taunted him.

Kakarot had no response. He purposely avoided Raditz's gaze.

'We are going to leave this planet,' Raditz said, casting another dismissive gaze at the valley beyond. 'You are going to rid yourself of all your possessions- it is clear to me now that this planet is a sickening influence on you, driving away every natural instinct you should have. The instinct to fight, to _kill.'_ Raditz slammed a fist into the palm of his other hand. 'To be Saiyan is to struggle. This planet has let you be complacent for too long.'

'What if I don't want to go?'

Raditz's eyebrows twitched. For his part. Kakarot did his best to maintain his composure. 'I think you misunderstand,' Raditz said slowly. 'I'm not requesting- I'm demanding. You have no say in the matter.'

Both of them eyed each other for a moment.

When Kakarot inevitably made a move to run off, Raditz moved imperceptibly fast and conked his brother on the head, knocking him out cold. Kakarot's body limply collapsed to the stone ground.

It was only after a few moments of introspective quiet did Raditz glumly shake his head.

0o0o0

'Krillin,' Yamcha spoke from the back of the group, 'you don't have to do this. Anyone of us can speak to him instead of you…'

'I know… but…' Krillin looked back at Tien, Launch, and Yamcha, who were arranged in a crescent behind him. 'I think he'll listen to me more than anyone else.'

'Why?' Tien asked.

'I don't know… I just have a feeling in my gut.'

'Well I have a feeling in _my_ gut that this is a terrible idea,' Launch deadpanned. 'But, regardless…' she patted Krillin on the back. 'If you want it this way, it's all you.'

'I do. Alright…' He turned away from his friends and set off.

Piccolo was cross-legged in a more intimate part of the garden, closely hemmed in by flowering, towering shrubbery to his left and right. When Krillin entered his pseudo-private sanctuary, his opens flicked open. 'You,' Piccolo spoke, his voice triggering a hundred memories for Krillin.

'...Yes, me…' Krillin said somewhat awkwardly. Not wanting to hold a strange height advantage over the demon, Krillin sat opposite of Piccolo. 'I hear you've made an offer to us.'

Piccolo scoffed, twisting his head to the side. 'Is that what that human woman said? She misrepresents me. It was not an offer, nor a request- it was a demand.'

'Oh?' Krillin said, feeling a droplet of sweat roll down his neck. 'How so?'

'I need allies to defeat our common enemy. If I could do so on my own, I wouldn't bother asking you fools for help.'

In a weird way, Krillin characterized that as an implicit recognition of their worth in his eyes. A smile briefly rose on his face before he realized what he was doing and suppressed it. 'We find your terms acceptable,' Krillin announced to the demon. 'We'll fight with you.'

Piccolo's antennae flicked up in surprise. 'Really?' His gaze shifted towards Launch, Tien, and Yamcha. 'Fine. Call them over, then.'

Sometime later, everyone was seated in a similar position to Krillin facing Piccolo. 'Listen closely,' the demon barked. 'The man who attacked you is named Raditz. He's a Saiyan- so of the same race as the other tailed man.'

'You mean Kakarot?' Yamcha spoke up.

'If that is his name, then fine,' Piccolo growled at Yamcha, causing the human to shrink back. 'I suspect that Raditz and by extension Kakarot are originally not of this planet. As far as I know, Kakarot has been here for years, but Raditz has only surfaced in the past day or so. He must have landed recently.'

'How do you know all this?' Launch questioned, taking great pains to keep her gaze towards Piccolo neutral. 'You should be more in the dark about what's going on than us.'

Piccolo snorted. 'Do you think Raditz came to you first? He was seeking out the strongest lifeforms on this planet, thinking that he would find his brother.' A wicked, self-satisfied smile crossed Piccolo's face. 'I saw first-hand how displeased he was when he found me instead.'

Krillin's gaze flickered to his friends- they all look similarly concerned. _I guess we should have assumed as much; Piccolo's been training to surpass us these past two years..._

'Furthermore,' Piccolo resumed, 'I have access to first-hand knowledge likely already forgotten by your transient human society. I can verify that, many centuries ago, no such person resembling Kakarot or Raditz and of a similar strength existed on the planet. Otherwise, my father would have encountered them. They are decidedly recent inhabitants of this planet.'

'Makes sense,' Tien muttered to himself.

Launch threw a questioning look at Piccolo. 'Why do you assume Kakarot and Raditz are working together? The last time any of us saw Kakarot was almost five years ago, and we haven't heard or seen anything to suggest he's done anything nefarious or evil since then. He may be dead, for all we know.'

'Kakarot still lives,' Piccolo said cryptically, his nose wrinkling at some unseen thought, 'and if he didn't, there would be no reason for why any of you still live.' He glared at them dismissively. 'I suspect Raditz demanded information about his brother before departing, correct?'

'That, and more, yeah…' Yamcha answered, rubbing his shoulder.

'If he wasn't looking for information, he would have killed all of you without a thought,' Piccolo said cooly. 'He made that abundantly clear to me when I encountered him.'

'Good to know…' Krillin said uncomfortably.

'You four and your friends pretend to defend this world when you know so little?' Piccolo berated them. 'This planet is in danger because of your willful ignorance.'

'What do you mean?' Launch asked, hiding a scowl.

'I fully expect that, in the next few days, Raditz and Kakarot will start to methodically destroy this planet.'

A chill went down everyone's spines. 'What?' Launch stammered.

'Kakarot was never a person; he was a weapon, aimed at the wholesale devastation of this planet. His task was to wipe this planet of all life.

'But… how do you know? How do you know for sure?' Krillin asked.

'I saw what Kakarot comes from myself…'

0o0o0

 _'Where did that coward go!' Piccolo screamed into the woods, scanning for any sign of a black mane or a brown tail. 'He couldn't have gotten far without using any of his energy!' He spun, half-expecting to catch the tailed man sneaking around. His charred cape rippled in the wind, damaged from Kakarot's earlier attack. 'So where is he!?'_

 _The forest mocked him with its uniformity; trees and leaves melded together into one great visage, seeking to hide whatever was beyond the very cusp of Piccolo's vision. Similarly, he found no such luck with his ears- he heard nothing save for the small chirps of birds, caws of animals, and- something metal-_

 _Piccolo swung his attention to a direction to his left. A small opening led further into the forest, silhouetted by a narrow and winding path. Curious, Piccolo set off down it._

 _After some time he found himself in a clearing with a rough-made wooden structure in the center. Stepping closer, Piccolo's attention fixed on something in the center of the structure. It was an odd thing, round as a perfect sphere and slightly submerged into the ground. A broken but still attached tree branch intermittently banged against its side._

 _He approached the sphere and stepped closer for a moment. When he laid a hand upon the green, foliage covered surface, he felt the cold warmth of metal just beneath the surface. With both hands, he started to probe the object, until coming to a small lip near the bottom. He tugged- the plant life wrapped around the sphere ripped apart._

 _In one long, start-and-stop creaking motion, the front third of the sphere swung upwards, fast at first, then slow. Using one ki-lit hand, Piccolo ducked underneath the opening surface and thrust his head and hand inside._

 _A degraded yet still-intact seat dominated the inside, flanked by broken and shattered screens and displays. The entire set-up was remarkably complex- Piccolo had never seen such an object before._

 _However, something intact in the center of the ceiling caught Piccolo's eye. A single, circular button was mashed inwards, seemingly broken yet still back-lit by some sort of light. Piccolo raised one hand to the button and tried to press it in an effort to unjam it._

 _Nothing. He pressed harder this time, using ki to increase his force. Still, the button didn't budge._

 _Grimacing, Piccolo laid on his back and stuck his other arm into the object. Pushing ki into both his hands, he raised them upwards once more and pressed down on the button with all its force. He strained for a few moments before a creaking, scraping sensation ran down his arms and the button began to incrementally move. One beleaguered second later, and the button fully depressed._

 _Immediately, a weak projection filled the interior, backtracked by an at first unrecognizable language. The more Piccolo listened, however, the more a few words here and became intelligible to him._ _ **Kill, destroy…**_ _And in the center of the projection, an image of a planet being eviscerated of all life transformed before Piccolo's very eyes, turning into a barren husk._

0o0o0

'From his ship, I learned all that I needed to know,' Piccolo concluded. 'He was sent here with the one mission to purge this planet. His entire life up until this point has been one long _failure_ in that regard.'

Piccolo's human audience was dumbfounded; they had always known Kakarot to be a dangerous, unhinged individual, but to think that he was given the mission to destroy _everything_ on the planet gave them a new perspective. Krillin especially felt regret over letting the Saiyan slip through his grasp so many times before. _But how could I have known the nefarious motive behind every time he fought us?_

Piccolo uncharacteristically leaned back for a moment, as if he was stretching in a seated position. 'I have shared what I know so as to improve our chances of victory in the imminent future.' He struggled with speaking for a moment. 'Is there.. anything you want to share?' He asked, feeling wildly ridiculous.

'...If Raditz has a tail, then we should assume that he can do the same thing Kakarot can-' Launch nervously speculated, '-turn into a giant, raging ape with a frightening level of power when the full moon is out, that sort of thing.'

'Hmm?' Piccolo's eyes narrowed. 'Is that so? Of course… it would make sense. When Kakarot fought my father in West City, a full moon was out that night.'

'Right, yeah…'

As they were recounting the details of that night, a single horrid memory shot into Krillin's mind. _Last night… last night was!..._ 'There's going to be a full moon tonight!' Krillin burst out. 'Raditz will be able to transform!'

His words jolted every one of them out of their collective conversation. Piccolo glared at Krillin for a moment. then stood. 'Then we can't waste any more time. We need to find them _now_ , before night falls.'

'You know where they are?' Yamcha asked.

'I'm been tracking Raditz's location.'

'He's moving?'

'Yes. It was difficult to track such a fast-moving entity, in spite of his overflowing strength,' Piccolo informed them. 'But, over the past few hours, he's steadily approached a major city on the eastern side of the planet.'

'Then… they're probably moving on East City,' Tien inferred.

Piccolo swung his gaze over them. 'I am ready to depart. We should go as soon as possible.'

'Right…' Krillin briefly made eye contact with his companions. 'Just give us a few minutes to prepare.'

The demon gave them all a look, but in the end he grunted. 'Fine. Remember that every minute counts.' He turned and moved away from them.

0o0o0

Bulma barely had the time to say goodbye to Krillin, Launch, Tien, and Yamcha before they left. Hell, she had struggled to gather everyone who could still stand outside to wave them off in a timely fashion. She found Yajirobe stuffing his face in an unidentifiable pie before pulling him outside by his ear. The only other person around, Retu, curiously wouldn't leave Suno's bedside. He succinctly and esoterically mentioned to Bulma that he had already said what he had wanted to say to Krillin. Working with the limited mental resources that she had, Bulma wasn't going to try and guess what _that_ meant.

Their farewells were short and noiseless, no doubt influenced by the disdainful look Piccolo cast in their direction in addition to knowing what they were marching towards. _A fight that they're not sure they can win. Their silence says it all…_ Bulma made sure to hug every one of them, even Tien, and lingered for a long time with Yamcha. She was still somewhat mad at him for how he had acted at the party, but… she didn't want to have any regrets. At one point, Yajirobe tried to hand off his samurai blade to any who would take it, but a series of unreceptive faces eventually dissuaded him. Gloomily, he strapped the sword-and-scabbard back to his waist.

A short time later, Piccolo ascended into the air alongside Tien. Yamcha, Krillin, and Launch, who more unsure of how fast they could fly, opted to ride together on Nimbus. They looked extremely silly clasped around each other in an effort to fit onto the small cloud. Together with Tien, they all gave one final wave towards Bulma and Yajirobe before setting their sights east and zooming off into the sky. Piccolo followed them a moment later.

Yajirobe stood outside for some time, his gaze distant with one hand clamped to the hilt of his blade. Eventually, he went back inside. Not too long after he had left, an overpowering wave of relief and exhaustion overwhelmed Bulma. She let her body collapse into the cheap, plastic fold-out chair she had left out from earlier on the Capsule Corp. lawn, dozing off in record time.

The most vivid dreams assailed her mind. She saw herself growing up in Capsule Corp. tailing her father around like an enthusiastic child, but she was older, wiser, taller than she should have been. Then, she found herself at Papaya island, watching unseen, shadowy figures battling across a World Tournament ring. She felt her innocent enjoyment soon vanish as the ring wisped away before her eyes. Finally, she found herself looking over the ruins of West City, explosions rocketing in the distance, and far, far above her was a massive, menacing creature-

Bulma opened her eyes, sensing someone tapping on her shoulder from behind. She nearly bolted out of her seat in surprise when she saw who it was.

Cradling a baby in her arms, Chi-Chi gave Bulma an easygoing smile. 'Hey, Bulma. Sorry for coming late to the party!'

0o0o0

'...where… where am I?' Groggily, Kakarot pushed himself off the ground. Immediately, his hands felt something unfamiliar; where his hands should have felt rough fabric was replaced with wet, loamy dirt. His sight drew his attention to his immediate environment; a huge plain of grass surrounded him on both sides. He was… far away from his home, that he was sure of.

'I thought on things a bit more,' Raditz's voice pierced the calm from behind him. Frantically, Kakarot stood and faced his brother; he looked considerably less angry than Kakarot remembered him being. _Wait…_ Kakarot struggled to think, _when was the last time I saw him?_

'I realized that forcing you to leave this planet armed with the mentality you have now would be useless,' Raditz continued, cutting through Kakarot's thoughts. 'You wouldn't survive in the larger galaxy as you are currently. Besides,' Raditz said, shrugging, 'we need to spend some time on this planet anyway to force the natives to make a new ship for us. We can't _both_ leave in a single-person spacecraft.'

Kakarot's head started to spin- his mind couldn't keep up with everything Raditz was implying. 'We're… staying?'

'For now,' Raditz said, giving Kakarot a slight smile. 'And while we're here, there are a few things we need to do…'

As Raditz talked, his eyes moved to something far-off in the distance behind Kakarot. Just at that moment, an obnoxious _honkkk_ rang in the distance.

Kakarot turned. Before them was a massive city, replete with roads, skyscrapers, trucks, cars, and most importantly, _people_.

'Today and tonight, brother,' Raditz practically cooed into Kakarot's ear, 'you are going to learn what it means to be a _Saiyan._ '

* * *

A/N: Endgame is endgaming. Beware of endgame.

 **Reviews:**

 **TC9078:** You're reading Chi-Chi like a fiddle. Hopefully, however, her inclinations throw in a few curveballs before the end of this...

 **Luke:** Yeah, I imagine Raditz learning Kakarot has a kid is going to be a sticky point ;)

 **Anonymous:** These are definitely the questions to keep in mind going forward. Vegeta and Nappa should be a big question mark hanging over everything right now...

 **Legendary-AI:** You're on the right track, but all I can say is read-and-find-out. It's safe to say a number of characters are hiding information from each other...

 **The Last Z Fighter:** Yamcha becoming the "old hand" among the Z Fighters in a future timeline reminds me of the fanfic _Piccolo's Choice_ by Saucemonkey. If you're interested in seeing that depiction, I would highly recommend that story.

 **LWexe:** I imagine it's going to be very strange.


	40. Born Again

Endgame

Chapter 40: Born Again

A/N: Hi all. I'm working with a lot of writing enthusiasm, so enjoy a nice heaping of an early chapter (though don't expect another chapter to come out Saturday- the chapter after this one might take a while).

* * *

Like a leaf being pulled along by the wind, Kakarot let himself be led by his brother closer to the edge of the city. The field they crossed to do so was filled with newly grown grass from the passing spring- it presented an unending, monolithic depiction of youthful green. That one detail stuck out to him- _the grass, such a vibrant color…_

They reached the edge of the city proper sooner than Kakarot would have liked. A few passing pedestrians gave them weird looks, but the cities of Earth were so heterogeneous and varied that some human-looking people with tails didn't raise anything more than a handful of eyebrows. Raditz seemed to delight in their invisibility. 'Kakarot,' Raditz uttered so that only they could hear, 'do you have any idea what I did in space? What _Saiyans_ do?'

Kakarot's eyes were focused on the cityscape around him. He gave a faint shrug.

'We are warriors who purge planets of all life and civilization for the highest bidders. Before I can trust you to work alongside me, I have decided you must complete your initial contract.' Raditz's eyes flicked between Kakarot and the various people walking around them. 'You will purge this city, and then together, we will purge this planet.'

Kakarot reflexively turned to the way they had come from.

Raditz appeared before him in an instant. 'Don't even think about it,' Raditz intimidated, the edges of his crossed forearms pressing against Kakarot's chest. 'You've already tried my patience once today. To do so twice would be ugly.'

'How ugly?'

Raditz's face twisted into an unstable, sadistic snarl. 'Don't _tempt_ me, brother.' A twinge of anger ran through his face. 'What's so hard about killing a bunch of weaklings!' He yelled, drawing the attention of some passersbys. Perceiving he had been heard, Raditz' leveled a hand at the closest person nearby, a balding middle-aged man, and shot a blast in their direction.

A hole punched through the person's chest. A second later, they dropped to the ground, dead. The other people around them immediately burst into cries and ran away.

As Kakarot watched people flee for their lives, Raditz's voice bounced around in his head. 'No one ought to live without the power to defend themselves. Either you are strong enough to protect your own existence, or you die. This planet has lived detached from the natural order of things for too long. We Saiyans are nothing if not slaves to the natural order of things.'

Before Kakarot could respond, another blast ripped from Raditz's palm, churning down the length of a road. Slabs of concrete and a shower of twisted metal car parts were thrown up in the air, raining down in the surrounding area a few seconds later. What was once a road with five-or-so running cars was now a ruined ditch.

'Come now,' Raditz whispered, 'show me how _strong_ you are, Kakarot.'

In a deep, deep part of Kakarot that he had grappled with and ultimately buried long ago, something resonated with Raditz's statement. _Power_ , it cloyed, _you have_ _ **power**_ _…_ Such a simple declaration- to hear his brother say that he had strength. Slowly, Kakarot raised one arm, aiming down a sidewalk on which a few terrified and stunned people fled. Despite the fact that there were stronger people on this planet… he had forgotten how laughably weak everyone else is compared to himself.

A blast lurched from Kakarot's palm, consuming a few people in bright, raw energy. It was… easier than he thought it would be. Another blast ripped from Kakarot's palm and ran across the ground, crashing into the base of a building and causing it to collapse. A few anguished screams burned into the air before transforming into drawn-out sobs.

Raditz took a step back from his brother, a smile cresting onto his face. He watched as his brother threw another blast into the city, then another, as the buildings around them began to topple to the ground. _So there's still something salvageable left in him, after all._ A sick feeling of relief washed over Raditz. _For a time, things were looking a little dicey…_

 _Still…_ He gazed up the sky above them- they still had some time before night fell. _Tonight will be the most crucial time of all..._

0o0o0

Right after drawing herself another cup of coffee- she had a feeling she was going to have to stay up for _another_ straight twenty-four hours- Bulma seated Chi-Chi at a table near the family entrance on the first floor and sat at the other end. 'Alright…' Bulma sighed as she settled into her seat, '...you have a baby.'

Chi-Chi blinked. 'Yes. It's Kakarot's.'

Bulma stared at Chi-Chi for a moment before stirring her head and downing an entire cup of coffee in one go. 'I'm sorry,' Bulma said, wiping her mouth and chin, 'I think my sleep deprivation is getting to me. You said that that baby's father is… Kakarot?'

'That's what I said.'

Bulma jarringly started to bellow with laughter. 'Hilarious!' she exclaimed, swinging the empty mug around for emphasis. 'Kakarot the psycho has a child… that is hilarious... who would be the mother, anyway?'

Chi-Chi gave Bulma an odd look. At well below full capacity, it took Bulma's brain a few seconds to interpret the message; when she eventually realized what Chi-Chi was conveying, her face sagged. 'You… can't be serious.'

'Bulma,' Chi-Chi said with angelic patience, 'why would I be carrying around a baby if it _wasn't_ mine?'

'And… and you're sure Kakarot is the father…' She asked faintly.

'I'm pretty sure.'

Bulma looked Chi-Chi up and down once more, then nodded. 'Well, alright. That's the new reality. Chi-Chi is a mom to a half-alien baby.' She narrowed her eyes at Chi-Chi. 'You… knew that, right?'

'Yes, Bulma,' Chi-Chi sighed. 'But, considering what's going on, these aren't important questions at the moment…'

'Hmm?...' Bulma absentmindedly groped for her mug and made a drinking motion- she didn't seem to notice there was nothing in it. 'Oh, yeah… things are not good right now.'

'Everyone is okay, right?' Chi-Chi asked. 'I vaguely sensed a bunch of people here earlier, but now…'

'Oh, they're fine,' Bulma said, physically waving away Chi-Chi concerns. 'They're speeding off to fight Raditz and Kakarot with Piccolo in East City as we speak.'

'Err… what? With Piccolo? Do you mean they're fighting Kakarot _and_ Piccolo? Or is Kakarot helping them to fight Piccolo? And who is Raditz?'

'No, no… Tien, Yamcha, Krillin, and Launch are fighting _alongside_ Piccolo against Raditz and Kakarot. The green guy is helping us out against Kakarot's evil Saiyan relative, Raditz!'

'I… have so many questions,' Chi-Chi managed. She stood. 'And if that's the case, then I need to go after them immediately.'

'Why?' Bulma stood as well, sensing Chi-Chi's restrained anxiety. 'I wouldn't recommend going… as you are now… '

Chi-Chi seemed to realize something- she glanced down at the baby in her arms. 'Oh… of course I wouldn't take Gohan…'

Bulma sobered up some, smelling bullshit from a mile away. 'Chi-Chi,' she said as delicately as possible, 'don't lie to me. I can _always_ tell when someone is lying to me.'

'Oh, Bulma,' Chi-Chi protested, 'I'm not-'

'I'm _not_ like the other bumbling idiots,' she said definitively. 'You were going to take that… baby…' Bulma's face softened. 'Gohan, yeah?' Chi-Chi nodded. Bulma hardened her face once more. 'You were going to go to East City with Gohan, weren't you?'

Chi-Chi frowned. 'Yeah…'

Bulma was silent for a moment as Chi-Chi's gaze roamed the ground in shame. 'Why?' Bulma eventually asked, sighing.

'Kakarot is in trouble.'

'From us?'

'No. From himself. I need to try and get through to him one last time before… the worst case scenario can come about.'

Bulma thought on this for a moment. Beneath a layer of coffee-induced mania, she felt incredibly tired, and she suspected that tiredness was messing with her decision-making process, but she couldn't deny that she wanted to help Chi-Chi. _Who am I to tell a mother what to do with her child, right?_ 'Alright… how can I help?'

'Really?'

'If you think it's the best thing to do, then let's do it.'

Chi-Chi nodded. 'Alright. I need to get there fast. Like, _really_ fast. Fast enough to catch them in a few hours _fast._ '

'Hmm…' Bulma tapped a finger to her chin. 'I have a plane that can do that, but someone would need to fly...'

'Couldn't you?' Chi-Chi asked.

'Me? Me!?' Bulma cackled, always a disturbing sound to hear from another rational human being. 'Hah! No way! I am _way_ too tired. I'd for sure cause a crash or something like that.'

'Good to know…'

'Hmm… but I think I know someone else who could…'

0o0o0

Packed together on Nimbus like sardines, Krillin, Launch, Tien, and Yamcha had nothing better to do than to stare off into the distance or make small talk. As such, a combination of the two characterized their trip. 'Is… uh… Chiaotzu feeling any better?' Yamcha asked of Tien, who was flying right alongside Nimbus.

'No.'

'Oh.'

'I spoke to Chiaotzu briefly,' Tien elaborated. 'He's… still sick.' A look of intense concentration momentarily passed over Tien's face. 'Could it have been something he ate?... Dunno.'

'Bad luck, either way,' Yamcha said, essentially blurting out his thoughts to everyone else.

Silence descended on them again. The sound of air rushing past them was just loud enough to distract them from the imminent fight of their lives.

'We should talk strategy,' Piccolo said after some time, drifting closer to them mid-flight. 'If my hunch is right, we'll have to fight both Raditz and Kakarot at the same time. Raditz is _far_ above our ability to handle on our own- so we'll have to throw as many of us as possible at him. By comparison, Kakarot is much weaker.' A corner of Piccolo's mouth tugged up. 'We shouldn't need more than one person to kill him.'

'Kill him?' Launch asked. 'Look, I don't like him as much as the next person, but he's-'

'He's a threat for as long as we let him live,' Piccolo snapped back. 'If he's left alive in any capacity he'll kill one of us. I _guarantee_ it.'

Launch's expression soured. 'Oh? And what makes you the right person to decide that? Since when have you _suffered_ -' she said that last word with the greatest amount of sarcasm possible '- by letting someone live?'

Piccolo snarled, but before their conversation could escalate any further Tien spoke up. 'I'll do it.'

Launch and the others turned to him. 'What?'

'I'll kill Kakarot. I was trained as an assassin. And I've killed other people before- people who were much less dangerous than Kakarot.' He nodded to them. 'Let me fight him.'

Launch was about to speak when Piccolo growled. 'I don't care _who_ among you does it- as _I_ intend to fight and kill Raditz- but if you want to survive this fight, one of you will need to kill Kakarot, if I haven't already done so myself.' With that, he distanced himself from them.

'Tien,' Launch finally said once Piccolo had withdrawn, 'I appreciate the gesture, but we shouldn't exactly be listening to what Piccolo is saying in this scenario. He's… not like us, alright?'

'He recognizes a threat and works to eliminate it.' Tien gave Launch an expressionless look. 'I don't see a difference between the two of us in that regard.'

Launch sighed and pinched her nose. 'Look, I know people can have checkered pasts, _trust me_ , I should know-'

She abruptly stopped talking; her and every present person's head craned to something in the distance to the front of them. 'Do you feel that?' She asked uneasily.

'I do,' Tien answered. 'It's a _slaughter_.'

Yamcha tightened his grip around Krillin. 'We need to go faster-'

'Nimbus is already flying at top speed,' Krillin announced solemnly. 'Has been from the beginning.'

Unsettled as they were, none of them noticed Piccolo's frowning face several feet to the right of them.

0o0o0

With his head buried in his arms, King Furry hadn't even heard the door to his modest office close. It was only when a hesitant staffer tapped him on the arm did he sigh and lift his haggard head. 'News?' he asked in a quiet voice.

The staffer swallowed and nodded. 'The attacks are virtually identical in form,' she said, handing a file to King Furry. 'Devastation linked to a single individual.' She swallowed again. 'My King, if this is anything to go by, then…'

'I know,' he said solemnly. 'We couldn't do anything last time. I doubt we'll be able to do anything now.' Abruptly, King Furry banged a fist into his desk, fury lighting his face. 'We should have known better!' He rose, fuming. 'Attacks like that don't just happen for no reason! They're part of a larger trend! What we should have done…' he said, tailing off.

'...Sir?' she asked once his anger had fully dissipated. 'I know your other advisors have offered alternative solutions- I know you've voiced opposition to them before, but perhaps I can bring them in-'

'-No,' he shook his head, sitting down. 'I won't endanger people's lives in order the _save_ their lives. No military operations, no bombings. I won't even hear the _mention_ of it again.'

'Then what do we do?'

King Furry looked at her, adjusting his glasses. 'Nothing, except maybe hope for a miracle. It's out of our hands…'

0o0o0

There was a knock at the door preceding a tired-looking Bulma entering the room. Somewhat sleepily, she blinked her eyes a few times before speaking. 'Hey,' she addressed Retu, who was sitting by Suno's unconscious side, 'I need you to do a favor.'

Retu hadn't seemed to have heard her enter, but upon her request he sighed and turned to her in his seat. 'What is it?' he asked flatly.

'You know Chi-Chi, right?'

'Sorta. I met her a few times.' Retu straightened in his seat. 'Why? Did she finally arrive for the party?'

'Uhh… yes,' Bulma said slowly. 'Can you join me in the hall for a moment?'

Retu squinted at her, but he obliged and stood on his crutches. A few seconds later and he exited the room. Before him, with a baby in her arms, Chi-Chi gave him a nervous smile. 'Hi…'

He glanced back-and-forth between the baby and Chi-Chi a few times. 'Huh.'

'Chi-Chi needs to get to East City very quickly,' Bulma explained to Retu. 'You've been testing the controls for the new FTVs, right?'

'That's correct, yes.'

'Would you say that "testing" is another word for "commanding knowledge"?' Bulma said, making explicit use of air quotes.

'...No… I wouldn't say that…' Retu said hesitantly, glancing between Chi-Chi and Bulma, 'but I get the feeling my opinion isn't very relevant at the moment…'

'Ding ding ding!' Bulma chimed like a bell. 'I can't fly because I am _horribly_ sleep deprived. You're the next best pilot, so…'

'Yeah, yeah,' Retu said, dismissively waving his hand toward Bulma. 'I understand. Shows what I get…' he grumbled.

'So you'll do it?' Chi-Chi asked.

Retu gave Chi-Chi a look. 'You know there's a big battle going on in East City, right? It's essentially a war zone.'

'Yes.'

'And you think you can help?'

Chi-Chi didn't hesitate. 'Yes.'

Retu looked at her for a moment. 'Alright. As long as you know what you're getting into, I'll fly.' He turned to Bulma. 'Keys, please.'

0o0o0

At a certain point, the distinction Kakarot maintained between his arm and the caustic energy that shot out from it blurred. He made no effort to choose his targets or go about what he was doing in an efficient way- instead, he gave in, utterly and totally, to his urges whenever they seized him. What looked like a mother and her son fleeing skirted across his vision; with one casual wave of his arm, they disappeared from existence. A car he despised seemed to explode under his gaze, throwing up a thousand jagged and sparking metal fragments into the air. A crowd of terrified people, trapped in a corner by the resulting explosion, was bisected by one of Kakarot's blast like a knife cutting through butter.

Never before had Kakarot felt such _satisfaction._ Seeing and hearing countless lives be extinguished by his own hand gave him a sickly sweet feeling in the pit of his stomach, warring against a deep, droning anxiety rapping against the inside of his skull. _What would Chi-Chi think of this? To see me doing this-_

 _No!_ He shot another blast out from his palm, screeching down a wide city block. _Get out of my head!_ Blasts rushed out from his palm, scattering away from him and initiating a cascade of explosions farther into the city. He quickly dove in deeper, his heart beating to match the frenzied, bloody scything through the city. _I am no tool! I have no master!_

Kakarot finally understood what he lacked- what his brother had tried to instill him. The indescribable rush of choosing whether someone lived or died simply on the basis of preference. The whisper of the wind as it took away the ash.

Perhaps he shouldn't be surprised. He had never tried to eradicate a whole city.

0o0o0

High above the carnage, Raditz watched intently as his brother charged and unleashed another catastrophic series of blasts into the city center. Kakarot now found himself deep within the city, packed so tightly among the frightened mass that no matter what direction he attacked, he was sure to kill _someone._

Raditz's mind was buzzing. _Things are going as planned, more or less._ Initially, he had been worried about his brother- _he had seen too much to like in this planet_ \- but, as it turns out, all he needed was a forceful kick towards the nearest population center. Watching his brother wreak such breakneck chaos was, needless to say, an encouraging sign to see. _Who knows how long it would have taken to break him back into our way of things otherwise…_ Even the thought of reteaching Kakarot basic Saiyan etiquette was exhausting for Raditz was consider. _Though this shouldn't be an issue now._ He watched as his brother dove through a skyscraper, using his _ki_ to slash a diagonal cut through the building. The upper part slid and crumpled to the ground below.

 _I'll have to reign him in eventually- can't have him killing every scientist on the planet. Someone has to build us a ship, after all. Perhaps those natives from earlier know someone-_

Raditz' scouter beeped- immediately, the Saiyan turned his attention to the west. Though he couldn't see it, five familiar signatures were closing in on the area. _Right on time. Let's get to it._

0o0o0

Before they could see the city, they could see smoke, then flames. Only after did ruined buildings and rubble start to bubble into existence below them did Nimbus, Tien, and Piccolo slow their speed. None of them said a word as they came to a stop in the remains of a once beatific plaza, now reduced to a burnt husk of its former self.

Standing in the middle, Kakarot faced them, one hand gripped around a severed appendage in his right arm. When he saw the newcomers, he tossed the leg away. To varying degrees, he recognized all of them- and smiled. 'Old friends…' he muttered to himself.

Disembarking last and shooing the cloud away, Krillin stepped forward, his gaze sweeping across the hellish landscape around them. Finally, he landed on Kakarot. 'You,' he seethed; a righteous fury began to boil up inside of him. 'Two times I let you live. Two times I thought better of both myself _and_ you. Most people don't receive a second chance, let alone _two_. And this!...' he swept his arms out to his sides, indicating the devastation surrounding them, 'this is what you do!' His yell roared out of him, bouncing off the wreckage all around them.

When Krillin's words finished echoing, Kakarot took a deep breath, filling his nostrils with the smell of his handiwork. 'Sometimes you limp along in life before finding your true calling. This,' he said as he stretched his arms to his surroundings, 'is _my_ calling.'

The scene of a deranged-looking Kakarot standing like a god before such a scene of carnage forever burned into their memories. 'You're… a monster,' Launch eventually said, her body churning with anger. 'The acts you've done today are beyond evil!...' She began rolling up the sleeves of her blue-and-black gi with such force that she actually ripped them _up_ her arms. 'Before you die you're going to know what it means to feel pain!' Next to her, Tien glared at Kakarot noiselessly, the only sign of his anger being the incessant twitching of his face.

While his friends were confronting the madman, Yamcha felt himself grow smaller in the back of the group. Everyone else had so easily either brushed aside Kakarot's actions or used them as a fuel to light a fire underneath them. Yamcha had done neither. Instead, his eyes were tracing every spot where a building should have been. _I've been here before…_ he mentally stammered to himself. _When this place was bright and beautiful and filled with happy faces… When the only misfortune that happened here was when I and people like me picked pockets._ In disbelief, he spun, taking in the full view of the city around them. _Is this really the same place?_

'You should all run while you have the chance,' Kakarot jeered at them. 'That way, there's a chance that _some_ of you manage to survive the day…'

Up until this point, Piccolo had been silent, but Kakarot's words seemed to briefly catch his attention. 'It's always sad to see vermin emboldened when propped up by a stronger slavemaster,' Piccolo said dismissively, his eyes tracking something in the sky.

Kakarot's nostrils flared, 'You'll regret that-'

Piccolo held up one hand, effectively silencing Kakarot. 'I don't deal with underlings.' Even as he narrowed his eyes at a rapidly descending figure, he turned to his human allies. 'One of you can deal with Kakarot on your own. The rest of us must strike Raditz head-on. Understood?'

'I understand _perfectly_ ,' Tien growled, stepping forward. 'Kakarot is mine. Once I kill him, I'll do the same for his brother.'

Piccolo seemed to smile at the former assassin's blunt viciousness. 'Then the rest of us will face Raditz. And none too soon…'

The aforementioned figure finally landed next to Kakarot, their wild black hair jostling from the impact. Smirking, Raditz eyed the newcomers. 'It's time you learned proper purging procedure, Kakarot.' Still smarting from the earlier verbal exchange, Kakarot side-eyed his brother. 'Rule number one,' Raditz said with the tact of a teacher, 'determine or confirm the strength of your opponents.' He promptly pressed a finger to the side of his scouter multiple times, once for each person arranged before them. 'Their power levels are 376, 348, 342, 291, and 276 respectively,' gesturing to Piccolo, Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, and Launch in that order. 'You claimed that reading I measured you at earlier wasn't your full power; should I assume the same for them as well?'

Kakarot nodded. 'They hide their power well. They could be twice as strong as what you're currently measuring.'

One of Raditz's eyebrows arched. 'Really? Color me intrigued.' With little effort, Raditz tapped into his own power, easily bringing most of his energy to the surface. 'Perhaps this will be a fight worth remembering, after all. Nonetheless,' Raditz continued, changing subjects, 'rule number two for purging planets: eliminate the elites among the natives to cripple their resistive efforts.' He gave a low chuckle. 'It makes the process _much_ easier _._ '

'Anything else I should know before we begin?' Kakarot asked, struggling to mask the excitement in his voice. _Side-by-side with my brother, defeating the demons of my past… what a splendid battle this will be!_

'Remember to keep them alive for a short time if possible,' Raditz replied, cracking his knuckles. 'I will have questions for the unlucky few that survive to the end…'

Across from the two Saiyans, Yamcha felt uneasy at the lack of discussion going on among his teammates- it was deadly quiet on their side of the plaza. 'Shouldn't we be talking strategy?' Yamcha asked anxiously. 'Surely we're not going to just jump in there blind, right?'

A quick scan of his friends' faces told Yamcha that they were far too angry to strategize. Piccolo didn't even bother looking at the scar-faced human. 'Stay out of my way,' he said bluntly, 'and we'll get along _fine._ '

Discouraged, Yamcha lapsed back into silence.

Raditz made brief contact with Kakarot; the next moment, the fight roared into life.

0o0o0

There was a faint knock at Rayne's door before Bulma slinked it, looking like she was on the verge of collapsing. 'Hey…' she said, clearly exhausted. 'How are you holding up?'

'Uhh…' Rayne replied. 'Okay. You?'

'Great…' Bulma muttered as she collapsed into a chair propped next to Rayne's bed. 'I've had the craziest day…'

'I can imagine.' Rayne briefly glanced out the window. 'It never feels good sending friends to fight alone…'

'Hmm?' Bulma made some sort of surprised sound. 'No, not that.'

Rayne cocked her head and turned back to Bulma, curious. 'Then what?'

'Oh, Chi-Chi showed up. With a baby.'

'What baby?'

'Her baby.'

Rayne took a moment to physically shake her head in shock before asking, 'When? And who's the father?'

'I would guess the baby is a few months old. And the father is Kakarot.'

'Kakarot? _Kakarot?_ ' Rayne said, barely containing her shock. 'I… can't believe that. Where is she?'

'East city. Or going, that is.'

Upon hearing this, Rayne nearly tumbled out of her bed in shock. 'She… what!?' she gasped, trying to stem the wave of pain flowing through her. 'She's going to East City? And you let her!?'

'She's a grown woman,' Bulma explained calmly, 'she-'

'No!' Rayne yelled. 'She's bringing a baby to a battlefield! Don't you see the problem with that?'

Truthfully, Bulma did not. For the first few seconds, at least. 'Oh…' she said, her eyes widening. 'Yeah… I forgot… there's probably a pitch-battle happening there as we speak. Whoops…'

'Whoops!?' Rayne screamed. Then, with visible pain on her face, Rayne surged to a standing position, barely keeping herself upright. When Bulma rushed to Rayne's side to help her to stand, she was batted away. 'Get your fastest ship!' Rayne commanded Bulma. 'We're going to East City immediately to put a stop to this!'

'But you said it yourself that there's a battle going on there!' Bulma protested. 'And you're injured! And…' she added quietly, 'I kinda already gave Chi-Chi my fastest ship…'

'Then get your second fastest ship!' Rayne rumbled through clenched teeth. 'This instant!'

0o0o0

Piccolo, flanked by Launch and Krillin, charged straight at Raditz. The Saiyan conqueror smirked as he backpedaled with their momentum, deflecting a series of blows from Piccolo before slamming a palm to the demon's chest, staggering him. Once this reprieve was granted, Krillin and Launch surrounded Raditz, each one trying to land a blow, but with careless ease Raditz dodged their strikes and then spun 180 degrees, lashing each on them in the face with a fist. As Piccolo steadied himself and Krillin and Launch rushed to pick themselves off the ground, Raditz whipped his head back and gave a deep laugh. 'You'll have to _flail_ better than that!'

While the four of them occupied the center of the plaza, Tien had pursued Kakarot as he ran off to the side. When Kakarot reached a building, however, he jumped and bounced off the wall and twisted, leading with his right leg. Far from being caught flat-footed, however, Tien halted and grabbed Kakarot's leg mid-flight, swinging the startled saiyan and slamming him into the ground. As soon as Kakarot landed on the plaza's cobbles, he bucked like a horse, crashing against Tien's block and pushing the human back some. Kakarot quickly jumped off the ground, surging forward with a heavy punch. Tien wasn't fazed as he caught the fist in one palm. 'Haaah!' Tien yelled as he twisted, lurching Kakarot off his feet and throwing him back to the ground again. As Kakarot sputtered and gnashed his face on the ground, Tien stomped one leg onto Kakarot's back. 'You're going to die here!' he roared.

Two more stomps came down on Kakarot's back. On the third, however, Kakarot rolled and grabbed the human's leg between his hands. 'Brave words!' Kakarot yelled, before snarling and twisting Tien's leg painfully to one side, jostling Tien's knee and throwing the human warrior off balance. Kakarot was fast to stand and threw himself back on the offensive.

While these two engagements were occurring, Yamcha initially hesitated jumping into the fray. When he glimpsed Krillin get backhanded into a ruined building, however, he shook himself out of his stupor. _I won't let anyone die today! Not again!_ With that, he blasted into combat.

0o0o0

As Rayne was being wheeled out on a stretcher by an utterly exhausted Bulma, Yajirobe intercepted them on the landing pad of their plane. 'Hey!' he yelled as he ran up from behind them. 'Don't leave without me!'

Both of them gave him a suspicious look. 'You're coming?' Bulma asked, halting.

'Yes!' He glared when neither of them dropped their looks. 'It's not that surprising, damn it! I'm a fighter too!'

Bulma briefly looked at Rayne, then sighed. 'I don't have the energy to argue about that, unless you want me to cause a fatal plane crash. You,' she swung to Yajirobe, 'stay in the back. Is that clear?'

He nodded eagerly, like a kid allowed to go on a school trip. 'Alright!' He cheered, throwing a fist up in the air. 'Let's go!'

From her stretcher, Rayne groaned. 'An eager Yajirobe… Kami help us…'

0o0o0

After Launch was elbowed in the gut and doubled over to the ground, Piccolo found himself facing Raditz alone. The demon grinned. 'Are you ready to meet your end?' he taunted, as he clenched his arms and lowered himself to the ground. 'Prepare yourself!' Thick coils of purple energy began to surround Piccolo, snaking up and around his body. The air felt heavy, as if a thick rain was about to patter down.

Unimpressed, Raditz idly watched the number on his scouter rise, first hitting 500, then 600, then- 'What!?' Raditz exclaimed in disbelief as the number kept rising. 'Where is this power coming from!?'

Piccolo's only reply was a fanged smile- the next moment, he raked the ground in between himself and Raditz, throwing up a cloud of smoke.

Raditz held back for a moment, trusting that his scouter would detect any sort of energy attack his opponent might launch. In that split-second second of hesitation, however, a green limb shot out through the smoke, lengthening like a cable and grabbing Raditz by the collar of his armor. Caught unprepared, Raditz felt himself be wrenched off his feet and pulled into the cloud of smoke. Before he could do anything else, he sighted another limb speeding towards him, similar to how the other limb had stretched before. A threatening purple glow emanated from the second's surface.

'DEMON LASH!' A deafening explosion sounded from within the cloud of smoke, pushing away Piccolo's limbs from the impact zone. Confident that his attack had hit, Piccolo charged into the still-expanding debris cloud, intending to follow-up on his previous attack.

He made it a few feet before a muscled arm crashed horizontally across his gut, knocking him backward out of the cloud. A gust of wind then buffeted his front, dispersing the dust in the air across the plaza.

Now visible, Raditz retracted his right arm casually. Chips of armor were flaking off near his midsection, but other than that he looked utterly unharmed by Piccolo's attack. 'Clever trick,' Raditz mocked, 'but cleverness is useless without the strength to back it up.'

Growling, Piccolo sprung forward again.

Nearby, Tien found himself deflecting a number of quick, stinging attacks from Kakarot. _It's like he fights without any tactics or strategy…_ Tien's line of thought was interrupted as a stunningly strong punch rammed against his blocking shoulder, causing his entire body to shake. _But because of that, he's so hard to counter!..._

Guessing that Kakarot would next try to strike his midsection, Tien hastily turned and brought up a block around his chest. Thus, he was shocked when a strike crashed against his legs and washed him off his feet, sending him tumbling to the ground. Before he could get a bearing on his surroundings, a leg pinned him to the cobbles. Behind a sickly red glow, Kakarot's grin was leering down at him. 'Farewell! It was a _pleasure_ -'

A leg crashed against Kakarot's side, knocking him off Tien and sending him careening into the nearest walled remain of a building. Tien felt a hand grasp his own a second later and lift him off the ground.

'Thanks for that,' Tien said to Yamcha, who kept his gaze locked on Kakarot, 'but I think you would be better used elsewhere.'

Yamcha looked at him skeptically. 'You looked like you were in trouble there for a second.'

'His style is unconventional.' The wind abruptly kicked into life around him, as Tien's features assumed a strange glow to them. 'But his power doesn't compare to mine. Go help the others.'

Yamcha gave him a hard stare, then nodded, running off. By this point, Kakarot had disentangled himself from the wall he had been planted into. An angry glare rounded his face. 'Coward,' he said, spitting.

Wordlessly, Tien lowered himself to the ground and charged at Kakarot once more.

0o0o0

What Krillin reckoned to be a minute passed before he got a hold of his senses again. Groaning, he noted that his body had been used to splinter a desk in half. _That was unpleasant…_ Removing himself of the rubble as fast as he could, he ran back outside to the plaza.

In the distance, he saw Tien and Kakarot locked in a brutal brawl, limbs and blocks crashing forcefully off of each other. Closer to Krillin, he saw Piccolo and Raditz squaring off- but it was eminently clear that Raditz was toying with the demon. Piccolo was moving arguably twice as slow as the Saiyan invader.

Near the two combatants, Launch was writhing in agony on the ground. _She's not getting up anytime soon._

Belatedly, Krillin noticed a figure creeping around to Raditz's backside, a dull light shimmering off their forward arm.

Another blow crashed into Piccolo. _A distraction, then!_ Krillin charged forward.

0o0o0

'Feeling tired?' Raditz mocked as he appeared behind Piccolo and smacked him in the back, pushing the demon a few feet forward. Just as he brought up another limb to smash the demon to the ground, a kick rammed into the back of his right leg, nearly causing Raditz to topple over. Snarling, he turned to face the assailant, swinging a fist diagonally- but Krillin had anticipated this and had ducked to the right prior to landing a heavy shoulder-ram into Raditz's chest. Flailing, Raditz truly lost his balance this time, as he frantically tried to backpedal backward. Inadvertently, this caused him to smash his back into Piccolo, jarring them both on their way down to the ground.

Raditz was quick to retaliate; he jumped up (using Piccolo as the springboard) and delivered a forceful punch into Krillin's gut, causing the human warrior to gag up a bit of blood. 'Was it worth it to momentarily flip me on my back, human?' Raditz snarled as he twisted his fist deeper into Krillin's gut.

With a streak of blood trailing across his teeth and out of the corner of his mouth, Krillin flashed a smile. 'As a matter of fact, yes!' He then twisted out of Raditz's reach, using his smaller height to duck beneath a reaching grab.

The next thing Raditz knew, his backside was lit aflame as a rapid pace of blows crashed and cracked against his armor. 'WOLF!' Yamcha yelled from behind the Saiyan, as his body started to burn and shake from the amount of energy he was storing. Raditz made an effort to turn, but amazingly, he felt two arms grip him by his waist and flip him in mid-air, completely scrambling any sense of location. 'FANG!' Yamcha delivered a series of crushing swipes into Raditz's midsection, utterly obliterating any sense of invulnerability Raditz' armor had had before. Raditz barely had time to breathe before he felt another pair of arms flip him again, now again facing away from his attacker.

'FIST!' Yamcha brought one arm back and absolutely slammed it into Raditz's back, releasing a pent-up collection of energy that took the ethereal form of a wolf biting down on the Saiyan's body. A brief explosion sounded, followed by Raditz's body spinning away from the impact.

As this was happening, Yamcha stood motionless for a second. He has worked hard to improve what moves he had in the past two years, even if it meant he didn't have the time to create any new ones. More than anything else, however, he had worked to improve his Wolf Fang Fist. Historically, he always felt he had excess energy ready to release by the end of the move.

He smirked. _Tough luck, buddy._ With a quick raise of his arm, a blue lance of energy erupted from Yamcha's arm, crashing against Raditz's backside and causing a deafening _booomm_ that briefly enveloped the Saiyan with bright light.

0o0o0

Piccolo had regrouped as best as he could, expecting another imminent blow from the Saiyan, but to his surprise he glimpsed Raditz thump into a still-intact skyscraper, knocking away whatever structural integrity the building still had and causing it to collapse. Curious, the demon scanned the battlefield. The smaller human, Krillin, was on one knee, obviously recovering from an earlier attack. Tien and Kakarot were engaged in combat farther away. Launch was still on the ground.

That left the grinning, cocky human, who was flexing his right hand back and forth as if he had just shot a gun. Piccolo vaguely remembered once complimenting that idiot's fighting acumen. Perhaps there was something constructive behind his intended insult at the World Tournament, after all.

0o0o0

Kakarot's head craned to one side, just catching the sight of his brother speeding out of sight.

Tien immediately capitalized this, launching a quick series of jabs at Kakarot's shoulder that nearly wrenched it out of its socket. Grimacing, Kakarot twisted, intending to smash his other arm's elbow into the overextended Tien, but the Crane fighter effortlessly caught the blow. Tien quickly surged forward and rammed a knee into Kakarot's abdomen, causing the Saiyan's body to warp around the blow. Three more impacting strikes and Kakarot was skidding across the ground, his sternum aching from receiving such a devastating series of blows. Not finished, Tien leveled one finger towards the Saiyan and released a quick burst of dodon rays, each one drilling into a section of Kakarot's chest and burning a hole through the patchy brown shirt that covered his chest.

Staggering from the assault, Kakarot was totally unprepared as Tien appeared behind him and pressed a hand to his back. 'Hyaaah!' Tien yelled as a golden blast point-blank blasted Kakarot in the back, bunting the Saiyan into the air with a wisp of smoke dogging him.

The battle's length had started to wear on Kakarot. He landed several feet away and struggled to get up at first. His shirt totally unraveled, falling off of his chest and to the ground. Tien, whose face was utterly bent into a menacing shape, strode towards his opponent.

0o0o0

Some time passed before Launch was able to push her awareness beyond the immediate and piercing pain of her own body; when this occurred, she became aware of a few things. First, everyone was still alive. _I guess there's still a reason for me to get up._ Two, Raditz was absent from the plaza. _So, either he's preparing to destroy the entire area, or he's been pushed out temporarily. Either way…_ She made a few agonizing attempts to stand- every time, she fell back on her butt, spasming from the pain emanating from her gut.

A few seconds later, she felt someone lift her to her feet.

'One hit…' she mumbled as Krillin steadied her. Even with his support, she found it difficult to stand. 'One hit I wasn't prepared for, and he nearly KOs me…'

Krillin found it within himself to give her a mischievous smile. 'Discouraged?' he asked.

'Me?' Launch gave Krillin a pained grin. 'Never.'

Krillin went silent then, his eyes glimpsing something beyond Launch. 'Good to hear…' he started saying, then mouthed.

0o0o0

In the gloom, Raditz meticulously examined the last displayed number of his scouter. _850\. That puny human from before, who could only muster a strength of 291, just peaked at 850._ Perturbed, Raditz's mind lingered on this detail. _Such potential..._

At that moment, he made an abrupt shift in thought. _These earthlings aren't very durable. But give them enough time to collect their energy, and they're a real threat…_

Professionally, Raditz rose and walked out onto the plaza.

0o0o0

Krillin, Launch, Piccolo, and Yamcha were silent as Raditz emerged into the day's light. Coming out at an angle, both sides of his body were briefly visible to them. In the front, the armor pressed against his muscular chest was chipped and frayed, as if a hundred clawed hands had scraped across it. Despite this, the armor still looked structurally sound.

Raditz's backside was an entirely different story. In about a one-foot radius, the armor was utterly gone from his back, exposing charred, welting skin to the day's air. All around this supposed double-impact of Yamcha's attack were cracks and fissures in the armor, running out from the center like lightning.

Eerily, he appeared undisturbed by the recent turn of events. 'Now then…' he growled, before locking his eyes on a distant fight across the plaza and vanishing.

0o0o0

As Kakarot's hands scraped across the ground, his mind roiled with indignation. _This is outrageous! A human beating me?_ His newly awoken Saiyan pride burned with fury. _I won't have it!_

Spinning, Kakarot intended to rush Tien and slam a twisting kick, but his kick swung through the fighter. The next second, a blow crashed against his back, knocking the Saiyan flat on his face.

This time, as Kakarot took his time to stand yet again, the air around him shifted. His instincts screamed- frantically, he rolled onto his back.

About twenty feet away from Kakarot, Tien had arranged his hand into a triangle, energy crackling around his hands. 'This is your end!' Tien roared as the wind kicked up and whipped across Kakarot. Sensing that the human was collecting enough energy to actually _kill_ him, Kakarot began to panic, desperately pushing himself off the ground-

But it was too little, too late. Tien's hands raised incrementally to track the Saiyan, right before a solid triangle of energy formed within it. 'TRI-BEAM, HAH!' Like a three-dimensional object sliding into reality, a triangular prism shot out from between Tien's hands, obfuscating Tien from Kakarot's sight. An overwhelming light filled Kakarot's vision, conspiring with the thundering sound rolling off of it to completely close off his sensation to the rest of the world.

In those few brief seconds of sensory turmoil, as Kakarot made peace with his end, he felt surprised towards his own feeling of sadness. He would miss this world. _But no more conflict. Sad, but no more-_

The light flowing past Kakarot suddenly faltered, causing him to open his eyes in response. Standing before Kakarot, Raditz stood like a statue, raising one hand towards the center of the blast.

A circular red blast erupted from Raditz's palm, clashing with, then pushing the tri-beam into the sky and off-course. Some hundred feet in the air, the two blasts finally failed and exploded, detonating in a massive cloud of energy. Kakarot felt himself be pushed back to the ground by the residual force of the explosion.

Tien panted, his muscled arms drooping down. 'Damn,' he said, biting his lip, before realizing what was about to happen as Raditz flashed him a threatening smile. _Damn..._

Faster than anyone present could track, Raditz appeared behind Tien and wrapped his arms around the human warrior, bear-hugging him from behind. Tien cried as he felt his feet lift off the ground and his chest and arms compress to a dangerously small size.

For a second, it seemed that Raditz was intending to draw out whatever he had planned to do to Tien, but as soon as Tien's body was off the ground, the Saiyan committed one quick and forceful hug, so quick as to be unseen if not for the audible sound of bones breaking echoing across the plaza.

Tien gasped once- then fell out of Raditz's arms and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Frowning, Raditz regarded the fallen warrior, before turning to the rest of his opponents. 'No. More. Games.'

Raditz's leg then crashed down on Tien's chest, filling the air with a horrifying crunching sound.

* * *

A/N: Sorry to leave you with this cliffhanger, but… that's my writing style, I think. I like to make chapters as distinct from each other as possible.

But things are kicking into high gear! Endgame is endgaming! Prepare for the end.

 **Reviews:**

 **Luke:** Yep… not exactly great.

 **OneofTen:** Hello again! My one of ten fans delivers yet again! Hope you enjoyed what Raditz brought to the table this chapter.


	41. Desperate Measures

Endgame

Chapter 41: Desperate Measures

A/N: Happy Thursday! This chapter was bloating real good, so I cut it in half and moved the rest to the next chapter.

Speaking of which, next Saturday will conclude _Endgame_. INSANE!

* * *

In a matter of seconds, Tien had been dispatched like he was _nothing._ Morale amongst the Earth's defenders precipitously dropped.

Raditz turned to one side and faced his still-cowering brother. 'Rule number three for purging planets, Kakarot: take a captive. They tend to come in handy.'

Kakarot nervously glanced back and forth between his brother and the man who had previously threatened his life. _Just like that..._

'Now then,' Raditz barked as he turned back towards everyone else and rested one leg on Tien's chest. 'Here's what's going to happen. This fight in its current iteration is going to end _._ I tire of whatever…' he made a groping motion with his hands, '..this pitiful display is.'

Reflexively, Piccolo scoffed. 'This battle ends when we say it does!' he growled.

Krillin decoupled himself from Launch and bent low to the ground, preparing to charge. 'You think we're going to let you leave after what you've done?' Krillin asked, a harshness in his voice.

Raditz raised one solitary finger and wagged it, silencing both of them. 'Nah, ah, ah…' Raditz's leg pressed down on Tien's chest, causing a series of unconscious, wailing cries of pain to erupt from the fighter. 'If you attack me,' Raditz said cooly, 'he dies. From the brief time I've spent on this planet, and from my countless other trips to planets filled with similarly idealistic fools, I know that death is… unwanted. You wouldn't want to _kill_ one of your own, would you?'

When both of them seemed to freeze, Raditz smiled. 'Ahh… so I've found something you _do_ respond to, after all,' Raditz gazed down deliciously at his captive, who continued to labor to breath. He then again turned to one side. 'Kakarot,' he beckoned to his brother, 'come here.'

Now standing, Kakarot cautiously came to Raditz's side, not unlike a servant coming to their master's side. 'Brother,' he began to say, 'we can win this fight-'

In one violent motion, Raditz's fist cracked downwards on Kakarot's back, sending Kakarot sprawling to the ground. 'You speak when needed,' Raditz reprimanded his brother. ' _On your own_ , you couldn't defeat a human warrior; you dare suggest to _me_ what _we_ should do? Know your place.'

Wheezing, Kakarot remained prone on the cobbles. It was unclear whether he chose to do so.

'Unbelievable,' Raditz spat, shaking his head. 'You nearly die to this human, and yet you think to give _me_ advice?' Annoyed that Kakarot had not yet stood, Raditz reached down and wrenched Kakarot up by his hair. 'A Saiyan does not cower,' Raditz hissed, roughly shaking Kakarot for emphasis. 'Nor do they talk _up_ the chain of command. Before we leave this planet, you'll have to learn this…'

While this was going on between the two Saiyan brothers, Krillin edged closer to Piccolo and began to whisper. 'I know that we have substantial differences of opinion,' Krillin began before swinging his intense gaze towards Piccolo, 'but if you do _anything_ to endanger Tien's life, you're not going to live through this battle.'

'Stow your fears.' Piccolo said dismissively. 'I have no intention of letting an ally die while they may still be of use to me.' Piccolo swung his own gaze towards Krillin. 'And I relish the moment Raditz is dead so that we may formally settle who deserved to die that day.'

The hairs on Krillin's neck stood up at this statement. He glared back at the demon and nodded.

'Regardless,' Raditz continued after a moment, releasing his grip from Kakarot's hair and letting his brother back onto the ground, 'I need you to turn your attention to something else, Kakarot.' Raditz then swung back to address his opponents. 'It has come to my attention that my brother, Kakarot, is an atrocious fighter.'

Everyone gave him empty stares. 'What?' Krillin expressed, genuinely confused.

'He needs to see how a proper warrior fights. To that end, as weak as he is, Kakarot will now assume the role of "boot" pressing down on your friend here. While he is doing so, he will also watch me fight each of you one-on-one-' Raditz paused, thinking for a split-second. 'Two-on-one if I find myself becoming bored. If _any_ of you violate this rule, or try to attack Kakarot and free my captive, I will make it my _mission_ to kill your friend here if Kakarot hasn't already done so.'

At the mention of his job, Kakarot gave a weak nod, obviously still pained from Raditz's earlier strike.

Raditz clapped his hands in anticipation. 'So! Who shall face me first? I promise not to be too harsh! No-one is allowed to die before I've demonstrated a few things to Kakarot!'

Launch and Krillin exchanged a look with each other, each considering whether to take up Raditz's offer. _Fighting in such a manner would nullify any advantage we have…_ Launch and Krillin both approximately thought. _There has to be something else we can do…_

Piccolo, ignoring them, was about to volunteer when someone else beat him to it. 'I'll go first,' Yamcha announced as he took one step forward. A confident smirk was plastered across his face. 'If I hurt him once, I'll do it again-'

A powerful blast of wind drowned out his words as Raditz slammed a kick into Yamcha's body, launching him away from the battle at a blistering speed. A few seconds after Yamcha had disappeared, a resounding impact sounded from deeper in the city.

'Sorry,' Raditz faux-apologized, 'but he was starting to annoy me.'

0o0o0

Retu landed the plane just on the edge of the city in a field of green grass. He couldn't take the plane any closer- thick plumes of smoke made that impossible.

After peeking her head into the cockpit and waving thanks to Retu, Chi-Chi very quickly walked down the exit ramp and stepped outside. It was only after Retu's plane had vertically lifted itself off the ground and began to chug away into the distance did the self-doubt set it. Now that she was much closer to the battle, she could sense the massive clash going on in the heart of the city. She pressed a sleeping Gohan closer to her chest; amazingly, he had remained that way during the entire flight.

 _Maybe I should have listened to dad…_ She knew the optics of bringing a baby to a battlefield would always look bad to someone else, but now she wondered whether _doing_ it was wise as well. If it was true that Kakarot had linked up with one of his own, then how was she supposed to get his attention without being detected by both of them? _Oh, Gohan…_

But she knew further thought would waste more time. _And during that time, more cities are going to look like the one before me._

As she tried to think of a plan that didn't put herself and Gohan into mortal danger, she failed to notice a distant entity speed through the air and crash to the ground north of the city.

0o0o0

Piccolo genuinely laughed as he watched the cocky human be put in his place- several miles away.

Raditz was surprised to see this. 'You don't care for these humans?' he asked from across the plaza.

'Hah? Care?' Piccolo gripped his hat and cape, unburdening his person of both and tossing them to the side. 'Does a king care for the dirt underneath his feet?'

A wicked smile rose on Raditz's face. 'Ah, now you see, I can understand that.'

Their banter lingered in the air for a time. Any brief amiability it had generated for each other was violently discarded, however, when they both appeared in the center of the plaza, forearm-to-forearm. Struggling against one another, Piccolo summoned every reserve of power he possessed, but no matter how much energy he pushed into the grapple, Raditz, who was roughly the same height of Piccolo, matched him ounce-for-ounce, smiling maliciously all the while.

Eventually, realizing that he was getting nowhere, Piccolo disengaged by twisting Raditz to the side and swinging one fanged hand across his chest. Raditz moved imperceptibly fast, however, and caught the hand, twisting it at the wrist painfully. 'Already given up on brute strength, huh?'

Piccolo looked like he was gagging on something for a minute, almost as if Raditz has clamped his hand around the demon's neck. Confused, Raditz was surprised when Piccolo's expression straightened, then broke apart, as Piccolo's jaw hinged open and a blast of energy shot from his mouth and detonated against Raditz's front.

The smoke briefly obscured Raditz, giving Piccolo a chance to jump backward. _That should give me some time, before-_ Piccolo's line of thought was cut off as an elbow surged out of the smoke and crashed against his head, snapping his body to the ground.

'Sorry,' Raditz said as smoke wreathed around and past his features like slow-moving mist, 'but that was just _pitiful_. You saw that, right Kakarot?'

0o0o0

Krillin watched this brief exchange with willful ignorance, hoping that, somehow, Piccolo would find a way to match Raditz one-on-one. When he saw Piccolo be nonchalantly knocked to the ground, however, Krillin cast aside any blind optimism he may have had. _If we play by his rules, he'll kill us one-by-one…_ His gaze briefly flitted over to Tien, who remained unconscious underneath one of Kakarot's legs. _But if I move now, Kakarot could very easily kill Tien…_ Krillin forcefully shut his eyes, internally screaming to himself. _Aaaah! Tien! What would you do in this situation!_

As stressed as he was, an immediate answer popped into Krillin's mind. _He would want me to fight without his wellbeing in mind if it improved our chances to win. That's a big_ _ **if**_ _, though…_

Krillin watched as Piccolo was battered by a series of heavy punches, the last one driving him up against a wall. Piccolo snarled, twisting away from the building at the last second and jumping in the air, but Raditz reached his side almost instantaneously and backhanded him to the ground. Piccolo crashed into the ground and formed a shallow trench in the plaza with his body.

 _Piccolo isn't tying Raditz up in the slightest. If I go after Kakarot, then Raditz effortlessly moves to me. Can't do that. But if I move to Raditz, will Kakarot come after me?..._

Another heavy punch slammed into Piccolo, this time nearly wrenching Piccolo's blocking arm out of its socket.

 _Damnit!_ Krillin charged forward, seeing that Raditz had his back turned to him. _This is my best shot!_

Just as Krillin reached Raditz, the Saiyan turned to him. 'I'll allow it!' Raditz said as he jumped over a leg sweep and rocked his leg upwards, slamming his foot into Krillin's chest. While in the air, he spun and deflected a chop from Piccolo. 'Now I'm actually trying!'

As Piccolo seized the brief initiative to throw a flurry of ineffectual strikes at Raditz, who for his part effortlessly dodged back-and-forth between them, Krillin slowed himself and started to collect energy into his palm.

Raditz's scouter very quickly beeped. 'Excuse me for a moment!' Raditz said to Piccolo before headbutting the demon and rocking him back.

Krillin blinked and Raditz appeared before him in the air, a sickening smile on his face. 'Sorry, but no more of that!' Raditz then gripped the human by both shoulders and rammed his entire knee blindingly fast into Krillin's gut. The human had no chance to register what had just happened before Raditz tossed him away like a piece of trash. He landed onto the ground with a soft _thump._

0o0o0

As Launch watched Piccolo and Krillin valiantly try to land a hit on Raditz, she wildly pushed her mind to think of something, _anything_ , that could turn the tide in their favor. It was increasingly clear that she wasn't as strong as everyone else present- she doubted she could even give Kakarot a proper fight now, as pained as she was.

Which put her in a unique position. _No one really expects anything out of me..._

A plan was coming along in her mind, but she would need some sort of opportunity, a distraction maybe, in order to carry it out.

Yamcha hadn't yet returned from the earlier blow that had sent him sailing through the air. Krillin and Piccolo were far too consumed with trying to stay alive. And Tien was still unconscious, trapped underneath Kakarot's heel.

She saw Krillin crash against the ground, simultaneous with Piccolo being thrashed back-and-forth by Raditz. They needed to turn the tide of battle, and soon.

0o0o0

Faster than Piccolo could react, a chorus of blows struck his body, each one sending his feet skidding across the cobbles. Raditz delivered one last punch- bending but not breaking Piccolo's ribcage- before shifting his weight onto his back foot. 'Buh-bye,' he said, firing a quick ball of purple energy straight into Piccolo's chest. The blast instantly detonated and propelled Piccolo's flailing body straight into a pile of rubble.

Satisfied, Raditz inspected his immediate surroundings. _The small one is down, the woman is barely standing, the tall one is still under Kakarot's heel… and no sign of the one with the scar. Excellent._

After moving towards the center of the plaza, Raditz made a wiping motion with his hands. 'Well, that was fun,' he spoke so everyone present could hear. 'I actually worked up a sweat there for a few moments. But it's time to punish rulebreakers.'

Nearby, Krillin propped himself up on one arm, his body trembling. 'Wh-what are you talking about?' he asked, the strain of speaking clear in his voice.

Raditz affixed his gaze towards Krillin. 'You broke the rules. I didn't permit your little stunt- I entertained it.' A shadow seemed to pass over Raditz's face. 'And it's ceased to be funny. Of course,' Raditz said, adopting a more jovial tone, 'none of you were going to leave this place alive even if you hadn't done that. But, at the very least, you've decided who I should kill first…'

While Raditz let that last sentence hang in the air, Kakarot struggled to suppress a growing sense of resentment. _Damn him! He treats me like a child! This planet was originally_ _ **my**_ _responsibility, not his!_

'Kakarot!' Raditz barked at his brother, snapping him out of his thoughts. 'Crush in the tall one's chest!'

Kakarot briefly glared, then nodded. Swinging his head, he moved his gaze to the unconscious person beneath him. To Kakarot's surprise, however, Tien had one shaking hand raised over his head. 'Solar… Flare…' he mumbled weakly before a weak flare of light flooded the plaza.

'Aaargh!' Kakarot yelled, feeling a burning sensation encompass his eyeballs. Stumbling blind, he moved away from Tien's mangled body.

Raditz, who was farther away, was afflicted to a lesser degree- less painful, but still as debilitating. _Dammit it all! When did he come to!_

0o0o0

It appeared that Launch had been the only one to notice Tien waking up; Raditz and Kakarot held their hands protectively over their eyes, while Piccolo and Krillin most likely languished in a rubble pile nearby. Tien must have used an incredible amount of willpower to keep quiet- and thus, undetected- while preparing to use the Solar Flare; his voice immediately devolved into an aching moan after the words had left his mouth. But it had been enough. Regardless, Launch found herself to be the only person in the plaza not blinded in the aftermath of the attack.

She quickly broke into a run, intending to capitalize on the opportunity. She was still in an incredible amount of pain, but the long reprieve given to her had allowed her to collect her strength. She could put her plan into action.

Her run took her right up to Kakarot. With one forceful shove, she pushed Kakarot even further away from Tien's body. She then swooped down and picked Tien up in her arms. Several seconds later, she had placed his body beneath a pile of rubble on the outskirts of the plaza. It seemed that he had again slipped into unconsciousness. _It'll have to do._

As she ran back, she noticed Raditz start to rub his eyes- a tell-tale sign that he would soon regain his vision. _Oh well…_

Launch stopped mere inches away from Raditz, his hands on the verge of lifting from his face-

And she threw a physical wave of _ki_ up at Raditz's head, sweeping across his face and lifting the scouter from Raditz's head. The device floated high into the sky, before being pushed to the side and down by an errant gust of wind. It clacked across the cobbles and came to a stop on the extreme end of the plaza.

Launch herself lost track of where the scouter had gone. _Good. I doubt I could have destroyed that thing-_

A fist swung down, crashing against Launch's chest and smashing her body into the cobbles.

0o0o0

'Damn,' Raditz said groggily, looking down at the person he had reflex hit into the ground. 'that was annoying.' He was surprised to see the woman unconscious at his feet. _Wonder how, or why, she was-_

He realized that the color of his left eye seemed off. More accurately, everything looked a bit more naturally lit to him. Growling, he reached for his scouter-

It was gone. HIs hand groped the area around his head fruitlessly before curling into a fist. _It's gone!_ Fuming, he swung his attention to the woman on the ground, using his free hand to grab her and lift her by the front of her _gi_. A ball of energy burgeoned into life in his other. 'Where is it!?' He threatened, holding back his attack mere inches from Launch's face.

She coughed once, blood spraying onto Raditz's face.

Snarling, Raditz drew back his hand, preparing to blast the woman to oblivion. Just before he twisted it forward, however, he felt someone grip his arm from behind and bend it upwards slightly, loosing the attack harmlessly into the air.

Over his shoulder, a familiar voice rumbled. 'Who said you could ignore me-' Piccolo suddenly growled, deepening his voice '-the ONE and ONLY RULER OF THIS PLANET!' With a great heave, Piccolo pulled Raditz away from Launch, forcing the Saiyan to drop her back to the ground. Piccolo then lifted and slammed Raditz to the ground, eliciting a small gasp of pain as cobbles skittered away from Raditz's already injured back. Ignoring the brief blip of pain, Raditz surged back to his feet fast enough to catch a kick between his left arm and his chest. 'Did you need this?' He taunted, tightening his grip on the trapped appendage.

A whooshing of air near his head alerted Raditz; he quickly pivoted and caught a fist with his other arm, barely preventing it from crashing into his neck. A small droplet of sweat dripped from his chin. _The small one, too!?_ Krillin and Piccolo both looked like wrecks- bright, bloody streaks of red and purple respectively ran up and down their bodies- and yet here they were, their mere act of standing an act of resistance towards Raditz.

The three of them remained motionless for a moment, each struggling in each other's grips.

'Damn you both!' Raditz roared, his eyes glancing back and forth between the two fighters. _How are they still getting up?!_ 'You'll die!' He seethed, venting his anger. 'You'll all die!' Raditz ultimately wrenched himself away from them, jumping out towards one end of the plaza. Piccolo and Krillin followed in quick pursuit.

0o0o0

Kakarot regained his vision in tortuous bursts, each one sending his mind spinning with sensory agony. As the world slowly returned to him, he realized that he was propped up on his hands and knees, panting towards the cobbles. Slowly, he forced his head upwards, adjusting his eyes to the day's painful light.

Across the plaza, his brother expertly dodged in-between the strikes of Piccolo and Krillin, but something was preventing Raditz from properly counterattacking. Attacks that Raditz would have exploited effortlessly just a few minutes ago were now… not being exploited. For the first time since he had arrived on Earth, it seemed to Kakarot that Raditz was actually _trying._ A permanent scowl of concentration was plastered to his brother's face- somehow, the earthlings had made the fight much more equitable.

Kakarot snorted. _For all the good it will do for them. Once I even out the teams-_

His thoughts got no further as a blow smacked into the back of his skull, pitching him back into blackness.

0o0o0

Yamcha spat on Kakarot as he dropped to the ground, unconscious. _That's for breaking my arm, my leg, and this city._ His lengthy journey back to the plaza had made his blood boil. _Raditz should have killed me when he had the chance. He's going to pay._ _They're both going to pay._

He briefly considered whether to kill Kakarot right there and then. _He deserves it…_ Yamcha's eyes wandered over to a flat-top hat meandering across the plaza. Its brim was crisped at the edges from fire. Similar discarded items littered the plaza, their owners either long gone or long dead.

He could taste the fury in his mouth. _Unforgivable!..._

The sound of a blow being blocked rocked across the plaza, catching Yamcha's attention. Raditz jumped over a leg sweep but was rammed in the back by a two-footed leg plant by Krillin- the Saiyan careened through the air before throwing out his arms and halting himself in mid-flight. Crackling energy began to form in his palms.

 _That first!... Maybe..._

A derivative, yet devilish idea popped into Yamcha's head.

0o0o0

 _Damn them, but still…_ While Raditz danced inbetwixt two fighters, one tall and one short, his heart pumped faster and faster. It was rare for him to find himself challenged nowadays, as he hopped from one worthless planet to the next, fulfilling a never-ending backlog of contracts. Losing his scouter had forced him to use both physical and mental muscles he hadn't used in years… In a way, he appreciated the newfound challenge he experienced as he tried to predict what his opponents would do next.

Though he was still indescribably mad at having lost his scouter. He would make sure to impale them on each other for that.

 _But not yet._ He dodged underneath a strike and shot out a punch of his own, but at the last second a knee rammed into his side, shifting his attack to the left and away from Piccolo's prepared block. Raditz twisted, preparing to punish the smaller earthling, but to his surprise he saw no-one. His senses tingled and he jumped into the air, but a moment later a pair of feet collided into his back, sending him sailing through the air. Like before, a small gasp escaped from his lips. _They keep aiming for my back!_ Raditz twisted through the air and stabilized. _Bastards!_ He began to push energy to his hands.

'Hey! Raditz!'

Raditz, Krillin, and Piccolo turned their heads in unison. Standing towards the other end of the other end was Yamcha, battered but unbroken. The scarred human's arm was wrapped around Kakarot's neck in a headlock, holding the unconscious Saiyan's body halfway off the ground. 'Make another move and your brother dies!' Yamcha threatened.

The three earthlings watched as Raditz's gaze softened, his arms moving closer to his chest. 'You've taken my brother captive?' Raditz asked as if unsure what was going on.

'Err… yes!' Yamcha said after briefly wavering. 'And if you don't stop fighting and surrender, I'll kill him.'

Unheard by anyone except for Krillin, Piccolo cursed under his breath. 'Damn idiot…'

Raditz locked his eyes with Yamcha. 'Do it.'

'What?' Yamcha asked nervously, hoping he had misheard Raditz. 'What did you say?'

'Kill him,' Raditz said coldly. 'If he's no longer an asset, he's a liability.' Raditz crossed his arms contemptuously. 'If you were trying to intimidate me, then you're a bigger fool than I pegged you for.'

'Yamcha,' Krillin called across to Yamcha. 'Drop him.'

'But-'

In the blink of an eye, Raditz got halfway across the plaza towards Yamcha, intercepted at the last second by Piccolo. 'Out of my way- I need to punish an idiot!' Raditz roared, crashing the back of his fist against Piccolo's block and staggering the demon to the side.

'Yamcha! Help us!' Krillin yelled, shooting a golden blast towards Raditz. Without much effort, Raditz caught the blast and threw it back towards Krillin, causing the human warrior to scramble away from a small explosion.

Heeding Krillin's advice, Yamcha dropped Kakarot back to the ground and charged forward towards Raditz, slamming into the Saiyan's guard simultaneously with a recovered Piccolo. Growling, Raditz began dodging backward.

0o0o0

 _Woah._ Huddled behind a boulder, Chi-Chi watched with awe as who she presumed to be the Saiyan from space be forced on the defensive by the combined efforts of Krillin, Piccolo, and Yamcha. Like flies they swarmed all around him, moving quickly enough to prevent Raditz from landing any sort of solid counter-attack.

Chi-Chi would have been more optimistic if it hadn't seemed like their strikes were wholly ineffective. Raditz continued to take a hit here and there as if it was nothing.

 _Wait… where is everyone else?_ Her eyes began to wander across the plaza. She sighted Launch motionless on the ground- but Chi-Chi still felt some energy from her. And… something else. Her gaze shifted again. _Hmm?_

Her breath caught. Several seconds passed before Gohan resting in her arms gave a weak cry, evidently disturbed by the sound of fighting in the plaza. 'Gohan,' Chi-Chi said softly as she placed him on the ground, 'I'll just be a minute… I hope.'

Carefully, she skulked out into the open.

0o0o0

Raditz hopped backward, his eyes desperately scanning his surroundings. He caught the first punch easily enough- it swung from high above, clearly telegraphing Piccolo's intention to slam Raditz to the ground. The second strike, a low kick aimed by Yamcha at his left leg, was with some difficulty caught too.

He glimpsed a third strike rush towards him. _Uh oh._ Exhausted of any free limbs, Raditz was defenseless as a surprisingly heavy knee drove into his chest, eliciting an audible _crackk_ as a section of his armor chipped off.

His hand involuntarily snaked to his chest protectively. _That… hurt._ Then the hand clenched. _That!... Hurt!..._

'That's it!' Raditz crouched down to the ground, then sprung out and up, throwing back a huge wave of physical _ki_ that blew back the encroaching fighters several feet. He then blasted into the air.

0o0o0

'He's still going up…' Krillin commented, his eyes tracking Raditz's ascending figure. 'Any of you have the energy to chase him up there?'

Yamcha didn't respond; Piccolo grunted. _I thought as much,_ Krillin noted sullenly.

They had briefly overwhelmed the Saiyan, yet for all the good it did, Raditz still had the energy to shoot into the sky while the three of them labored to catch their breath on the ground. Their _gis_ were torn, ripped, and in some places non-existent- Krillin's shirt hung to his body by a single orange strap, while Piccolo's clothes looked more black and brown than purple from the number of times his body had streaked across the ground. Still, they stood. _For now._

'Listen,' Piccolo said softly, so that only Krillin could hear. 'if you've been paying attention at all, you would know as well as I do where this fight is heading.'

'And that is?'

'We're going to lose,' Piccolo pronounced bitterly, 'even if we manage to keep him on the defensive. He's just too durable. We could be here all day and get _nowhere_.'

'I wouldn't have expected the son of the Demon King to admit defeat so easily,' Krillin said, somewhat surprised.

'Shut up and listen,' Piccolo said tersely, 'and your assumption might be proven wrong.'

Krillin did so. Piccolo continued after a moment. 'We need to attack Raditz with enough force to overcome his defenses. Something that is _immensely_ powerful.' He turned to Krillin, dead seriousness set into his eyes. 'Do you understand?'

'Are you suggesting some sort of energy attack?' A mental image of a yellow disk flashed through Krillin's mind. 'I could do that.'

'If you're suggesting that sawing attack,' Piccolo inferred, 'then don't bother. At the World Tournament I was able to half-deflect that with sufficient preparation. We would have to catch Raditz wholly unaware for the attack to work, and even then, the power gap between you and him might be too great for it to work.'

'Then what are you suggesting?'

'I have… some theories, but nothing concrete,' Piccolo admitted. _I should have been more diligent these past two years!_... 'I think if one of us spent at least a few minutes charging a _ki_ attack, we could collect enough energy to overwhelm Raditz.'

'So while that person is charging the attack, everyone else would have to distract Raditz?' Krillin asked.

'Yes. It would take some time.' Piccolo grunted. 'Time we don't have-'

Their conversation was interrupted as a booming voice echoed across the plaza.

0o0o0

Raditz reached what he figured to be about three times the height of the city's tallest skyscraper. From this vantage point, the plaza seemed insignificant.

 _As it should be._ Raditz slowly turned his arms inwards, before thrusting them out to form a T-shape with his body. _As it soon_ _ **will**_ _be._

Intimidation was a consistent theme in his approach to purging planets. Sometimes a well-placed push could make his job much easier. But there were also times where verbal intimidation worked just as well; he had long stopped keeping track of how many times frightened leaders had offered him the heads of their strongest warriors on in an effort to placate him. Typically, their offerings satisfied him. And then he purged the planet anyway.

So far, he hadn't had the chance to do something like that on Earth. _Let's change that._

'Earthlings!' his _ki_ -amplified voice screeched down from the heavens. 'I'm going to give you _one_ more chance to play nice! If you agree to stop fighting and turn yourselves over to your warden and executioner, or in other words, _me_ , I promise to spare _some_ portion of your pitiful race.'

He paused. That was a lie. He often lied when purging planets.

'That's a good deal, right?' Raditz continued. 'Minor compliance in order to stave off total extinction? What do you think?'

But even from this distance, Raditz saw no movement from the people on the plaza, nor did he hear anything. _They're not going to cooperate. And why would they?_ It was an awful deal. He sympathized with them.

Though it's not like he had expected them to say yes. He had been charging energy since he had stopped ascending, after all.

'Alright! Have it your way!' Energy blossomed into existence in his palms, each charging blast a mixture of red and purple. 'I've always wanted to glass a city from orbit!'

That was also a lie. He had glassed many cities from orbit. He should try to lie less.

'Brother!' he added on the end as an addendum, 'if you're still alive, I recommend you leave this city _very_ quickly!'

0o0o0

A small blip of light appeared in the sky above the city, easily dismissable if those on the ground couldn't sense energy. As it was, they were horrified.

'That… that'll destroy the whole city,' Krillin muttered, consciously resisting the temptation to recoil from the massive power gathering above them. 'It's taking some time for him to prepare the attack, but… that amount of energy will vaporize everything for miles around…'

Piccolo's face twitched with rage. _How could the universe be so cruel? To even let us_ _ **dream**_ _of beating someone with that kind of monstrous energy… It's not fair! Father… you've cursed me to an existence of insignificance!..._

Yamcha briefly glanced between Krillin and Piccolo, who both were staring up at the sky slack-jawed. 'What are you two doing!?' He yelled, his anger boiling over. 'We're not going to save the city by gaping like spectators! We need to prepare!'

'But.. what are we supposed to do against that?' Krillin asked, gesturing one hand to the sky. Far above them, the light slowly pulsed outwards, growing larger. 'That's… far too much power for us to handle. For _anyone_ to handle.'

'So? Since when do we care about unwinnable odds?' Yamcha asked, catching Krillin's gaze. 'You lost against Piccolo at the World Tournament- but no one died that day. We don't need to overcome whatever blast Raditz sends towards us- we just need to prevent it from exploding in the city.'

Krillin grew silent, chewing on his lip. _**Maybe**_ _we could, but even then…_

'I'm not going to die here,' Piccolo spoke up, glaring at Yamcha. 'if you two fools want to defend this city, then be my guest. But if either of you had a _brain_ , you would realize that the better move would be to retreat to beyond the blast radius. That way Raditz expends a bunch of energy on a worthless target.'

'But this target _isn't_ worthless!' Yamcha retorted. 'There are probably tens of thousands of people still stuck in the city! To abandon them now would be tantamount to killing them ourselves!'

Piccolo gave Yamcha a look of disgust. 'The fact that you aren't willing to do whatever it takes to win is tantamount to killing the entire human race. You do realize that if you two die, there's no chance of anything on this planet surviving. Not. A. Single. Thing,' Piccolo said slowly for emphasis. 'Do you honestly think that you'll have a pleasant afterlife if your stubbornness consigns an entire planet to oblivion!'

'I don't care,' Yamcha stated angrily. 'I'm not leaving. And I'm sure Krillin agrees with me.'

Krillin looked at Yamcha for a moment, then nodded. 'I do. Leave if you want Piccolo, but we're staying.'

Such indescribable anger rose within Piccolo that the demon's face, for the first time any of them had known him, turned _red_. The moment passed, however, aided by an eventual exhale from the demon. 'Damn you fools. If you two die here, then fleeing would be for nothing… I could never defeat Raditz on his own.' He planted his feet into the ground and angled his body towards the impending attack. 'Damn you two…'

'I'm glad you've chosen the right action, coward,' Yamcha said confrontationally.

'You've signed our death warrants,' Piccolo said venomously. 'Don't speak to me, human.'

Yamcha glared at Piccolo harshly for a moment. 'You knew the risks of allies like us.' He turned away dismissively. 'Don't deflect your self-hatred onto others.'

Surprisingly, Piccolo remained silent after this, his attention fixed towards the sky. Krillin and Yamcha did the same. Together, the three of them began preparing their strongest _ki_ attacks.

0o0o0

A slapping sensation slowly brought Kakarot to, forcing him awake for the second time today. Blearily, he opened his eyes and saw Chi-Chi crouching over him, looking down with a mixture of fear, anxiety, warmness, and seriousness.

He blinked a few times, then let his eyelids droop back down. 'A dream, again…' he muttered to himself.

The slapping sensation returned, causing him to groan. 'What?' he opened his eyes again. 'Just let me sleep, dream…'

'As much as I would that to be the case,' Chi-Chi said, her voice betraying how concerned she was, 'it isn't.'

Realization slowly dawned on Kakarot. _This…_ he extended one hand and placed it on Chi-Chi's leg. _This isn't a dream._ When he did this, Chi-Chi smiled but still moved away from him, clutching something in her arms tighter to her body. Kakarot's expression mellowed. _For sure, this isn't a dream..._

A cry came from Chi-Chi's chest; immediately, she started to rock the thing between her arms back and forth. 'Gohan, go back to sleep...' she said softly.

 _Gohan… Gohan?_ The name maddened him. _Do I know that name?_ '...What's going on?...' Kakarot asked, growing increasingly suspicious.

Chi-Chi turned her attention away from the baby in her arms. 'Your brother is about to destroy this city.'

Kakarot's brain came close to folding in on itself. _What?! What happened!?_

'It's horrible…' Chi-Chi murmured, drawing Gohan closer to her and glancing at the devastation surrounding them. 'I can't believe your brother would have done this…'

 _Oh_. Kakarot's face drew into a tight, imperceptibly pained expression, built to put up a wall between himself and the outside world. His gaze scanned his surroundings, then shot up to the growing mass of energy in the sky.

 _Oh..._

0o0o0

 _And… done._

Raditz rapidly shifted his stance, tilting his entire body towards the ground. 'So long, weaklings!' In one smooth movement, he brought his hands together and held his palms mere inches from each other. Then, he blasted energy into a single red-and-purple blast that hurtled downwards like a meteor.

0o0o0

Above Piccolo, Krillin, and Yamcha, the sky darkened. 'Here it comes!' the demon yelled. 'HAAAAH!' A bright, thick yellow blast erupted from Piccolo's palms, racing up towards the sky.

In-sync, Yamcha and Krillin both cupped their hands at their sides and thrust their hands upwards. 'KAMEHAMEHA!' they both said as identical blue beams pursued Piccolo's leading attack.

The three beams stretched into the sky and crashed against the descending maelstrom of purple and red. As distant buildings in the city collapsed with a rumble, the attacks caught against each other, snarling and twisting. Eventually, a white sphere of raw energy began to form in the center.

0o0o0

Raditz hadn't expected his attack to immediately and cathartically disintegrate the city- but he hadn't expected it to take this long, either. 'Hmm?' he mumbled as he focused his vision towards the ground.

He very clearly saw his own blast pressing down on the plaza, but about a couple hundred feet above it, a handful of blasts were pushing up against his own, mixing together into a volatile white sphere of energy. The few buildings surrounding the plaza began to lose their upper floors, piece by piece, as the sphere expanded to accommodate the increasing amount of energy flooding into it.

 _Annoying._ A pulse of energy rippled down the length of Raditz's blast, increasing its width before slamming into the sphere and incrementally accelerating it to the ground. _How long can they keep this up, I wonder?_

0o0o0

The plaza was filled with a dizzying variety of light and sound as the white sphere came to grow larger, then _much_ larger, than the day's late afternoon sun. Adding to their own terror, as the white sphere crept closer to the ground, the wind and sonic fury assailing their bodies grew exponentially.

'We need more energy!' Yamcha screamed over the chaos. 'HAAAAH!' His Kamehameha grew brighter, plunging straight into the mass of white above. Piccolo and Krillin did the same with their own attacks- together, their defense intensified, throwing more and more energy into the sky above them. The small detonations at the edges of the conflux began to affect the city. Windows shattered and car alarms went off, furthering the city's transformation into an apocalyptic landscape. Their limbs burned, their bodies sagged, as they valiantly pulled on every ounce of willpower they had left.

0o0o0

The glowing white sphere of _ki_ dominated the sky, coiling and crackling with chaotic energy. Different blasts of all colors pushed against each other and ultimately subsumed into the sphere, gradually enlarging it.

And despite Piccolo, Krillin and Yamcha's best efforts, the sphere was steadily creeping downwards. Kakarot and Chi-Chi's dread rose with every inch it moved.

 _They're… going to lose. This is going to destroy the city. Destroy_ _ **everything**_ _._ 'We need to go,' Kakarot said, turning his attention to Chi-Chi and Gohan. 'Before-'

To his surprise, Chi-Chi was scrambling up onto a nearby pile of rubble. Gohan was left on the ground asleep next to Kakarot.

Annoyed, he set off after her. 'What are you doing?' He asked aggressively, stomping closer. 'We need to start moving if there's any chance we're going to survive this-'

'Kakarot!' Chi-Chi snapped, spinning to him. 'These are my friends! If I leave they _die_! I'm not going to abandon them!'

 _Her… friends._ Kakarot glanced at Gohan. 'But… us…'

'Raditz won't stop with this city or their lives! He'll go on to ravage this world! Single-handedly he's already killed thousands of people within this city! Who knows what else he'll do if no-one stops him!'

Kakarot bit his lip. His untruthfulness was starting to burn a hole through his stomach. 'Right… But… what about your son? What about Gohan?'

Chi-Chi's face briefly flagged for a moment, but in an instant the resolve returned. 'No child deserves to grow up in a ruined world. If Raditz has his way…' Chi-Chi shook her head. '...No, it won't come to that. I won't allow it. _We_ won't allow it.'

He gulped. 'Meaning?'

Several seconds later, with Kakarot dragged every part of the way, they both launched _ki_ attacks into the air.

0o0o0

'What!?' Piccolo exclaimed, as two blasts, one blue and one purple, crashed against the bottom of the sphere, slowed its movement to nothing, and then started _pushing_ it away from them. From where Piccolo was standing, he couldn't see where the blasts had originated from. 'Who's helping us!?'

Totally bewildered from the rampant amount of energy rushing out of his body, Krillin shouted the first thing that came to mind. 'KAMI!?'

Piccolo grunted and sent another burst of energy towards the sky.

0o0o0

Amazed, Raditz watched as the sphere's movement ground to a halt, then defiantly began to approach _him_.

'Grr… frustrating!' Just before the white sphere of energy violently exploded, Raditz dropped his attack and vanished from sight.

0o0o0

Yamcha fell to one knee, the blue energy in his palms dissipating. 'I'm… out,' he choked out, no small feat considering the overwhelming noise in the plaza.

Krillin did the same a moment later, gasping for breath as he involuntarily rubbed at his neck. _The sensation of so much energy leaving your body almost feels like choking… Ueaaagh!…_ He shuddered.

Internally, Piccolo cursed the weakness of his allies, but he caught a detail the two of them had missed- the sphere was now moving _away_ from them. Saving his energy, he dropped his attack, too.

For a few surreal moments, the white sphere slowed and then lingered in the air, receiving the last tendrils of energy curling up to it.

Then, an explosion burst in the sky above East City, so strong that its shockwaves flattened them and every remaining building surrounding the plaza to the ground.

0o0o0

Upon glimpsing the imminent explosion, Chi-Chi turned and sprinted to throw herself over Gohan- but, to her surprise, she found Kakarot already positioning his body around the baby.

She hadn't said anything to him. But he knew. His expressionless face knew.

Then, whiteness.

0o0o0

Of the three conscious fighters in the square, Yamcha was the first to stand. Frankly, he was shocked that he was still alive. Not a single building adjacent to the plaza- or, he expected, any building for several thousand feet around- was still standing, reduced as they were to amorphous piles of rubble. _Unimportant._ All of his friends, as far as he could tell, were still alive. _Important._

Around him, he noticed Krillin and Piccolo begin to stir and stand. 'We… did it.' Yamcha looked to them, who both looked similarly winded to himself. 'We-'

The sound of movement reached their ears well before they glimpsed him, but they were all far too exhausted to react in time. Like a specter, Raditz's outline materialized behind Piccolo, a slightly upturned grin resting on his face. Wordlessly, he thrust his arm into Piccolo's back and out the front of his chest, wiggling his purple blood-covered fingers back-and-forth. Then, as if he was pulling a stake out of the ground, Raditz placed his leg against Piccolo's body and pushed, freeing his arm in a mist of flesh.

Piccolo gasped, spasming from the sheer biological shock of a whole arm passing through him. His body was frozen for a moment while thick purple blood started pouring down the front and back of his _gi_ , soaking the fabric and staining it.

 _My… legacy…_ Without another thought, Piccolo crumpled forward to the ground.

0o0o0

With a morbid thump, Piccolo's body came to rest on the cobbles. Raditz idly examined his hand before wiping it clean on the side of his armor. 'Eww…' he muttered.

As Raditz went on ignoring anything and anyone else in existence other than his unclean hand, time for Yamcha slowed to a stop. _He must be dead._ He noted the growing pool of purple blood underneath the demon's inert body. He wasn't even going to mentally open the can of worms that was a world without dragonballs. _He was the strongest among us, and he's dead._

 _So… it's down to us._ Yamcha turned his head to Krillin; the smaller human had kept his face rigid, not showing the fear he must had felt- the fear that was now consuming Yamcha. 'Krillin,' Yamcha said sternly, catching Krillin's attention, 'Now's the time for any last-ditch plans. We're nearing the end, one way or another…'

The sound of Raditz's feet scraping across the ground drifted across the plaza.

'Piccolo-' Krillin shook his head, trying to forget what he had just seen. 'He had the idea of charging some sort of concentrated energy attack. Something strong enough to kill Raditz.' Krillin thought on something for a moment.. 'I need you to charge some kind of attack like that.'

'Me? Why don't you use your attack from the tournament?' Yamcha asked. 'The yellow disk thing?'

'Haha…' It was then when Yamcha noticed how Krillin's body had barely moved when he had laughed- he was purposely keeping himself still. 'I'm as drained as Piccolo was… is…'

'Wait, what are you saying? Is Piccolo still _alive!?_ '

'Barely, maybe…' Krillin shook his head again. 'But that's not important right now. He's not going to be able to fight anytime soon. Between us two, I'm sensing that you're a bit stronger than me at this point. You need to charge an attack to finish Raditz off, Yamcha. For _good_.'

'But… I don't understand,' Yamcha said slowly, his mind working through Krillin's plan. 'Wouldn't it make more sense to send the stronger person to fight Raditz and have the weaker person recover?'

Krillin's gaze moved to Raditz- the Saiyan was finishing wiping himself (mostly) clean of Piccolo's blood. 'There's no way either of us wins if we take Raditz on by ourselves. At this point, our best shot would be to hit him with one decisive attack…' Krillin trailed off, caught up in some unseen consideration.

'... You have to go for the back.' Krillin decided after some reflection. 'It's the only spot where he's been weakened…'

Yamcha was no fool. His friend was relegating himself to a fate as good as Tien's or as bad as Piccolo's. _But… he accepts that. Because he knows it needs to be done in order to give us a chance to win. Regardless of how this goes…_ Yamcha clenched his right hand into a fist. _I'll make it worth it._

'...Alright…' Yamcha agreed. 'The back it is. I already hit him there once- how hard can it be to hit him there again?'

Krillin didn't exactly chuckle, but a weak smile graced his face. 'I'll give you some time…' He then began to step forward.

The saiyan was amused. 'So we're going back to the old format? You and me and none of your gnats-' his eyes flicked to Yamcha, who noticeably held himself back '-to follow you around?'

Krillin halted opposite of Raditz. They had thrown so much at him already- and yet, outwardly, his armor was still in one piece and his body looked only moderately damaged. Krillin wished he could say the same. 'Sure,' he thoughtlessly replied, tensing his body for an imminent clash. Internally, Krillin then pleaded to whatever entity might be listening. _Please, let me stall. Let me do this_ _ **one**_ _thing..._

0o0o0

When the battle in East City had begun, Kami held onto an optimism uncharacteristic of his tenure as Guardian of Earth. He had seen Krillin and his friends overcome worst odds before- it would have been unfair to their record to doubt them from the beginning.

Though it's not as if he could have done anything to help them. Things had moved too quickly for him to lend his support to the Earth's defenders in the ways he would have liked. More and more he found himself cursing the limits of his omnipotence- Raditz's arrival had caught him totally unaware of such a malevolent force approaching the planet. _Perhaps I should have expected this. I have known of Kakarot's unearthly origins for over two decades, after all..._

Still, he held onto hope. _Even in the face of such an overwhelming power._

But now, face-down and prone on the tiles of the Lookout while his attendant frantically tended to his pain, he found himself unable to grasp his earlier optimism. Instead, he could only sense the approaching quiet of death.

Though not yet. Piccolo had been grievously wounded- but he was not dead. Thus, there was still time for Kami to act.

'Mr. Popo,' Kami commanded his attendant, 'bring me my staff and help me to grip it with both hands. I must exhaust whatever options I have left…'

Although he couldn't bring himself to look up from the ground, Kami distinctly heard a suspicious worry in Mr. Popo's voice. 'Kami, surely you aren't going to try and help in your current state! Any exertion might kill you!'

'At this rate, I'll be dead within the hour…' Kami choked out, before visibly fading and waxing back into reality. 'I have to help…'

Mr. Popo frowned down at his master for a moment, but ultimately retrieved the staff from where Kami had initially collapsed and placed it in his hands.

Several seconds after this, Kami's form began to physically darken, as if the light around him was being sucked into him.

0o0o0

A sudden rush of energy filled Krillin, almost serene in its nature. 'What?... this power…' He murmured to himself. 'It feels like Kami's….'

One of Raditz's eyebrows arched upon seeing Krillin suddenly glow with a faint light. 'What's this?' He asked, half-interested. 'Have you found your second wind?'

Krillin bent lower to the ground, the full weight of the coming fight settling on him. 'Something like that.'

'Hmph. Well, it's about time.' Raditz said bluntly, his eyes roaming the plaza's length. 'I'm getting a sense of _finality_.'

He quickly judged the status of every fighter that had previously opposed him. The green man and the woman were still motionless on the ground. _Dead? Maybe._ The man he had crushed between his arms was gone. _Dead or fled. More likely dead._ And the annoying one with the scar was kneeling on the ground, panting with a pained expression on his face. _Soon to be dead._

There was, of course, the question of Kakarot, but Raditz suspected his living-or-nonliving body would turn up by the end of this. _Poor brother. I lost track of you. But I expect my allies to be able to fend for themselves. If you're alive by the end of this, then you've passed the test as far as I'm concerned. If not, well..._

He shifted his gaze back to Krillin, mentally changing gears. 'Would you consider this your last stand?'

'More or less,' Krillin said, shrugging.

'Are you ready to die for your people?'

'Gladly.'

* * *

A/N: Endgame wraps up next week… and more stuff. Super excited to see you then!

Also, a note about an event in this chapter. You may have noticed that Piccolo talked about the vague principle of the Special Beam Cannon without actually mentioning it. That's because he hasn't yet discovered the move- he only had two years before Raditz arrived on Earth after the 23rd World Tournament, after all. It's clear, however, that he has a good idea in theory, if not in practice.

 **Reviews:**

 **Silenthawk170:** Thank you for the review! Also crazy that you're still reading along!

 **Luke:** Peace is coming very soon. What form will this peace take, though?

 **TC9078:** Ah yes… the inevitable Raditz/Chi-Chi/Kakarot/Gohan interaction had been bunted for one more chapter. I hope you are satisfied with the Chi-Chi/Kakarot/Gohan interaction, though.

 **LWexe:** Bulma was not in the best state of mind to be doing much of anything these past two chapters, but she helped regardless because SHE'S A GOOD FRIEND.

And yeah, when you get someone as bad as Raditz knocking on the door of planetary devastation, teamwork comes out of necessity.

 **Belsareth32:** Thank you! I've got a bunch of cool ideas planned for DBZ! Next arc is gonna be some wild, fairly original stuff! Get pumped!


	42. Choice

Endgame

Chapter 42: Choice

A/N: There's a lengthy author-to-reader discussion at the bottom. Trust when I say: there's going to be a lot to unpack.

Also; this chapter was consecrated by the song _Symmetry_ by Spires. Gotta love that prog metal.

* * *

The sun curved ever so slightly closer to the horizon; approximately an hour of sunlight was left before the city would be bathed in darkness.

Neither fighter seemed to acknowledge the changing landscape around them- their gazes were trained on each other.

Krillin made the first move, charging straight at Raditz with one elbow held at his side. Raditz scoffed. 'Predictable!' He taunted as he threw out a wave of energy, incinerating the area in an arc in front of him.

To his surprise, Krillin's image pushed through the conflagration, then shimmered as it passed _through him._ 'AAGH!' Raditz yelped as a chop crashed into the back of his neck, knocking the Saiyan warrior forward. Furious, Raditz spun around swinging the back of his fist, but his enemy was nowhere to be found.

'Down here!' Krillin yelled out, as he slid underneath Raditz and wrapped his arms around Raditz's ankles. The Saiyan felt his legs be pulled out from under him, but caught himself in a push-up position just before impacting against the ground.

At that moment, Krillin released his grip on Raditz's ankles and pushed off the ground with his legs, back-flipping and landing feet-first on Raditz's back. The Saiyan made an audible choke of pain as his weak spot was slammed, pushing him flush to the ground.

Not done, Krillin quickly jumped into the air and spun, adjusting his body to face towards the ground. Briskly, he cupped his hands at his side. 'KAMEHAMEHA!' Krillin roared, as a point-blank blue blast spilled down and pushed Raditz further into the ground.

0o0o0

The earth-deafening explosion wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. A great gust of force and heat passed over Kakarot's back, but aside from some minor discomfort, he escaped anything painful. More importantly, the little bundle of heat beneath his chest was still present. Shaking some dust off of himself, Kakarot stood, cradling baby Gohan in his arms.

Chi-Chi, who was huddling a few feet away, rose a few seconds after him. She looked at Kakarot and Gohan with a strange mix of happiness and consternation. 'You know, then.'

'It wasn't very hard to figure out, once I actually thought about it,' Kakarot responded, looking down at his son. _My son…_ 'He does look like me, after all.'

'That's… true…' Chi-Chi said distractedly, her head turning. 'Do you sense that?'

'What?' Kakarot looked at her. 'My brother?'

'No… the people he's fighting. I barely sense any one of them… my friends... ' Chi-Chi hardened her face. 'They need me.' She swung her head to Kakarot. 'You're much more injured than I am right now; stay here and make sure Gohan is safe.' A small smile graced her face. 'I trust you. Okay?'

'...Okay…' As she started to walk away, guilt and regret began to well up inside him again. He wanted to say something, _anything_ , to convey what had happened here - but it was horrible. What he had done here was horrible. _What good thing have I done to deserve her trust…_ Kakarot peered down at Gohan. _Caring for our son..._

Kakarot realized that Chi-Chi had never been anything less than truthful with him. _Not like me..._

'Wait!' Kakarot cried out, causing Chi-Chi to flinch. 'There's… something you need to know.'

She turned back to him. 'What?' she said softly. She felt an irrational pang of fear hit her. 'You don't have to say anything about what you did in the past, the people-' she choked '-or the villages-'

He said nothing in response, but the expression he gave Chi-Chi was damning. She stepped closer to him. 'You- you didn't-'

'Look at my hands, Chi-Chi… they're covered in dried blood…'

0o0o0

Krillin gently drifted back to the ground, using as little _ki_ as possible to slow his descent. Though he may have gotten a fortuitous power boost, he was still stuck with the same damaged body he had beforehand. _And this body is leaking energy quicker than I'd like to admit..._

He risked a glance over at Yamcha. Steadily, he sensed his friend's power level began to grow, centering around his right arm. _A few minutes more, that's all he needs._

As Krillin set foot on solid ground again, the smoke resulting from his Kamehameha suddenly billowed. Tensing, Krillin dug his back foot into a loose cobble-

-Just as Raditz's form came bounding out into the open, slamming one forearm against Krillin's block, causing the cobble underneath Krillin's foot to skid out. Krillin found himself frantically falling backward on defense.

Raditz's eyes were bloodshot. 'You!' He raged, smacking away a slow forearm block and gripping the other arm at the wrist. 'You pest!'

Krillin used this anchoring to suddenly jump, flipping over Raditz' body and swinging a kick towards the Saiyan's back. Raditz anticipated this, however, and twisted, catching the kick with his free arm. 'That won't work a second time!' He seethed. Tangled as he was, though, Krillin was able to slam another kick into Raditz's chin and knock him back, releasing his grip from Krillin's wrist and leg.

For all this effort, Krillin nearly stumbled to one knee when he landed. Where Raditz had gripped him at the foot and the wrist ached with an excruciating pain. _Even weakened, his physical strength is still far beyond my own!..._

A flicker of energy touched Krillin's mind. His eyes shot forward, noticing Raditz cupping a blast with one hand. Sparks jittered up and down the arm, giving the impression that he was holding a live electrical wire.

There was enough energy in that attack to kill Krillin _two_ times over. In fact, it would probably destroy a mile-long swath of city _behind_ Krillin-

A crazy idea bubbled up in Krillin's mind. _It's better than sitting here like a lemming!_ Moving quickly, Krillin began to rotate his right arm above him in the air, forming a thin, circular outline of yellow. The little energy Krillin still possessed from the earlier power boost flooded into the disk, forming a weak but operable Destructo Disk. _This won't cut through him… but maybe!..._ 'Hey Raditz!' Krillin shouted, 'Catch this!' He then flung the attack at the Saiyan.

Enraged, Raditz brought up his one arm to bear on Krillin. 'Say goodbye!' He howled, his voice bleeding into the deafening boom as a red blast spewed out from his arm.

The attacks crashed together in the middle. There was a brief pause where the only sound in the plaza was the sound of the Destructo Disk futilely hissing against the stronger, larger attack. Then, the disk began cutting through the center of the attack, cleaving it into a right and left half and filling the air with a cathartic slicing sound. Having lost any pretense of stability, both Raditz's blast and the Destructo Disk exploded in a premature release of energy.

0o0o0

Yamcha nearly lost his concentration when the explosion rocked the air, sending another powerful gust of air towards him. _Woah!_ The energy he had been gathering the past few minutes came dangerously close to dissipating- but he shuddered and clenched himself harder. _I can't lose it now; I'm so close!_

The smoke blew away from Krillin and Raditz a few seconds later. Amazingly, Krillin was still on his feet, though his arms were shaking in a braced position in front of him.

Compared to Krillin, Raditz looked much worse. His right arm, which had launched the blast towards Krillin, was blackened and bloody; it seemed to have taken the brunt of the premature detonation. Looking closer, Yamcha noticed that nearly the entire front of Raditz's body was scuffed and damaged, in some places wholly ruined from the blast.

Gasping for air, Raditz staggered forward. His malevolent gaze centered on the shorter human warrior. He said nothing- instead, he charged and smacked an elbow downward on Krillin's head, knocking the human to the ground. Then, slowly, Raditz bent down and lifted Krillin by his neck. The last orange strap of Krillin's _gi_ unraveled and fell down the left side of his waist.

A punch rammed into Krillin's gut, causing the human to involuntarily expel all the air from his lungs. 'Was it worth it?' Raditz asked before ramming another punch into Krillin's gut. 'To last this long before your inevitable end? To feel all this pain For what?' Another punch. Then another.

Krillin couldn't respond. The lack of air in his lungs coupled with Raditz's tight grip around his neck made breathing almost impossible. Weakly, he motioned towards his neck with one hand.

 _No… Wait..._ Raditz abruptly dropped the human and turned around to the other fighter. The one with the scar had done well to conceal his intentions, but it was now easy to judge what was happening as a ball of yellow-white ball of energy started to expand in Yamcha's upturned palm. Slowly, he began to lift the arm well over his head in preparation to throw it.

Raditz laughed. 'You think you can hit me now that I know it's coming? Hah! Is that what you hope to defeat me with? A slow moving ball?'

Yamcha frowned and said nothing.

'Aah, wait!' Raditz exclaimed, snapping his fingers. 'You were going to use the other one to distract me!' Raditz turned around again to the human warrior he had left on death's doorstep. 'The _little_ one-'

 _The body is missing. Where?..._

A hand clasped around Raditz's tail, immediately sending a raw, painful sensation throughout his body. The creeping paralysis soon followed, locking up every muscle in his body. _It!... It can't be!..._ Raditz forced his head to the side, peering over his shoulder.

Krillin was lamely sitting on the ground behind Raditz, one hand clamped on the Saiyan's tail. 'I once pulled off this trick a long, _long_ time ago,' Krillin commented. 'So, it occurred to me- why not again?'

'-Again!?' Raditz stammered out.

'Thank your brother.' With one pained turn of his head, Krillin set his gaze on Yamcha. 'Do it now!'

His backside was exposed. _No_ … Raditz mentally struggled to move- but he was paralyzed. _No!..._ 'No! NO NO NO!' He cried.

Yamcha's face twisted, forcing the last bits of his collected energy into the blast. With unerring aim, he pointed two fingers of his free hand directly at Raditz's back.

'SPIRIT!... BALL!' He yelled, causing the other attack to rocket away from his palm.

Raditz's one backward-looking eye shot to Krillin. 'You'll die if you keep holding on to my tail!' Raditz said desperately. 'We'll both die!'

Krillin looked up at him with a dumb smile on his face. 'Remember what I said? "Gladly"...'

0o0o0

Kakarot finished his confession; at the end of it, Chi-Chi stepped up to him and took Gohan out of his arms. He didn't resist.

'You…' She mumbled. Her eyes swept over him back-and-forth, as if she was examining a stranger. 'After everything you did… after everything I did… _we_ did…' She struggled to piece together, 'You did this?' She gestured with her one free arm to the landscape around them. 'You attacked this city? Killed all these people?...'

He avoided her eyes; he found a chunk of a concrete pillar to stare at instead.

'I'm… so foolish…' Chi-Chi muttered to herself, drawing both Gohan and her arms tighter. 'To think… I came here for you…'

'You did?' Kakarot said calmly. 'For me?'

She ignored his question. 'Did you ever actually change?' She asked, more accusatory than questioning. 'In the twenty years you've spent fighting, scrounging, _killing_ … did you ever try to change? Or are you content with being a monster?'

Images of the cave- the shack- the pod- they all flashed through Kakarot's mind. 'I-' he shut his mouth. His mind seized- he couldn't speak, couldn't breathe. _No! It's not true! I always wanted something else!..._

A sudden _ki_ signature shook them out of their conversation. They both spun towards the battle in the plaza.

In awe, both Chi-Chi and Kakarot watched as a ball of super concentrated _ki_ zoomed towards Raditz and Krillin, with Krillin kneeling on the ground behind the Saiyan and feebling holding his tail. Raditz's head was turned to see over his shoulder, the purest expression of fear dominating his face, the look of someone realizing their approaching death in slow-motion-

There was a rush of air at Chi-Chi's side. Then, she saw Kakarot rushing forward, racing to beat the imminent blast.

0o0o0

As Krillin watched Yamcha's Spirit Ball edge closer and closer, he came to realize that he was lucky. Not many people got to live the life he had. Not many people had _fought_ for as many things as he had, too. This, he decided, was a good enough end. _I could_ _ **live**_ _with this, hah…_

The ball was only several feet away now. Right before the blast hit, however, he felt his arm gripping Raditz's tail- and, consequently, his body- be yanked upwards into the direct path of the blast. _No…_

He felt no pain- nothingness took him.

0o0o0

Horrified, Yamcha witnessed Kakarot appear out of nowhere and tackle Raditz' back, both putting himself and Krillin directly in the path of the blast. He could do nothing as the Spirit Ball broke against them- and not his intended target. A wave of hellish noise swept across the plaza as the energy he had been charging for minutes was released in one small blast.

'No!' Yamcha screamed into the madness, dust-stained tears streaming down his cheek. 'KRILLIN!'

0o0o0

Raditz panted; his body had truly tensed for the end. A day's worth of adrenaline must have pumped through his veins in a matter of seconds.

Even then, he had barely seen what had happened. At the last possible second, he felt a body crash into his back, painfully smacking him back to the ground- but, crucially, away from the blast. Even as he writhed in pain from the blow, and he felt the sweltering heat of the blast incinerate the surface of his backside, he knew how lucky he was to be alive.

When the world around him stopped screeching and shaking, and Raditz seized a chance to stand, he identified his savior. Lying several feet away from him was Kakarot, horrible energy wounds covering the right half of his body. _He took the brunt of it..._

And the human from before, who was clinging onto Raditz's tail for dear life… he was nowhere to be found. _Ah, wait. Not exactly…_ A single strip of orange fabric floated across in the air in front of Raditz' face, before a gust of wind grabbed it, ferrying it away from the battlefield.

A sudden cough caught Raditz's attention; his eyes swung to his severely damaged brother. 'You're alive?' Startled, Raditz quickly kneeled down and consolingly placed a hand on Kakarot's chest. 'I… don't understand.' Raditz asked, resisting the first impulse he had- _wild, aimless suspicion as to where Kakarot was before_. 'Why did you jump in front of the blast? You're…' Raditz couldn't finish his thought- he had no idea what he was planning on saying. _You're a Saiyan?_

Kakarot looked to be in too much pain to respond, but he gave a knowing glance towards his brother.

 _No… that was never your way, was it?_ Raditz took one of Kakarot's hands, squeezed it, and placed it on his chest. 'Don't die on me, Kakarot. We're in this together, okay?'

For a second time, Kakarot had affected Raditz in a way he hadn't thought possible for another Saiyan to do. A familiar silence descended on them. _Once again, you surprise me, brother. But, as you are now…_ Raditz stood. 'Your part in this battle is over, Kakarot.' He turned away from him. 'Let me finish this…'

Across the plaza, a familiar face peered at him. Yamcha was trembling- Raditz wasn't sure if it was from the energy depletion or from the fear. 'You nearly killed my brother,' Raditz called across the plaza, causing Yamcha to flinch, 'which would have made me understandably mad if you hadn't comically killed your own ally in the process.' He smiled, pausing for effect. 'Shall I wait another few minutes for you to charge that attack again?'

Yamcha didn't respond- it was now clear to Raditz that it was a combination of both terror and exhaustion that informed the human's trembling.

'Well then… before we go on… eeer- AAAH!' Raditz screamed, as he quickly sliced off his tail at the base with one _ki_ -infused hand. Panting, he threw the severed appendage away. 'No more… weaknesses... ' A feeling of nausea began to rise in Raditz's stomach. _Ignore it. If they know about the tail's weakness, then there's no point waiting until the full moon tonight- too dangerous. And him…_ A quick glance over to Kakarot confirmed what he expected. _The blast incinerated his tail. There's nothing left._

A sudden shift in his vision nearly caused Raditz to stumble. _Wha… what?..._ He took stock of his body- and he realized that he was far more injured than he previously thought. A hand came away from his side bright red with blood- the bleeding had begun recently. _I must have been hit harder than I thought… okay. Time to finish this..._ Raditz leveled his gaze towards Yamcha again- astoundingly, it seemed that the human was preparing the same move he had used earlier. _Is he insane? It'll only take me a few seconds to traipse over there, crush his head in-_

'Kakarot!' A voice yelled from the periphery of the plaza. Raditz's head flung to the side.

On top of a pile of rubble, a wholly unrecognizable woman was standing with a baby in her arm. 'You killed Krillin! YOU BASTARD!' She screamed in Raditz and Kakarot's direction.

Raditz suppressed a twinge of fear. _Another one!? Just how many of these fighters are there!?_

'Both of you are going to pay-' Chi-Chi said, drawing one arm to her side while tucking Gohan under the other '-you're both going to pay! KA...ME-'

Raditz stumbled to the side, hastily throwing up his arms to launch an attack of his own. His execution was clumsy and inefficient- purple energy sparked in and out of existence in one braced palm. _Come on!_

'HA… ME…' The blue light was clear now, shining from a closed fist.

'Come on!' Raditz screamed, dragging his power kicking-and-screaming to the surface. Finally, a sphere of purple flickered into life in his hand. 'Yes!'

'HAAA!' Chi-Chi roared, launching a rolling blue wave of energy- it crested over a small pile of rubble, taking the top half of it out of existence.

'Take… THIS!' Raditz yelled, launching his own purple blast of energy.

The plaza rumbled with energy as the two attacks met- and it was immediately clear that the Kamehameha stood no chance. Raditz's ball pushed against it, racing towards Chi-Chi.

She gulped, watching the onrushing blast fill her field of vision far too quickly for her to dodge. _I couldn't even do this..._

0o0o0

 _Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Not sleep. Awake._

 _Familiar. She here. She not here. Not she here. Now she here. Here. Here. Energy. Here._

 _Light. Sound. Light. Light. Here. She here. Light. Light. Sound._

 _Danger. Anger. Danger. Anger._

 _HERE!_

0o0o0

A moment before the purple sphere tore through the last remnants of the Kamehameha and collided with Chi-Chi, a bubble of white energy encased her. The purple blast crashed into the forcefield, briefly struggled with it, but ultimately was deflected upwards, exploding harmlessly higher up in the sky.

Raditz dropped his arms in shock. _What… just happened?_

0o0o0

Dimly aware of what was happening around him, Piccolo focused every ounce of energy in this body in his midsection, knitting his flesh back together inch by inch. He had lost bones, organs; hell, he shouldn't have even been _alive_ at this point. But he was. And he had no intention of bleeding out.

As he was fighting for dear life, an energy spike shook him out of his concentration. Startled, Piccolo propped his head on the cobbles and sighted a flickering barrier surrounding… _that woman, I've seen her before… Wait! That was the fighter I fought in the quarterfinals.._. An aura of wind began whipping up around the barrier, pulsing and blasting wind out in heavy waves. Piccolo hastily sunk his claws into the cobbles, anchoring him in place as the wind blew over him. _This power is incredible!_ _But it can't be coming from the woman- I can clearly sense her power, and it's nowhere near this level!…_

At that moment, Piccolo's eyes recognized what was tucked underneath the woman's left arm- _a baby?_

 _Could this power really be coming from the infant?_

It was then that Piccolo noticed something else. He painstakingly began to crawl, leaving a purple smear mark on the cobbles.

0o0o0

The barrier persisted for a handful of seconds, breathtaking in its sheer stability and force- but it did nothing further than exist. It quickly dissipated, leaving behind an unguarded and shocked Chi-Chi. Gohan began crying.

 _What… was that?_ Chi-Chi mentally stammered. Initially, her confusion was so great that she ignored Gohan's cries- for a time. After some time spent processing, she gingerly hoisted Gohan up and began rocking him. _You? You did this?... And you're not even a year old..._

She did this until she realized the ridiculousness of her actions. _Focus!_ She placed Gohan on the ground next to her- strangely, he had fallen asleep immediately. _I'm in a battle- I can't afford to get distracted!_

Across from her, Raditz spent a similar amount of time thinking. _That… baby in her arms. It must have been him. I easily batted aside the woman's attack- there's no way she could have defended herself after that._

 _But he's still a baby. And yet!..._

A quiet chuckling came from Raditz's side. 'Kakarot?' Raditz asked, turning. 'You're still conscious?'

Kakarot smiled- nothing to scoff at considering how much pain he was in. 'How could I not be… for my own son's awesome display…'

'...Son?' Raditz repeated slowly. 'That baby is…-'

'My son, yes,' Kakarot answered before devolving into a series of coughs. The ability to produce speech eluded him.

Raditz swung his attention back to the immediate task at hand. The woman was now approaching him- after leaving the baby on the ground behind her. He cracked his knuckles. _One more person to crush underneath my boot… Then, I have all the time in the world to consider what to do..._

0o0o0

'It won't be enough…' Yamcha cursed to himself, examining his beaten body. He held out his arms in front of him and clenched his fists out of frustration. 'I don't have enough energy left!...'

He wanted to scream- he was sure his Spirit Ball would have killed Raditz- but he was afraid even that little act would deprive him of some morsel of energy, something he desperately needed more of at the moment. _Damn… Kakarot! I should have killed him when I had the chance! Piccolo was right! AAAGGH!_ His nails bit into his palms, drawing blood. _I can't do this on my own!_

A hand grasped around Yamcha's ankle. He would have jumped from the shock if he had the energy to do so.

Piccolo was prone on the ground, glaring up at Yamcha with one hand firmly clasped around the human's ankle and another underneath his body, seemingly trying to stem his runaway bleeding. 'Krillin's dead, isn't he?' He asked hazily. 'I don't see him…'

Yamcha saw real pain in Piccolo's face. Though whether that was from his grievous injuries or not, he couldn't tell. 'He is. Kakarot saved his brother at the last moment and threw himself and Krillin into my attack...'

The grip around Yamcha's ankle loosened. Piccolo's gaze grew distant. 'He gave everything he could to defeat Raditz?' Piccolo sought to confirm.

At that question, Yamcha sighed. 'He did.'

For a few fleeting seconds, things were silent between them. Then, Piccolo said, 'Kill him. Kill Raditz.' A flow of energy began to flow into Yamcha. 'Make him pay…'

'Stop!' Yamcha said, panicking, trying to wrench his ankle away from Piccolo. 'You need this energy to survive! If you die-'

'Don't you think I understand that?' Piccolo growled up at Yamcha. _This human still has a talent for annoying me._ 'This is how I _want_ it to be.'

'I… don't understand.' Yamcha stopped struggling- energy continued to flow into him. 'Don't you want to rule the world? Or even just go on living?... You can't do either if you're dead.'

'That was the dream of my father. And, my father…' Piccolo glimpsed away. 'He failed me. I was coddled into thinking I was destined to rule this world- but today shattered that illusion. _Raditz_ shattered that illusion.' Piccolo's tone sharpened. 'And if I can't rule this world… _no-one_ can. Do you understand?'

'Isn't that a bit cliche?' Yamcha responded with the first thought that came to mind.

Piccolo scowled up at him. 'Doesn't matter. I can do what I want. I don't want that Saiyan or his brother to win. And I want to keep anyone who dies here today dead. Do you understand?'

'What!?' Yamcha exclaimed. 'You want to keep us dead, too!? We're helping you!'

'I would have killed you all if I had the chance two years ago!' Piccolo growled, showing his fanged teeth. 'But I was prevented from doing so by extraneous factors… Battle and victory should be unchangeable- the dragonballs disrupts the natural order of things. Death in defeat. They incentivize… complacency.' Piccolo struggled to speak- the energy drain was getting to him. 'You can grow fat and comfortable thinking you have a free ticket to be brought back to life with… but that's not how it should be. That isn't how it is for anyone not fortunate enough to have them…'

Piccolo paused, gathering his strength to speak again. 'I… hate being a part of that. Bringing back you fools from the brink of death if need be… death should be consequential.' Piccolo locked his gaze with Yamcha. 'If Krillin died here, and I die here, then no-one should be able to drag us back to the world of the living.'

'But-' Yamcha tried pulling his ankle away again- but Piccolo's grip was too strong. '-but please! Stop!'

Piccolo ignored his protests.'Besides,' he added, his voice weakening, 'when I die, Kami dies. I can live with that…' he chuckled at his own morbid joke.

'You… Who are you?' Yamcha blinked. _I barely know him. Does he hate us? Like us?_

'I am…' Piccolo's hand loosened from Yamcha's ankle and fell peacefully to the ground. 'I…' A second later, the demon slipped into unconsciousness.

The lapse into silence was unnerving for Yamcha- but he quickly focused his attention towards the newfound energy coursing through his body. _This is… enough._ He held one palm over his head. _It has to be!_

0o0o0

'So, tell me…' Raditz said, stopping several feet away from Chi-Chi. 'Is that Kakarot's boy?'

Chi-Chi traced his sight towards Gohan, who rested on the ground nearby. 'That's none of your business,' she spat, lowering herself into a guard. 'If you place a hand on him, you lose that hand.'

'Ah, you are the mother, aren't you…' Raditz deduced, eyeing her anew. 'I can see what Kakarot likes in you, in a way…'

'Shut up!' She yelled, startling Raditz. 'I hate you!'

'Hate?' He asked, confused. 'What have I done? Aside from hurting your friends, that is.'

She leveled a finger at him. 'I know Kakarot wouldn't have done any of this if it wasn't for you! You and your damn prodding! You changed him for the worse!'

'Oh?' Raditz said, offended. 'And how do you know he wasn't expressing what was there all along?'

'Was he destroying cities before you came? Was he embodying the role of a powerful Saiyan conqueror?'

'So he lost his way!' Raditz said, throwing out his hands. 'Even the most ruthless of Saiyans can soften up.'

Chi-Chi scrutinized him. 'Really?'

Raditz blinked, realizing he'd said too much. 'It doesn't matter. He _did_ it, didn't he?' Raditz bent himself closer to the ground, preparing to charge her. 'He's joined me in my sins.'

'Not yet... ' She mumbled.

Chi-Chi leaned on her back foot some- and rapidly brought her arms up in a cross-block, catching a heavy punch. 'Good!' Raditz called out. 'Next!' She jumped and a leg sweep passed underneath her. Mid-air she twisted and slammed her leg into Raditz's right shoulder, jarring his motion and forcing him to the side. Following up on this, she spun again and slammed an overhead haymaker into the same shoulder- but this attack was far less successful than the last. He caught the attack with both hands, forcing her back to the ground. 'Funny,' he growled, as he grappled with her.

She tried to decouple herself by leaning back and bucking him in the chest with her legs, but he predicted this and moved forward, throwing her off balance and landing a clean side-elbow strike into her gut. She staggered back, coughing. Raditz laughed.

'You're _by far_ the weakest fighter I've faced today…' He sneered. 'What makes you think you'll have any more luck than the others?'

Chi-Chi steadied herself, and then to Raditz's annoyance, smirked. 'Because I can sense you're much weaker than you were even just a few minutes ago. We earthlings are taking a toll on you, huh?'

He frowned. 'You think so, huh...' he said, making a point of bringing one hand to the open wound in his side and smearing it in his own blood. 'I can bleed all day,' he declared, bringing his arms to his sides. 'Can you say the same about fighting me?'

'I guess we'll see.'

They crashed against each other again. Chi-Chi landed a solid punch to Raditz's cheek while his fist passed through the air next to her head, but he shrugged off the blow and roped his arm back, grasping the back of Chi-Chi's head. Their foreheads clacked together, splintering her helmet into a hundred pieces and forming a ragged, bloody gash running down the center of Chi-Chi's face. Raditz pursued the staggering, stunned Chi-Chi and planted a solid foot against her sternum, causing a distinct _crackkkk_ to ring through the air. Her body flew through the air for several feet before crashing down to the cobbles.

Panting, Raditz straightened. Chi-Chi twitched, but otherwise didn't seem to be standing. _That's… that… then- uagghhh…_ Raditz involuntarily stumbled forward, catching himself by planting one hand on the ground. His other hand ran up and down his side and came back slick with blood. _Too much…_

He quickly pushed _ki_ into his right hand and placed it to the wound- a second later, the singed flesh crisped together, stopping the bleeding.

 _There…_ he stood. When he pulled his gaze up from the ground, he came face-to-face with Chi-Chi, who body slammed into him and forced his arms behind his back. 'Grrr!...' Raditz swung his head forward, trying to headbutt Chi-Chi again, but she predicted this and pressed her head into his neck. 'Just stay down!'

Chi-Chi wheezed, then croaked, 'You'd be surprised how much pain I'm in right now…' She then tightened her grip around his wrists. 'But someone needs to keep you still!'

'What?...' Raditz swung his head to the side and saw the scarred human charging the same attack he had thrown before. _Where is he getting this energy from!?_ 'You… you think you can restrain me!?' Raditz bellowed, digging his feet into the cobbles and slowly twisting Chi-Chi towards the imminent blast. 'I'm stronger than you! I'm faster than you! I'm _smarter than you!_ ' She lost her foothold briefly, and Raditz wrenched her body around a few more inches. 'The other one needed a cheap trick to detain me, and he was _stronger_ than _you!_ '

'I don't care!' She screamed, forcing their bodies back to their original orientation. 'YAMCHA, THROW IT!'

The light behind Raditz suddenly brightened- out of the corner of his vision, he glimpsed the ball rocket towards them.

'Not… yet!' They briefly threw all the strength they possessed into the struggle- and Raditz jerked Chi-Chi around, eliciting a cry of pain as her sternum further cracked. Now seeing the incoming attack head-on over one of Chi-Chi's shoulders, he noticed that it began to curve around to his backside. _Too bad!_ He began to turn again, aligning Chi-Chi in the direction the blast would approach from. _She'll be my meat shield, and then I'll crush that human's head between my-_

A second person gripped Raditz's back, halting his movement. With abject terror, Raditz swung his head from his front and glimpsed Kakarot's ruined face staring down at his back. 'It's funny,' Kakarot said sadly and softly, as the glow behind him burgeoned. 'I would have let you destroy this entire planet, everyone here… except for her.' He made eye contact with Chi-Chi, who had craned her head over one of Raditz's shoulders. 'Except for _him_.'

Chi-Chi made a face.

' _Thank you_ ,' he mouthed to her, as the Spirit Ball made contact with his back and detonated.

0o0o0

Just as the sun touched the very edge of the horizon, Bulma directed her plane towards a grassy edge of East City- the same place Retu had landed his, as they would later find out- after struggling with one last shockwave riding through the air. The air calmed after this, however, and allowed Bulma to tap the plane down gently. Once this was done, she fell asleep over the plane's controls.

With some help with Yajirobe, Rayne limped out of the plane on crutches, focusing her _ki_ sense to where she had last sensed everyone. _But now… I can barely sense anything…_

A few anxious minutes spent walking amidst a ruined city passed before they reached the clear site of battle. Scorch marks patterned the plaza's cobbles, conspicuous chunks on ruined buildings were missing, and, most foreboding of all, they sensed someone slowly fading out of this world.

Yamcha was crouching down in the center of the plaza next to Chi-Chi, who's trembling arms barely managed to grip a baby.

Rayne and Yajirobe approached- and realized that Chi-Chi was silently crying. Solitary tears ran down her rigid face. 'Yamcha…' Rayne muttered, her eyes scanning the battlefield. 'What happened? Where is everyone? Where's _Krillin_?'

Yamcha quickly glanced at her and Yajirobe out of the corner of his eye and forced his vision to the ground. He couldn't look at her- he couldn't look at anything. 'Rayne,' he said after lifting a hand from Chi-Chi's shoulder. 'I... ' he choked, placing a hand on his own chest, 'I can't think about it right now.' He stood. 'Not until he's dead.'

'What do you mean?' Rayne asked, increasingly anxious. 'What's going on? Did we win?'

He pointed to one end of the plaza. 'I just pulled Chi-Chi out from under Raditz's body. His _still living_ body. So I need to go over now and make sure he dies. Alright? I can't… think… of anything-'

'But what about-'

'Krillin is dead!' Yamcha shouted, 'and Piccolo is on his deathbed! I-' His anger immediately dissipated upon seeing the grief rise on Rayne's face. '...I'm sorry... ' He turned and hurriedly limped away, ashamed of himself. _I'm sorry..._

0o0o0

At some point in the sensory misery that ensued after the Spirit Ball hit, Raditz became aware of two things. First, he retroactively realized someone had pulled away the body beneath his chest, settling him to the ground and worsening his already fatal injuries. When this happened, he distinctly felt something slosh out from under him when he was moved- though it wasn't painful. Mostly. His body wasn't quite past the point of pain.

 _But I can feel it coming. Dark and blanketing… wonderful…_

Second, Raditz distinctly remembered feeling an entire _being_ unravel behind him. It was… sad. Energy attacks had a way of destroying a person… utterly. He would have liked to have had something small at the and. _A scrap of his clothes, nothing more…_

 _Kakarot..._

For a time he rested on his front, the mere act of breathing a test of whether he still wanted to live. And, even though he knew he would be dead very soon, he wasn't one to quit. The sensory world around him narrowed- the sound of wind slowly drifted away from him, as did the feeling of heat or warmth. Everything became… vague.

But then the sensation of movement inched through Raditz's ruined body; he found himself face-up. Incidentally, he knew this position would prolong his life by using the ground to "plug" the gaping opening in the back of his chest. _Who?..._

He wasn't sure how long he was gazing up before he recognized a person, then the person, bending over him. _The scarred one…_

Yamcha must have seen the flicker of life in his eyes- he began to talk. 'You're still alive,' he said, almost as if he was confirming it to himself. 'After everything you've been through, and you're breathing…'

Raditz feebly coughed, clearing as much blood from his respiratory system as possible. 'It's what we Saiyans are. Survivors…' He coughed again, splattering blood throughout his mouth. He couldn't taste it. '...until the end.' Something then occurred to Raditz. 'Is this when you say the good and noble things? You try to teach me the error of my ways?' he taunted- though it was hard to feel secure in his verbal strength when he was on his deathbed. 'Don't waste your breath…'

'In a way,' Yamcha said, disguising his true emotion. Then, he delivered a clean kick to the side of Raditz's chest, eliciting a small gasp of pain from Raditz. 'Did that hurt?'

'Somewhat,' Raditz admitted. 'Though I wouldn't bother doing that again. With every moment that passes, I feel my grasp on my pain slipping…'

'Then I'll sit.' Yamcha plopped down to the ground, falling into a cross-legged position. 'I'm going to talk for a few minutes. You're going to listen.'

'I…' Raditz coughed weakly, briefly pushing out blood from his mouth before it seeped back in. 'I don't want to listen… _shouldn't_ have to listen… to this…'

'Too bad.' Yamcha frowned at him. 'You lost. You're _dying_.'

Raditz grunted. It was very Saiyan logic for the human to use. 'Fair enough…'

Yamcha stared at him. 'I caught some of your conversation with Chi-Chi.'

'The… mother of Kakarot's son?' Raditz asked, unsure.

'Yes, her name is Chi-Chi.' Yamcha felt remarkably calm. _I guess I'm at peace with what I'm about to do._ 'You said to her that you pushed Kakarot to embrace his Saiyan side. Is this true?'

'I did… before I found him he was living in the middle of nowhere… so I kicked him in the right direction.'

'Why?'

Raditz's gaze flickered to Yamcha. 'Why? I guess… there's a number of reasons. Narcissism, for one. Also… wanted him to be a Saiyan, who he _ought_ to be… he seemed lost when I met him.'

'So, you came to Earth to make him more Saiyan? Nothing else?'

'Maybe… maybe not.' Raditz smiled, showcasing his bloodstained teeth. 'It's a big universe out there. If you think… I'm the only person with a hidden agenda… you'd be sorely mistaken…'

Yamcha thought on this. 'Regardless,' he continued, 'It didn't work. Kakarot betrayed you in the end- your own brother. How does that make you feel?'

For the first time in their conversation, Raditz mustered real contempt on his face. 'You aren't a Saiyan,' he said. 'Don't pretend to understand us. I'm not mad at him… I'm sad, even a little proud, for him. Betraying me… was the most Saiyan thing he's ever done…'

'What?' Yamcha furrowed his brows. 'What do you mean?'

'I've had the thought so many times…' Raditz said, growing more distant, 'but I was always too afraid… I should have just run away with Kakarot, instead of… well, it doesn't really matter now…'

Raditz grew quiet, his glassy eyes staring up at the sky. By now, the growing twilight was swallowing the city. It wouldn't be long before night arrived. 'Nothing matters now…'

Yamcha regarded Raditz. It was strange to see someone who was so terrifying powerful slowly die right before his eyes. _But, in the end, I guess this is how everyone goes..._

A gentle wild passed over the area, ruffling Raditz's blood-matted hair. _Alright._ 'I'm glad we talked,' Yamcha said, standing after some effort and brushing some dust off himself. 'Enjoy bleeding out.'

'What?' Raditz said with as much shock as someone near total organ failure could muster. 'You're… just going to leave me here? You aren't going to kill me?'

Yamcha regarded Raditz with the coldest gaze the Saiyan had ever experienced- it was downright heartless. 'What have you done to deserve a merciful death?' the scarred human asked quietly.

Raditz was speechless. 'It's… the way of the Saiyans… please…'

Yamcha didn't reply- instead, he let his dark gaze linger on Raditz. Then, wordlessly, he stepped away.

'No…' Raditz begged, lifting one blood-festered hand out of his ruined midsection an inch. 'Please…'

Yamcha kept on walking. Raditz's hand trembled in the air for a moment before plopping back on top of his exposed guts. 'No…' he breathed to himself. _I… don't want to die… not like… this…_

 _Kakarot… for better or for worse… I guess I'll see you soon..._

0o0o0

As Yamcha walked back to everyone, he noticed that they had moved over to where Piccolo was lying on the ground. _So I guess he's not dead yet, either._ He stopped next to Rayne.'It's done,' Yamcha said solemnly. His eyes didn't lift from the ground. 'Rayne, I'm-'

'It's okay,' she replied quietly. Her eyes were reddened from recently crying. 'I understand. I know… you did your best.' She glanced at Chi-Chi. 'Both of you, even…' She finally returned gaze to Piccolo,' even him. He fought until the end…'

'He… helped us,' Yamcha said. 'He could have run or tried to save himself- but he stayed and fought. I'm... sorry he's gone, actually.'

Their conservation fell away- each person took their time examining Piccolo. The hole in his midsection hadn't really healed. In a strange twist of fate, Yamcha recognized that it looked extremely similar to the fatal wound Raditz had. _Someone is smiling, somewhere._

'Is he dead?' Yajirobe asked, eyeing the demon's body.

'He will be soon,' Yamcha informed them. 'I didn't notice it until after, but he gave me his life energy at the end… he really wanted Raditz to die.' Yamcha's train of thought briefly got sidetracked. _Piccolo would probably approve of what I just did._ 'Regardless,' Yamcha continued, 'there's no way we can stabilize him. Once you lose even some part of your life energy, well… it's just a matter of time.'

'Just like Master Roshi…' Rayne muttered. She then thought of something and painfully lowered herself down next to Piccolo.

'Rayne?' Yamcha asked, limping closer. 'I know how you feel, hell, _I feel that way_ , but no amount of fawning is going to change anything-'

She held up a hand, motioning for silence. Guiding one hand forward, she placed her palm on an intact section of Piccolo's chest and breathed some energy into Piccolo's body. His eyelids began to flutter.

Rayne leaned back, satisfied. 'I think that'll make it less painful for him. And keep him awake until the end.'

'But.. why?' Chi-Chi asked. 'Why talk to him?'

'Because, if what Yamcha told us is true, he deserves our thanks. Isn't that right, Piccolo?'

Slowly, Piccolo opened his eyes, feeling the weight of sensation return to him- but it was calm and cool, like he was drifting on a waveless sea. 'Is… is this death?'

'Not here,' Rayne told him, drawing the demon's gaze. 'Not yet.'

'You damn fools... ' Piccolo said softly, barely breathing enough to speak. 'Get away from me…'

No-one obeyed his command- they stayed kneeling on the ground next to him, gazing down with pained expressions.

'Don't… look at me like that…'

'Thank you,' Chi-Chi spoke. 'Thank you for everything.'

Piccolo weakly looked at her, his eyes growing distant. 'I didn't- I didn't do it for-'

'Thank you,' Yamcha said, placing a consoling hand on his chest. 'You won us the battle.'

'But- but I-'

Rayne cut him off. 'Thank you.'

Piccolo meekly shook his head. 'I… was going to die anyway… it was just a matter of time… I didn't want to draw it out…'

Chi-Chi sniffed, drawing Piccolo's attention to the tears running down her cheeks. 'Raditz is dead,' she said, 'because of you. You _saved_ us. You saved this entire planet.'

For a brief second, Piccolo's face fell into a mournful expression. 'Damn… it...'

With that, he exhaled one last time, rattling his lungs into oblivion.

0o0o0

After Piccolo died, no one felt the need to linger. Yamcha found Tien unconscious, but alive, after some searching and directed Yajirobe to collect a similarly wounded Launch. Chi-Chi was able to walk of her own free will, as was Rayne with some effort. Throughout this, Gohan never woke.

Now, as Yamcha looked out one last time on the ruined landscape of the city, he reflected on what he saw. Not a single sound stirred from beyond the immediate debris field that delineated the battlefield. The darkness of the night was close at hand, staved off only by the strong light of the full moon. _Neither of them survived the day… lucky us._

 _Luck? What am I saying…_

Wounded, scarred- it was too bitter of a victory.

'Hey…' Rayne spoke up from behind him, grabbing everyone's attention. 'Where did Piccolo's body go?'

Chi-Chi, Yajirobe, and Yamcha turned. It was true- the spot where his body had been a few minutes earlier was now conspicuously empty.

'Is… he alive!?' Yajirobe squealed.

'No, no…' Yamcha dismissed Yajirobe's fears. 'He definitely died...' He wandered over to where Piccolo's body had been- there was a clear darkened purple mark from where his blood had stained the ground, but there was no blood trail or anything else to suggest Piccolo had gotten up and walked away under his own free will. But there was also no sign of anything or anyone having walked up to his body in the past minute.

'...Weird,' Yamcha said, standing. He turned back to the others. 'I don't know what to say. It's like his body disappeared.'

'Wasn't Kami some kind of spiritual type? Maybe he-slash-Piccolo has some weight in… whatever there is after death,' Rayne suggested.

'Maybe.' Yamcha rejoined them. 'Come on- let's wake up Bulma and head home.'

0o0o0

Several times Raditz felt the shadow of death pass over him, fully expecting any one of his anguished breaths to be his last. Sensation was a cruel joke to him now. He saw nothing, heard nothing- his only tether to the outside world now was the kinesthetic feeling of the self-contained rise and fall of his chest.

Rise and fall.

Rise and fall.

Rise and… fall.

His breathing almost gave out there. Almost.

Rise and fall.

Rise and fall.

Rise… no… _not… rising. No… I'm rising..._ _I'm moving…_

 _Kakarot…_ Raditz's entire being lurched for something, a place set just beyond where he could reach with his will. He saw the divide, if but for a second, hiding behind it an entire world of… something more.

But the moment passed, and the divide faded back into darkness. The mortal world beckoned.

* * *

A/N: And… that's it. I killed several characters in the same chapter. What is wrong with me? But, then again, this is DBZ.

Also, If anyone's curious, Kakarot dying here was something I had planned for a long time. To some degree, I hope it came as a shock.

So… this chapter wraps up **Volume I** of this story: **The Saiyan of Earth**. Basically, I see everything up until this point as a discrete section of this story. To give an idea of where we're going;

 **Volume I:** done

 **Volume 2:** outlined

 **Volume 3:**?

If I had to guess we're… 42 chapters into a 120 chapter story? Maybe 140? Who knows. We'll see.

But _Endgame_ is done! I'm feeling stuff. I've been releasing a chapter for this story every week for some time now, but **this** event in this chapter was something I have wanted to get to for so long. This story is going to open up A TON now.

Also! I'm publishing a new DBZ fic soon. It's going to be _substantially_ different from this one. As of now, I'm considering it a side-project I can sink time into whenever I'm running ahead for this story. But expect it to drop sometime in the next week. Very pumped about the premise.

And, one last personal appeal: If you're enjoying the snot out of this story, write a review and give me feedback! Every individual word I get from a fan means the world to me. And. I imagine, there's going to be a wide variety of reactions after this chapter...

 **Reviews:**

 **TC9078:** I really hope I didn't rip your heart out and eat it, my friend.

 **Luke:** I'm keeping my mouth shut about your first comment.

And that reaction might need to come after a… long period spent processing.

 **LWexe:** In the end, it took a village to take down Raditz.

 **Guest:** I freakin' love Piccolo's character! Also, thank you for the love!


	43. Behind the Veil

Outlanders

Chapter 43: Behind the Veil

A/N: Heyo! Welcome back to my time sink! You are reading the first chapter of **Volume II: A Wider Universe.** The arc you are currently reading is _Outlanders_ _._ Alright, have fun! Also, this chapter is very long! Dagnabbit!

* * *

Something akin to tickling ran across Krillin's body, making him laugh. It was nice- it must have been over a decade since he had last been tickled.

 _Wait; since when do I like being tickled? This is different…_ Suspicious, Krillin opened his eyes and examined his body. He was clothed in his orange _gi_ \- and he couldn't place where exactly he had felt that sensation. _That was really weird…_

'Hey pal,' someone said from behind him. Krillin turned and saw a bored-looking blue creature. 'You awake?'

'Yeah… I think so.' Krillin lifted and dropped his arm at his side. 'It's weird… it's almost like-'

'Your arm doesn't exist?'

Krillin stared at him. 'What?'

'Do you know where you are?'

Belatedly, Krillin realized that he did not. It was then that Krillin looked past the blue creature- and saw what could be described as heaven stretching into the distance. Yellow, inviting clouds bounded up and down across the landscape, broken every once and awhile by a stone platform or path. His sight was immediately drawn to a large temple-esque complex with a green roof and red perimeter walls and a long line of… - _white dots?_ -running down a central path into the complex. It almost reminded him of Orin Temple, if where he had grown up had been resplendent and breathtaking.

'So buddy,' the being asked from behind him. 'Know where you are yet?'

Krillin turned, examining the blue creature more closely. He was dressed not unlike how a businessman would dress on a casual work day- he wore black loafers, black dress pants, a white dress shirt, and a black tie. More noteworthy, however, were the two short, stubby horns pointing out of his head. Curiosity got the best of Krillin. 'What… are you, exactly?'

'Me? I'm an ogre. I have to take care of goofballs like you.'

'Okay… but why?'

The blue ogre scowled at him. 'Look, buddy, can you look around one more time and put two-and-two together? Don't you remember the last thing you were doing?'

'Yeah… it was... ' Krillin's expression dropped. 'Wait! I was fighting Raditz!... And… I think he's still alive!' Krillin gripped the ogre by his neck collar. 'Please, you need…' And then it dawned on Krillin. 'Oh… I see…'

'Great. Now get off me!' The blue ogre complained, shirking off Krillin's grip. 'You know where you are now?'

'Yeah… I… died. So…' Krillin's gaze shifted to the rolling yellow clouds. 'This is… the afterlife?'

'We call it the Otherworld, but yes.'

 _So I guess I really did die against Raditz… I hope it was enough..._

'I had to reconstitute your sorry soul,' the blue ogre griped, ignoring Krillin's silence. 'Tell me; what did it feel like?'

'What did what feel like?'

'When you first came to. Usually it varies for person to person- the process takes the nicest sensation a specific person felt during their time in the mortal plane and replicates it to produce a comforting sensation for the person to experience as they "wake-up".'

'Oh… I think…' Krillin scratched his head, 'it was tickling?... but I never really enjoyed it on Earth…'

The blue ogre looked at Krillin strangely. 'Alright. That's weird. But okay.' He then swung back and pointed an arm down a small stone path. 'Now, if you don't mind, please join the line at the end and wait your turn to be judged.'

'Judged? I'm not in heaven?'

'Nope. Call this the neutral ground. This plane is where we decide who to give the good stuff to and who to give the bad stuff to.' The blue ogre then leaned in and started to whisper to Krillin. 'And don't worry- I saw your file. You're a shoo-in for the good stuff, you know?'

'Uhh… yeah? Maybe?'

'Go get 'em!' The blue ogre patted him on the back- or more accurately tried to, because his arm passed through Krillin's chest. 'Uh… sorry about that…'

'What just happened!?' Krillin asked, frightened. 'Am I-'

'Yeah, remember what I said earlier? That's not your real body,' the ogre explained. 'That may _look_ like your real body to you, but it ain't. When people die we typically give people the self-image they desire- makes it much easier for them to process things.'

Krillin raised one hand, bending his fingers back and forth. _Huh… now that he points it out, I don't really feel any substantive sensation from my body, let alone any ki…_ Krillin looked up at the ogre. 'So if this isn't what I really look like… what do I look like to you?'

'Oh, a floating ball of white light. Kind of like a will o'wisp.'

Krillin gulped and reexamined himself. _Don't think about it…_

'Hey! You'll get used to the idea.' The ogre then pointed down the path again. 'Now go! The faster you get moving, the faster you get to the good stuff!'

'...Alright…' Krillin made a motion to wave goodbye to the ogre, but then decided against it and dropped his arm to his side. 'Thanks.'

The ogre saluted.

Krillin walked down the path for a few minutes, and true to the ogre's word, his path eventually merged into the long line he had seen from earlier. At the moment he found himself entering into the queue of other floating white balls of light, everything blurred-

And suddenly, Krillin found himself within a massive room, it's ceiling as tall as any skyscraper he had seen on Earth and large enough to fit millions upon millions of humans atop of each other.

'Krillin, eh?' A voice rumbled down to him. Krillin shot his gaze towards a tall red creature that resembled the blue ogre he had met earlier- except this one was most likely one hundred times taller than the one from before. This giant red one was seated behind a desk and would have looked ridiculous if the desk wasn't also _the size of a skyscraper._ 'Your file is pretty interesting…' the red ogre continued. This comment was followed by the sound of shuffling paper.

'Uhh…' Krillin squinted upwards, trying to gauge whether his eyes were deceiving him. _This guy is massive!_ 'Who am I talking to?...' Krillin quickly glanced behind him, seeing an empty line 'And how did I get here?...'

'You're talking to King Yemma,' the massive being said distractedly. 'And you're here to be judged. That's as much as you need to know.'

'Judged?'

'For where you will go in Otherworld. For _eternity._ '

 _Eternity!? That seems a bit extreme!_ Krillin started fidgeting with his hands- hands that, he now realized would be unseen by anyone else. He increased his fidgeting. _I shouldn't be a tough case to judge, right?... I mean, I never really did anything bad in life…_

 _Oh man, what if he knows about Zushin?... I didn't mean to break that wall!_

Right before Krillin's mind could fully descend into speculative self-doubt, a gentle, probing voice entered his mind. _Krillin? Are you there?_

The voice was eminently recognizable. _Kami? Is that you?_

 _Krillin!_ Kami's voice was flush with relief. _Thank the gods I caught you before you reached King Yemma. It is critical that you wait for my arrival! He needs to be made aware of some important circumstances before he judges your soul!_

 _Uh, well actually, I'm being judged by him as we speak..._

 _What!?_ Kami telepathically yelled into Krillin's ear. _Tell him to wait! I need to speak to him on your behalf!_

 _Ahh… alright._ 'Uh… judge sir? King Yemma, is it?' Krillin called out.

The red ogre looked up from his papers and glared at Krillin. 'What?'

'I've been told… to wait for someone.'

'Oh?' King Yemma's face perked up. 'Is this a reference?'

'Uh… kind of?'

'Then fine!' King Yemma swung one massive arm to one corner of the room. 'Wait for them there, then!'

Krillin did as was told and sat in between a few attendant ogres who were on their breaks. As he listened to two ogres talk back and forth past him about their weekend plans (which, judging from how they talked about it, was much farther away in time than Krillin would have assumed a weekend would be), a single thought kept bouncing around in his head. _The afterlife- err, Otherworld, is weird..._

0o0o0

Over the course of several days, people congregated in a short, squat hospital on the southern edge of West City. Before falling asleep for nearly twenty-four hours straight, Bulma begrudgingly allowed her parents to wield their considerable sway within the city to secure her friends a private floor within an accredited hospital. They considered this to be preferable to the ragtag group of medical personnel running around Capsule Corp. on a daily basis.

Every injured fighter was given their own room- though their beds were on wheels so they could be moved out to a central room to talk to each other if they wanted. Not many people took advantage of this.

It rained unendingly during that first week.

Everyone dealt with the events of East City differently. Tien, arranged in some nightmare of a rotund medical construction to prevent his broken ribs from unsetting every time he breathed, never spoke until Chiaotzu arrived, and even then, he spoke no more than a few minutes each day to his close friend. Despite being in better shape than Tien, Yamcha was uncharacteristically silent, instead choosing to stare out his rain-laden window for vast stretches of the day. Launch and Suno were too debilitated by pain to speak for more than a few seconds at a time. Chi-Chi was understandably consumed with recovering and caring for Gohan. Out of everyone who had fought and lived, Rayne alone seemed open to talking about it. Nonetheless, she spent most of her time alone in her room with only her thoughts to converse with.

 _Too bad I wasn't there… at the end… oh, Krillin…_ A part of her didn't want to accept that Krillin was now permanently dead; as "normal" as it should have been, it was surreal to imagine a world without dragonballs.

But she had watched Piccolo die herself. And Korin had come to them a few days ago and confirmed it for them; Kami had passed from this world. _He gave us a lot of freakin' bad news. No more Senzu beans for a month? Give us a break…_

Even among those who hadn't fought, the mood was bad. Chiaotzu and Retu alternated between passing "okayness" and long periods of time spent brooding to themselves. Retu in particular seemed to be taking Krillin's death especially hard. For the first time in which Rayne had known Yajirobe, he was serious- and she _hated_ that. The only person who seemed to be handling things well was Bulma- but Rayne suspected that she kept herself too busy with work or attending to other people's needs to let herself dwell on the state of the world.

Taken together, every single person on this floor was in a horrible mood. On the fourth day of utter silence and on the verge of losing her mind, Rayne demanded Bulma assemble everyone together and force them to _talk_. What she expected to happen at first did happen- a lot of time was spent quietly comforting those who couldn't hold in their grief anymore. Eventually, however, the conversation turned outwards, and with that turn came a discussion of what came next.

Which, is to say, nothing was said. They could cry until the sun set, rose, and set again, but Rayne didn't see the point of doing any of that if they weren't using that… _to do something? I don't know. No amount of motivation can will the dragon balls back into existence. Kami is dead, and that's that…_

But, regardless, it felt good to discuss. If one thing was made clear during their talk, everyone was greatly saddened by Krillin's death. That made Rayne feel a bit better.

A week after the battle in East City, Rayne felt good enough to get up and walk around on crutches to her fellow patients. She found herself first enter Chi-Chi's room.

'Hey?' She asked uncertainly, sticking her head through the doorway. 'Can you talk?'

Chi-Chi was sitting up in her bed, her eyes not lifting from Gohan cradled in her arms. She motioned her to come in without looking at her. Rayne grabbed a chair and pulled it up to Chi-Chi's bed. 'Do… you want to talk?' She probed.

Chi-Chi looked up at her. 'One second.' Chi-Chi then pressed a button in her hospital bed- the next moment, Bulma sprung into the room, swooped Gohan up in her arms, and whisked him outside. 'Bulma put in a private beeper,' Chi-Chi explained, 'to be used specifically whenever I need a break from caring for Gohan.'

'This counts?'

'It does. I haven't really talked to _anyone_ over the past week. I don't think Bulma minds.'

There was a distinct sound of something banging outside, like the sound of something metal hitting the floor and rolling across the room. This was followed by a quite loud curse. Chi-Chi blinked. 'She'll be fine.' She then settled a bit more comfortably into her bed. 'What's up?'

'Alright… so, let me ask. How are you doing?' Rayne asked, trying to be as considerate as possible.

'I mean, I've been better,' Chi-Chi replied, pointing to the ugly gash that ran down the center of her forehead. 'Ignoring the pain in the rest of my body, it's going to be a _long_ time before my face looks like normal again.'

'Right…' Rayne anxiously rubbed her hands together. 'Not the best.'

Chi-Chi narrowed her eyes suspiciously. 'Do you have a particular thing you're trying to get at?'

'Er… yes. How are you dealing with… uh…'

'Kakarot dying?' Chi-Chi finished for her.

Rayne hesitated. '...Yes.'

Chi-Chi held her gaze on Rayne for a few seconds, then sighed. 'I guess that's a fair question to ask. Presumably, we had a good relationship at some point if we had a child together.'

'Did you?'

'Not really.' Chi-Chi's face sagged. 'Well, honestly, I don't know… Would you be surprised if I told you that I never really knew him?'

'Well, at this point,' Rayne said, sticking out a hand and counting on her fingers, 'Considering that you've interacted with him… what, three times outside of a fight? First before the 22nd World Tournament, then right after, and then… sometime before Gohan was born? You should know him better than me.'

'I think I had a good understanding of what was pressing down on him,' Chi-Chi said, glancing out through the rainy window. 'He came to this planet with a task he never fully loved, and spent his formative years under the care of someone who recognized his vile behavior but treated him well regardless. When he did finally leave his home and started walking the Earth, he seemed to commit himself to the task of finding and fighting strong enemies instead of wiping wholesale villages off the map- though why he did that, I don't know. Eventually, he reached a point where he became weaker compared to us and Piccolo; never being properly trained probably enhanced this divide. From there, he became disillusioned with his own power… I think.' Chi-Chi swung her gaze back to Rayne. 'There was nothing for him to be proud of in his life. I think that's what Raditz capitalized on- his sense of alienation and isolation. I don't see any other reason for why Kakarot would turn again to killing humans en masse.'

'That's… incredibly sad,' Rayne said, fighting an urge to let her eyes tear up. 'That was his life? I never knew…'

Chi-Chi nodded- she averted Rayne's gaze, however, and continued to look downcast at her sheets.

'What about you?' Rayne asked after a time, catching Chi-Chi's attention. 'You knew so much about him. Surely he knew… well…'

'I think he did, in a way, but something held him back,' Chi-Chi murmured. 'I don't know... was it pride? Fear? Disdain?' She sighed. 'Whatever it was, it made him run away from me the moment I felt I _really_ got through to him. So that was when he essentially ran out of both mine and Gohan's lives. After that, I didn't see him until… yeah,' Chi-Chi trailed off.

'And in the end…'

'He cared,' Chi-Chi said simply, 'for both me and Gohan, and his brother. I think he appreciated what Raditz did for him… but he couldn't let me and Gohan die.' She made eye contact with Rayne. 'I'll never be able to thank him for that.'

Things grew quiet between them. The susurration of rainwater running down the side of the building provided a faint ambiance within the room.

'Rayne,' Chi-Chi said, taking her by one hand. 'Thank you for talking to me about this. I don't think anyone else cares about… him,' Chi-Chi voiced her fears, her mouth quivering. 'I can understand why everyone else hates him right now… but he did redeem himself. So thank you…'

'It's okay,' Rayne said reassuring, squeezing Chi-Chi's hand, 'it's okay…' They held that position until Rayne stood up on her crutches. 'I'm going to go walk around and stretch my body a bit more. Do you want me to get Bulma to bring Gohan back in?'

'In a few minutes,' Chi-Chi replied, turning his gaze back out the window. 'I want to sit with my thoughts for a moment.'

'Sure thing.'

0o0o0

Rayne exited the room and saw Bulma sitting in a rickety wooden chair bouncing Gohan on one knee and a thick folder of papers on the other. 'Bulma? Is that safe?' Rayne asked, drawing closer.

Bulma looked up absentmindedly. 'Huh?' she said, addressing Rayne. She then noticed how Gohan was positioned. 'Wanna take him off my hands?' Bulma asked, holding Gohan out with one arm.

Annoyed, Rayne accepted the baby. In order to carry him, she had to lay against a nearby wall, using one arm and crutch to balance herself upright. 'Shouldn't this be your job right now?' She complained.

'It would under normal circumstances,' Bulma said, now using both hands to sort through the papers in the file. 'Events beyond my control are in motion that _necessitate_ my control, however. That comes first.'

'What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

Bulma glanced up at Rayne, a predatory smile painting her face. 'Opportunity. Capsule Corp. has been playing with house money ever since Raditz's been taken out of the picture.'

'How so?'

'Do you know how much useful tech he's left behind for us to study? An _entire_ spaceship that ignores all modern laws of space aeronautics is now en route to one of my warehouses, begging to be examined. What kind of fuel does the ship use? How is its onboard computer programmed? What galactic languages can be deciphered from its drives? Don't you understand?' Bulma asked, growing more excited as she enumerated the possibilities. 'Progress in the field of spaceflight is going to advance _centuries_ if we can decipher everything that ship has to offer. And I intend to be the one leading that progress. Even as we speak, while humanitarian efforts are going on in East City, scientists on my payroll are combing through the ruins, looking for any equipment or tech that Raditz may have dropped.'

'Bulma,' Rayne said, her face vaguely disguising disgust, 'can I be frank?'

'Yes?'

'You shouldn't be saying this out loud,' Rayne said unpleasantly. 'It makes you sound like a horrible person.'

Bulma frowned. 'I won't deny that what we're doing isn't exploitative. But I'm not someone who's going to sit around and do nothing. The ship in particular is proving hard to crack. We have no idea how to even get inside the damn thing. If I had to guess, Raditz had a remote control for the ship, or at least some sort of key…'

Rayne drew her face into a grimace. 'What do you mean, "sit around and do nothing"? Do you think we're _choosing_ to stay here _?_ '

They glared at each other for a moment, giving the room an uneasy silence. 'Alright,' Bulma said after a time, closing shut the file and placing it on a nearby table. 'Here's the state of my life, Rayne. My on-and-off boyfriend was in the fight of his life, nearly died for his efforts, watched one of his best friends die- and he refuses to talk about it. All he does it stare out of the window, his eyes focused on something that isn't there, while I try, day-in, day out, to help him.' Bulma stood and started to pace.' And his best friend that died? Yeah, that was my best friend, too. Krillin is dead. Permanently, considering that evil megalomaniac Piccolo died too. Rayne, your _boyfriend_ is dead, permanently. _Frankly,_ I don't know how you're dealing with this,' she threw a look of disgust towards the room around them, 'considering the squalor of this place!... If I wasn't doing something to get my mind off of all this… I would be going insane. I'm surprised the same hasn't happened to you yet!'

Spent, Bulma collapsed back into her chair, flopping her arms onto her knees. Rayne looked at her for a second, then said, 'Okay.' She took a breath. 'That's okay. I now know where you're coming from. More than I can say for everyone else…'

Something clicked in Bulma's head. 'This is how you're coping, isn't it?' Bulma asked. 'Asking everyone how they're doing?'

'Whatever,' Rayne replied off-handedly.

'Has anyone asked how you're coping?'

'No.'

'Do you want me to?'

'No.' Rayne threw an intense look at Bulma: but it wasn't ill-intentioned or malicious- it was serious. 'You said everything for me. Things are what they are. We just need to move on.'

'Hmm.' Bulma changed tactics. 'Do you know why I've been focusing on this so much?' she asked, holding up the folder from before.

'No.'

'In this work, I see… hope. Or potential, at least.'

'For what?'

Bulma shrugged. 'Dunno. Technology can do a lot of things. My hope is that if I keep plugging along, something good will come of it.'

She let that sentence hang in the air, then said, 'But, there's a reason why I'm here and not at Capsule Corp. I have my friends to keep an eye on. Though that doesn't mean I can't read up on what our scientists are reporting every now-and-then.'

Rayne thought on this. 'Well... I'm glad you're here, Bulma.'

Bulma waved away her conciliatory comment, then noticed Gohan was making quiet whimpering sounds in Rayne's arms. 'Want me to take him back to Chi-Chi?'

She gladly relinquished Gohan. 'By all means.'

0o0o0

Ten days after the battle in East City, Yamcha rolled himself into Tien's room on a wheelchair after having checked Bulma was out doing errands. It was also, coincidentally, a time when Chiaotzu was out of the room. Wordlessly, he rolled himself right up to the side of Tien's hybrid bed/medical tomb.

'Hey…' Tien said. 'How are you?'

'I've been better,' Yamcha replied quickly, keeping his gaze leveled at the ground.' Abruptly, he lifted his head. 'Things are kind of awful.'

'You don't have to tell me…'

Yamcha leaned closer. 'Tell me, Tien…' he began, mechanically smoothing out his hospital gown. 'What would you have done if you were fighting at the end?'

Tien gave him a look. 'What do you mean?' he asked cautiously.

'How would you have killed Raditz?'

Yamcha asked this without any hesitation or inflection. The question would have made Tien shiver if he physically could- the manner in which it was delivered was chilling. 'What kind of question is that?'

'The kind you have to answer if you're fighting at the end,' Yamcha replied. 'Would you have used an energy attack? Maybe drive him into the ground and-'

'Yamcha-' Tien bluntly interrupted him, 'if I was in your shoes… I wouldn't have thought about any of that. I would have fought to survive and hoped that something I did would defeat him.'

'And what if your attack worked, and he was lying helpless on the ground? What then?'

Tien eyed Yamcha for a moment. He was struck by how vacant his eyes were. 'I don't want to talk about this,' he decided, 'and you don't want to think about this.'

Yamcha's nostrils flared. 'I can either think about what I should have done to Raditz on his deathbed, or I can think about the fact that Krillin is dead forever because of us. Which one would you choose?'

Tien didn't respond- but Yamcha seemed to have expected this, and had begun rolling himself out of the room. 'Thanks for the help,' he said indifferently. Several seconds later, Yamcha was out of the room. To Tien's annoyance, he hadn't bothered to close the door behind him.

0o0o0

Twelve days after the battle in East City, while Chiaotzu was checking in on Tien, Launch rolled herself into Tien's room on a wheelchair. Tien frowned as she approached. _Why does my room have to become the meeting ground, of all places?_

Dimly, he remembered the terrifying medical construction encompassing his entire chest. _I guess a better question would be: why did I have to receive the immobilizing injury?..._

Launch wasn't surprised to see Chiaotzu hanging by Tien's side. 'Chiaotzu,' she greeted.

'Hey,' Chiaotzu said quietly. 'You feeling better?'

'Eh, so-so,' Launch replied casually, waving one hand in the air to emphasize her "mehness". 'Out of all the other sorry patients, I'd say I'm definitely above average in terms of mood.'

'Good to hear.'

Launch smiled, then turned to Tien. The three of them as a group had barely talked since the fight in East City. When Launch made eye contact with Tien, something seemed to crack in her facade- her face started to quiver.

Tien would have been blind to not notice this. 'Hey?' he probed, 'Is there?...'

'What I'm about to do,' Launch said calmly, alternating a glare between Tien and Chiaotzu, 'does not leave this room. Understand?'

'I think so,' Tien answered, his eyes widening. Chiaotzu nodded vigorously. 'Launch,' Tien continued after a second, 'don't do something you'd regret-'

She collapsed against the medical construction keeping his and arms ribs in place, awkwardly wrapping her arms around the metal beams. 'I was really worried,' she said quietly right before straightening and banging her own wheelchair with her fist. 'I was really _angry_ , too. Never… Never…'

'Never what?' Chiaotzu asked.

'Never let someone do that to you again,' She raised her head, angry tears running down her cheeks. ' _We_ will never let someone do that to you, or me, or Chiaotzu _ever_ again. We're going to get stronger so that we can handle any challenge that comes our way. Right!?' She barked.

Chiaotzu nodded- Tien frowned, and lacking the mobility to nod, said, 'Of course.'

Then, as quickly as she had done before, Launch again collapsed against Tien's brace. She made a strange sound that wasn't quite crying but wasn't really _normal_ either. A set of these sounds came from Launch before Tien heard a similar sound start to peter out from Chiaotzu- soon enough, the room was filled with a chorus of stilted choking sounds.

Tien would have joined them if he hadn't known better that doing so would have collapsed in his ribcage. Thus, he weathered the tide of sympathetic emotion roiling through his body. In an effort to distance himself from the present, he began to stare up and over Launch's matted hair that draped across his neck at a stained section of the ceiling. 'It's okay…' he muttered. _What a mess…_

0o0o0

Around the same time, Retu was snoring away in Suno's room. He was vaguely dreaming of a desert landscape when a hand clapping down on his knee woke him. 'Ugh?...' He muttered, opening his eyes.

He nearly panicked when he saw a newly cognizant Suno awake, wearily trying to shake him. 'Stop!' Retu cried, forcing her hand back onto her bed. 'Don't strain yourself! This... this is the first time… ' he shook his head in disbelief. 'You're awake…'

'Yeah-' She said hoarsely, halting what she heard how badly her voice sounded. 'My voice…' she croaked, motioning for a glass of water set out next to her bed.

Retu sprung into action and handed her the glass. 'Here… take it slow… you haven't been doing much of anything recently…'

'Wait…' Suno absentmindedly finished the glass and handed it back to him. Her eyes moved towards the IVs fed into both of her arms. 'How long was I out? Last thing I remember was that guy with the dumb hair slamming into me…'

'You've been out for a while,' Retu informed her. 'About twelve days now... '

'Twelve days? What happened?'

'Well, Raditz died. And… Krillin, and Piccolo, and Kami. So…' Retu trailed off. 'That's where we are.'

Suno seemed to grow distant upon hearing this. 'Oh.'

'Yeah.'

The news was horrifying to hear- but before Suno could fully process it, she caught sight of a bedroll on the floor on the far side of the room. 'Whose is that?' she asked.

'Mine,' Retu replied.

'Yours?' Suno looked Retu up and down. 'Who are you, exactly?'

Retu's face suddenly dropped- then dropped even further beyond that. 'Oh! Sorry!' He said feverishly, propping himself up on his crutches and hurriedly moving over to the bedroll. 'I misspoke!' He laughed, as he frantically collected the bedroll into a ball under one arm. 'I have the wrong room! So sorry!' He flew over to the room's door and stepped through the doorway. 'Bye!' With that, Retu slammed the door to Suno's room closed.

She stared at the door for a second. Eventually, she shrugged and picked up a plate of food set beside her bed. 'Weird guy,' she muttered.

0o0o0

About two weeks after the battle in East City, Bulma got a call she hadn't expected to receive. After hailing a taxi to a rundown warehouse on the north side of the city, she practically sprinted up the building's stairwell and burst out onto a second-floor catwalk.

'What? He had two ships?' Bulma exclaimed as she hung over the catwalk's railing, examining the identical pods arranged next to each other in the garage the floor below.

A Capsule Corp. scientist leaning on the railing next to her was also smiling down at the craft. 'The second wasn't too far from the first,' she explained. 'About a mile away, actually.'

Bulma's attention didn't err from the nearly identical craft. 'I don't understand… if they had two ships, why wouldn't they have left once they met up?...'

'That's above my pay grade,' the lead scientist mumbled, turning. 'You'd have to bring back that guy who attacked East City back from the dead to find that out…'

0o0o0

After spending a few hours doing a cursory examination of the two nearly identical ships, Bulma took a taxi back to the hospital but asked the driver to drop her off a few blocks away from the building. The remaining trek on foot back to the hospital gave her time to think. _It won't be too long now until we can open one of the ships and start studying them… and I'm fairly certain that, given a few months, Dad and I could make a working prototype that can easily carry a few people into space. But should we even bother?... We have no idea what the galaxy is like out there- and I doubt any possible alien civilization has discovered a way to reverse death…_ She visibly sagged as she walked. _The more I throw myself into my work, the less confident I feel about everything turning out okay in the end..._

She rounded a corner and walked down the final street to the hospital. The rain was starting to soak through her jacket- she wrapped it tighter around her. _Worst thing about it all… What do I tell everyone? What do I tell_ _ **Yamcha?**_ _I can't bring myself to tell him he's never going to see Krillin again..._

Just as Bulma came to the hospital's main entrance, a sudden change of light brought her out of her thoughts. 'AAAH!' she screamed, as she saw as flying carpet levitating in mid-air just above and behind her. Right above the lip of the carpet's edge, an otherworldly face peeped out. 'Hello? Are you Bulma?'

She froze- what the hell was she looking at? 'Y- Yes?' she stammered out.

The being smiled, their mood lightening. 'I am Mr. Popo, formerly an attendant to the guardian of this planet, Kami.'

'Kami? He's dead, isn't he?'

'Yes.' Mr. Popo's tone was inflectionless- it was unclear whether they were saddened by this fact. 'It is because of his passing that I am here.' They then offered their hand, lowering the carpet some. 'There is something I must share with you and your friends. Please, if you would, I shall take us to their floor immediately.'

'Can't I take the elevator?' When their expression didn't change, she sighed and accepted their hand. _Strong-arm me some more, why don't you…_

The instant that both of her feet were on the carpet, it zoomed upwards and nearly threw her off. She was caught half-over the edge near the central room's main window. 'Aah!- Uhh…' she muttered to Mr. Popo behind her, 'thanks…'

She caught the attention of Yajirobe, who was hanging out in the central room reading a newspaper. After they were let in- Mr. Popo's carpet was parked next to the window- and a few minutes were spent wheeling out everyone who could listen, Yamcha, Tien, Chi-Chi, Launch, Retu, Suno, Rayne, Chiaotzu, Bulma, and Yajirobe were either laid up in bed or standing nearby.

'For those of you who do not know me,' Mr. Popo began, 'I am a former servant to the Earth's guardian, Kami. When Piccolo died two weeks ago, because his life force was linked to my master, Kami, the Guardian perished as well. As I'm sure you all know, this means the dragonballs have ceased to exist.'

Mr. Popo paused, giving people a chance to respond. No-one did, save for Yajirobe coughing. 'This does not mean,' Mr. Popo continued, 'that Kami and your friend Krillin must remain permanently dead, however.'

Almost instantaneously, the mood in the room became accusatory. 'What are you talking about?' Yamcha demanded hotly, tottering on his crutches. 'Are you saying there's a chance they could be brought back?'

'Yes. Would it come to any of you as a shock that Kami is not originally of this world?'

'Well,' Launch spoke up from her wheelchair, 'considering Kakarot was an alien, no, not really…'

Bulma's fingers snapped. 'A ship,' she deduced. 'Kami must have come here in a spaceship.'

Various people turned to Bulma confused. 'What are you talking about?' Chiaotzu asked.

'How else would Kami have gotten to Earth? If he's an alien, he must have used a ship…'

'It makes sense,' Chi-Chi spoke up. 'Kakarot came here in a ship, too.'

'Bulma is correct in her assumption,' Mr. Popo interjected. 'The being that was once both Kami and King Piccolo arrived here in a spaceship many centuries ago.'

'The being? Who?' Chiaotzu asked, a bit lost.

'Kami and King Piccolo were once one being. That being traveled from a planet called Namek to Earth and split himself into two beings to assume the position of Guardian of Earth. That is why Kami and Piccolo's life forces are connected- they are originally of the same person.'

'That's… incredibly confusing.'

'Is it like my multiform technique?' Tien asked, curious. 'Did it cut his power in half?'

'In a way, yes, and in a way, no' Mr. Popo answered ambiguously. 'To be honest, this detail, and broadly, this being isn't important. What matters is that this original being came here in a spaceship.'

'So... correct me if I'm wrong,' Suno said, 'but there must be a whole planet of people like Kami and Piccolo hanging out in space somewhere. Namek, was it?'

'And…' Realization flickered in Yamcha's eyes, 'a whole planet of people who might have dragonballs…'

'Potentially,' Mr. Popo replied. 'The being who fled Namek who eventually became Kami and King Piccolo did so to escape a natural calamity. Namekian civilization was on the verge of collapse- there was a chance that the Namekians would not survive the changes occurring to their planet. Thus, a Namekian named Katas who wished to spare his son from the ravages of this possible extinction event built a ship and sent his child away to another planet to ensure that he would live. The planet this ship eventually landed on was Earth.' Mr. Popo paused. 'That was the story Kami told to me, at least. His account may have forgotten or embellished what actually happened. And, ultimately, he did not know whether the Namekians survived this calamity. It could be the case that the planet is now a barren husk, devoid of all life. But I am certain that this ship could return to Namek if need be.'

'Do you know if the ship still exists?' Bulma asked, curious.

'Yes, it does; it has remained untouched and unused within a remote wasteland near North City.'

Rayne frowned. '...Sorry,' she uttered, 'but if that ship brought Kami to this planet… shouldn't it be ancient by now? Has it been sitting out, exposed to the elements? If so, I doubt it's still spaceworthy.'

Mr. Popo turned his gaze to her. 'I assure you that it still works. The ship was designed to be nearly unbreakable- it had to carry potentially the last surviving Namekian- the son of Katas who became Kami and King Piccolo- in the galaxy.'

'So, just so everyone's on the same page-' Bulma stated, '-whoever… Kami was before splitting into himself and King Piccolo fled his home planet where other Namekians live. Some of these Namekians, like Kami, can possibly do something similar to the dragonballs… perform wishes, magic, that kind of stuff. And this ship that arrived on Earth centuries ago is more-or-less ready to go back to this planet…' Bulma shook her head. 'Honestly, this seems too good to be true…'

'I understand if you do not believe me outright,' Mr. Popo said, 'but as a permanent attendant to the Guardian of Earth, I have learned a great many things over the course of my existence. Kami entrusted the knowledge of his ship and his origins to me in case of this specific situation arising.' They abruptly moved over to the window and gestured to the carpet parked just outside. 'Which is why I request one of you accompany me to this ship.'

An awkward silence ensued when no-one immediately volunteered to accompany Mr. Popo. None of them have ever actually met Mr. Popo before, after all.

'You're a pilot, right Bulma?' Suno asked after several seconds.

Bulma cursed under her breath and moved to glare at her, but was stopped when she saw a spread of brightening expressions among her friends. 'Yes…' she unenthusiastically replied, 'I am…' _Damn it. How I am supposed to say no to a room full of hopeful injured people?_ Though what most motivated Bulma to do what she was about to do was a look from Rayne. _If you're being truthful about being there for us,_ the look said, _you'll do this._

Sighing, Bulma turned to Mr. Popo. 'Fine. I'll go. This trip better not take up the whole day…'

'It'll be quicker than you think,' they responded pleasantly. Mr. Popo ably climbed up onto the carpet and helped up Bulma with one hand. The moment both of her feet were on the carpet, she and Mr. Popo vanished.

0o0o0

In the absence of Kami and Mr. Popo, the Lookout was deathly quiet. The wind blew across the tiles in long rolls, tugging the flowers in the garden one way or another depending on the current mood of the wind.

It was soundless- mostly.

Progressively, a sharp, rhythmic echo began to grow in volume. Within the main complex, in a room in a far away from any main hallway, rested an outwardly normal-looking, teal-colored vessel. This sound, which could have been characterized as a slow dragging of nails across a rough surface, grew louder, growing to a slight murmur, before abruptly halting.

With a quiet _hiss_ , a crack appeared in the vessel.

0o0o0

In the span of a second, Bulma found herself, Mr. Popo, and the carpet floating amidst a wasteland. She would have yelled in shock if Mr. Popo hadn't spoken first. 'Here,' they said, pointing down. The carpet then lurched underneath her feet, bringing them both slowly to the ground.

At first, Bulma thought they were approaching a smile cluster of trees- as they approached, however, she noticed that the greenery covering the top of the cluster was too regularly spaced to be leaves. When the carpet finally touched down to the ground, Bulma saw the dull white underbelly of what must have been an ivy and vine-covered ship.

With some hesitation, she followed Mr. Popo forward.

They stopped almost directly underneath the center of the ship. Mr. Popo glanced about the bottom of the ship before their eyes settled on some unseen thing. ' _Nbaesk.'_

Upon Mr. Popo's utterance, a circular platform descended from the center of the underbelly. 'The ship responds to the Namekian language.' Mr. Popo explained, stepping onto the platform once it came to a stop. 'Shall we?'

 _The ship works. This… could work._ Despite feeling out of her element, Bulma sensed her intellectual curiosity start to catch. She grinned. 'Let's.'

0o0o0

After her brief expedition, Bulma had been quick to relay the good news back to everyone else; the ship was still spaceworthy, and would be retrofitted and ready in a matter of weeks.

About a month after the battle in East City, while Bulma and her father were frenziedly adopting Kami's ship for a new voyage into the stars, a welcome friend entered the hospital grounds for the first time. As he had grown accustomed to doing, Yajirobe was sitting in the central room, reading his newspaper. When he looked up at the visitor, his mouth blossomed into a smile. 'About time,' he remarked, standing.

Armed with two bulging pouches under each arm, Korin grinned victoriously. 'Never doubt me,' he said lightheartedly. 'I've been doing this for a _long_ time.'

A short time later, after a senzu bean had been given to every injured patient, Korin was promptly hoisted up on everyone's shoulders and paraded around the floor like a hero.

0o0o0

Tucked into a corner of the bafflingly large building, time passed slowly for Krillin. He assumed there was some kind of time dilation going on in this building- time passed noticeably slower than it should have, considering how fast the line outside had moved before. _Or, at least, how fast I think it moved. Still not totally sure what happened there..._

King Yemma performed his job with an ethereal quality- for whatever reason, Krillin could never quite catch what he was saying while he was in the process of judging another soul. As a result, the only thing Krillin had to rely on to determine time was actually moving forward was the intermittent sound of King Yemma slamming a wooden stamping block down onto his desk. A piercing 'NEXT' would then ring through the room, followed by the curtain of audible incomprehensibility drawing close again.

There was strong magic at work in Otherworld. _Not unreasonable._

After what felt like another lifetime, Krillin miraculously sighted Kami, standing with his staff in his hand and a golden halo over his head, pop into existence in the center of the room- the first entity he had seen enter in his time here who hadn't looked like a white orb. Krillin started to bound over, happy to see a familiar face-

-and nearly jumped when he saw who was to the right of Kami. Adorned with a similar halo to Kami's, Piccolo scanned his surroundings like a hawk. It was clear from his posture and his expression that he was not comfortable in… well, wherever they were now.

Weirdly enough, Piccolo seemed to not recognize him- a vague look of disgust crossed his features and he tried to swat Krillin away like a fly. 'Go away, spirit!'

Krillin felt his being be _dispersed_ before Kami grabbed Piccolo by his wrist. 'Stop that,' he chided his counterpart. They struggled briefly for a moment before Piccolo growled and pulled his hand away. 'You are lucky to be where you are now,' Kami scolded. 'Do not give me a reason to request that we both be sent to hell!'

'That one was getting too close,' Piccolo responded coolly.

Confused as to why he hadn't been noticed yet, Krillin began to shout and yell to catch their attention. Despite being a few feet away from their faces, they didn't respond in the slightest.

Looming above them, King Yemma leaned over his desk. 'Hey!' He rumbled down, causing Krillin, Piccolo, and Kami to jump, 'stop that racket! You're giving me a headache!'

Kami and Piccolo exchanged looks. 'We didn't say anything,' Kami said on their behalf.

'Not you,' King Yemma said dismissively, turning his gaze towards Krillin. 'You! The one who waits! What are you yammering on about?'

'This!-' Krillin pointed towards Kami- 'this person is my reference!'

'Oh?' King Yemma swung his massive head towards Kami. 'Are you here on behalf of Krillin of Earth?'

'Yes!' Kami chirped up. 'I've been looking all over for him! Where is he?'

King Yemma chuckled- shaking the entire building as he did- and swept his hand over Krillin.

Krillin immediately felt a rush of blood and energy shoot through his body, as if he had just been re-tethered to an actual body. The sense of weightlessness that had permeated every facet of his being disappeared. Lastly, he noted a golden halo pop over his head. 'What just happened?' Krillin asked, feeling the new unaffectable accessory over his head. 'And is Raditz dead!?' he added somewhat frantically as if he had just remembered the question.

At Krillin's side, Kami and Piccolo nearly jumped upon seeing Krillin materialize into existence from thin air- _wait…_ '... Yes, Raditz was defeated… Were you that spirit?' Kami asked, disbelief clear in his eyes.

'He was,' King Yemma replied from above. 'I gave him his physical body back so you three could converse with each other.'

Piccolo smirked. 'I have good taste in which spirits I try to swipe at.'

'Oh, give it a rest,' Kami griped towards Piccolo. 'You're dead now- must you really continue to act like a child?'

'Must you continue to act like a know-it-all?'

Before their increasingly hostile conversation could continue, King Yemma's booming voice nearly shook them off their feet. 'KRILLIN OF EARTH WILL NOW BE JUDGED BY KING YEMMA, ARBITER OF ALL DEAD SOULS!' A book appeared in King Yemma's raised right hand. 'Let's see…' he said, as he rifled through the pages. 'Graded as a good soul… performed good acts when he could have done otherwise… heroic sacrifice… check, check check.' He set the book down and smiled at Krillin. 'You check out. Hope you enjoy heaven!' King Yemma then raised a physical stamping block high over his head, preparing to bring it down on a piece of paper on his desk. 'NEXT-'

'Wait!' Kami called out, halting the stamp's passage through the air. 'We wish to make a special request!'

King Yemma narrowed his eyes. 'Go on.'

'I humbly request that Krillin be granted the privilege to train with North Kai.'

'North Kai?' Krillin asked at Kami's side before being hushed.

'Hmm…' King Yemma leaned back in his chair, eliciting a thunderous _creakk_ from the wood. 'You think he's that good, huh?'

'I do. And, more importantly, he'll need this training now that the Earth is being threatened by unprecedented evil.'

'What?' Krillin asked, feeling his stomach drop. 'Who?' Kami hushed him again.

'Hold on a second,' Piccolo called out. 'What are you talking about, Kami? Training? Is this why we have our bodies?'

'You will receive _no_ training,' Kami growled at Piccolo. 'We have our bodies only so that I may make my case for Krillin. Afterward, you will go to hell, I to heaven, as it should be.'

Piccolo wrinkled his nose. 'So I get to cook in hell while Krillin surpasses me? How about no.' Piccolo then turned his attention upwards. 'Hey! King Yemma! I request training under North Kai, too.'

Fury bloomed in Kami's eyes. 'You- you think you are deserving-'

'Let's find out!' King Yemma replied, producing another book and leafing through it, 'Piccolo of Earth, let's see…'

As King Yemma began murmuring what he was reading to himself, Kami spun to Piccolo in a rage. 'I should have known you would try to ruin my noble intents, even in death! You are truly abominable!'

Piccolo flashed a fanged smile. He opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by the sound of a book closing. 'He checks out,' King Yemma said. 'As much as the other one, anyway.'

'What?!' Kami nearly yelled. 'How is that possible!?'

'In my eyes- and my eyes _do_ see or read all- both of you are _roughly_ equally deserving of the right to train under North Kai.'

'Under what criteria?' Kami pressed.

'On net, both of them have contributed the same amount of good to the state of the universe- a lot of good. In other words, their mortal actions have either improved a lot of mortal lives or have prevented mortal lives from getting worse.'

Piccolo momentarily smiled, gloating in his victory, before realizing what was just said about him. 'Wait, what?' He asked, turning to King Yemma. 'I haven't performed any good actions!' Piccolo growled up at the towering ogre. 'I have aimed towards nothing but the domination of every person who opposed me during my time on Earth! I fought to be the ruler of the world!'

'Well… you say that... ' King Yemma examined a sheet of paper on his desk. 'But your actions say otherwise. You're definitely in the top-five "good" people I've judged from your planet.'

As Piccolo began to wring his _gi_ in angry incredulity, Kami stepped forward. 'How do you even determine their net impact?' he asked exasperatedly.

'To perform the role of almighty judge, I was granted limited temporal omnipotence across variant timelines.'

'What?' Krillin asked dully.

'I can see a little bit into the future of potential alternate timelines. Timelines where you as actors didn't exist, didn't do the actions that you did, and so forth. And both of you,' King Yemma pointed one meaty finger at Krillin and Piccolo, 'prevented a lot of suffering… probably.' He rubbed his temples. 'Come back to me in a few years and I'll be able to tell you for sure. At the bare minimum, both of you have done a lot of short-term good.'

'I… I have so many questions,' Kami sputtered.

'How do you think I feel?' Piccolo chimed in.

King Yemma leaned over his desk, examining the three comparatively small mortals gathered before him. 'So… you still want to go to North Kai's?'

Kami threw up his hands in a sign of capitulation. 'If you judge Piccolo to be worthy of training, then who am I to argue! I've only been alive for _350 years!_ That's nothing! It's not like I've been consumed with studying my evil half for _centuries_ , trying to determine _his exact evil nature_ , so as to minimize his vile impact on the world! Sure, let's disregard the countless atrocities his father committed in the pursuit of power, not to mention the fact that he spawned an offspring with the intent of _completing his work_ of turning Earth into a wasteland! Sure! Let's do it! Shows what I know! Haha!' Kami broke down into an increasingly rote series of mutterings. 'Shows… what I know. Shows what I know…'

'Ignore him,' Piccolo said, moving away from his babbling counterpart.

'Okay… now, here's the thing,' King Yemma, said, looking at some papers on his desk. 'If I granted you two the right to travel to North Kai's residence, that would be the second admission to his planet in five Earth years.' Yemma eyed them. 'Do you understand how short a time that is for a being like me? My lunch breaks are longer than that!'

'So?' Krilin said. 'What's the issue?'

'Well, on the off chance that that person is still there, I don't want to ply North Kai with more people. His house isn't very big, after all…'

'What do you mean, "on the off chance"?' Piccolo barked. 'Aren't you supposed to be an omnipotent god?'

King Yemma leered down at Piccolo, causing the demon to shrink back some. 'My knowledge extends as far as the boundaries of this room. You, as of now, are _in this room._ Don't tempt me to divulge the true content of your soul to every pair of ears present.'

Piccolo tried to keep an even face, but his nervous nod of compliance was pretty telling.

Satisfied with Piccolo's gesture, King Yemma's mood lightened up again. 'So I'll need to think for a moment… hmm…'

'Do I have any say in the matter?' Kami asked wearily, rejoining their conversation.

'Sort of,' King Yemma replied. 'If you don't give me your permission, neither of these two can go.'

Piccolo grimaced. 'How does that work?'

'Kami was the Guardian of Earth at the time of both of your passing.' King Yemma swung his gaze towards Piccolo. 'You died only .000013 seconds before him! Lucky you!'

Piccolo growled.

While this stilted conversation was going on, Krillin ambled over to Kami and beckoned the deceased guardian to lower his head. 'Kami,' Krillin whispered once he was close enough, 'not to be difficult or anything… but why am I here?'

'Here?' Kami glanced at his surroundings. 'You mean in Otherworld?'

'No- I mean- why am I here trying to go train?' Krillin asked. 'I didn't realize it at first, but we're both dead, aren't we?' Krillin momentarily glanced up at Kami's halo. 'Piccolo must have died fighting Raditz… and thus, you died too. So the dragonballs don't exist anymore, right? So…' Krillin frowned. 'Neither of us are coming back to life. We'll never set foot on Earth again. I don't know how you feel… but I gave it all. I care about everyone on Earth- but it's out of my hands now. I think my fighting days are behind me…' he finished sadly.

Imperceptibly, Kami tightened his grip on his staff, while his mouth formed into a thin, glum line. 'I understand how you feel, Krillin- but, if all goes as planned, we will not remain dead forever.'

Krillin's head lifted at this. 'What?'

'By now, Mr. Popo has set events in motion that may bring about our resurrection. Suffice to say that there are more people like me in the galaxy. More people who can _bring us back to life._ '

Piccolo's hearing caught the last bit of his. 'What are you talking about, Kami?' He growled, turning to his other half. 'You don't mean-'

'Our race still exists within the galaxy,' Kami said calmly. 'Has your father deluded you so as to your own origins?'

A flicker of disbelief ran across Piccolo's face before a veneer of mild disgust replaced it. 'Keep your lies to yourself,' he spat.

'So,' Krillin spoke up at Kami's side, 'if this is true, then before I get resurrected, I should train to get stronger? Something to pass the time while I'm… dead?' Krillin finished hesitantly. It was weird to refer to death so casually _while dead._

Kami nodded. 'It is my belief that Raditz's arrival was no freak accident. I fear that a number of stronger enemies will soon descend on the Earth- call it an old guardian's intuition. Which is _why_ you and everyone else need to prepare. Both here and on Earth. Luckily, I have Mr. Popo to ensure the latter is done. You, Krillin, must ensure the former.'

'You think North Kai will help me that much?'

'There is no doubt in my mind.'

Krillin frowned and thought on this for a minute, then looked back at Kami and nodded. 'Alright. I can do that.'

'Thank you, Krillin,' Kami said, sounding relieved. 'Have faith in your friends, and I promise that you will walk the Earth once more.'

'Yes…' Krillin glanced to Piccolo, who was bickering again with King Yemma. 'But.. what about him? Are you going to let him train, too?''

Kami's face hardened. 'Piccolo is a vile creature. To let him train underneath North Kai would be a great disservice to the Earth's safety if both he and I are one day revived.'

'But…'

'But?' Kami swung his glare to Krillin. 'But what?'

'He helped us,' Krillin argued. 'He could have fled when he needed him the most… but he didn't. Surely you knew about this?'

'... I did.'

'And King Yemma says he's worthy of North Kai's training.'

'...he said this, yes…'

'So he should be able to train, too,' Krillin said, crossing his arms. 'Regardless of his true intentions… he's a valuable ally against any outside evil that might threaten Earth. To hold him back would just be hurting our own chances of winning in the future.'

Kami stared at Krillin for a second, his brow line kneading and alternating between anger and consideration. '… King Yemma,' Kami said, glancing up at the ogre, 'do you give me your world that Piccolo is deserving of this honor?'

King Yemma picked up a book with one hand and tapped it. 'I swear by the book- and the book don't lie.'

'Very well.' Kami took a deep breath and turned to face his companions. 'Piccolo and Krillin, as the former Guardian of Earth, I grant you my blessing to train under North Kai.' He paused, letting suspicion creep into his eyes. 'May you prove my judgment of you wrong, Piccolo.'

From slumped down in his chair, King Yemma suddenly and energetically sat up. 'Oh! I've just been told North Kai is taking on new students! Great!' He then slammed down a wood block onto his desk- and Krillin and Piccolo vanished from the room.

Kami blinked. 'Where did they go?'

'They've been judged,' King Yemma responded casually, holding up another book and thumbing through it. 'Huh… You've got a thick file.'

'Were you listening to anything I've been saying?' Kami huffed. 'I've been alive for centuries. My record _should_ be expansive.'

'Yeah, yeah…' He turned another page. 'Turns out, that record is pretty mixed.'

'What!?' Kami yelped, tapping his staff down on the floor in anger. 'You can't be serious!'

King Yemma looked at Kami disinterestedly. 'I'm _always_ serious when it comes to this part of the job. And, sorry to say, pal, but you've sprinkled a lot of good and bad on other people during your lifetime.' He grimaced at one page. 'Splitting yourself into a good and evil half wasn't the best idea, in retrospect…'

'Are you saying that it would have been a better idea to keep myself as one person! To keep my evil essence within me?'

'Yes,' King Yemma replied without lifting his gaze from the book. 'And I speak from a position of omnipotence, mind you…'

Kami went quiet. Taking the decision to split himself to who he was now and King Piccolo was a choice he, quite honestly, had never doubted before. But perhaps he _should_ have doubted himself. Despite his best intentions, King Piccolo and to a lesser extent his son was a blight on his entire tenure of Guardian. _Perhaps… perhaps. In another life, perhaps..._

'Ugh…' King Yemma groaned, setting the book down and looking back at Kami. 'A case like yours is always the most annoying to decide. You're not good enough to be sent to Heaven with a blank check, but you're not bad enough to be sent to Hell, even with all the privileges we can grant to those who aren't _so_ _bad_ who live down there. What to do… hmm…' Slowly, a vulturous smile formed on King Yemma's face. 'You're… up for some work around here, right?' he asked, gesturing to the room they were in. 'You're qualified, at the very least, considering you've worked as a Guardian in your mortal life.'

'Uhh…' Kami said hesitantly. 'What kind of work, exactly?'

'Oh, you know… administrative stuff. I'm always short on staff on account of my ogre employees always being poached by the two jokers who run things in hell.' King Yemma let his face fall into his hands and sighed. 'Can't come anywhere close to the benefits they offer…'

'Will helping out… improve my file?' Kami questioned.

'It will.'

'Well… how can I say no, then?' Kami responded, nervously chuckling.

'Perfect! You'll work in the back!' Before Kami could ask any more questions, King Yemma slammed his woodblock against his desk. Once the sound from this impact reverberated out, Kami disappeared without a trace.

'NEXT!'

0o0o0

With everyone healed and in the right mind for planning, a kernel of an idea began to form. They _could_ bring Krillin and Kami back- they _could_ find Namek and the Namekians. In the best case scenario, all it would take to bring their friends back from the dead was a simple month-long space-hop.

After some discussion, it was decided that Tien, Yamcha, and Bulma would head into space, with Bulma serving as the pilot. While consumed in the process of retrofitting the ship, she had familiarized herself with every facet and quirk of the craft, so naturally, she volunteered to go. She didn't really trust anyone else to pilot the ship, anyway. Yamcha and Tien were allowed to go only after extensive protests were made from everyone else - but they had proven their case that the strongest people were needed to maximize the mission's chance of success. And they were indisputably the strongest among them.

The other fighters- Launch, Chiaotzu, Yajirobe, Rayne, and Suno- accepted Mr. Popo's offer of training that he had made to them not a few days after Bulma had begun working on the ship. They saw themselves as the last line of defense Earth had- and they didn't intend to have someone like Raditz invade the planet unchallenged while this was the case. Eventually, it was decided that they would meet up and travel to the Lookout together in a month's time.

Chi-Chi was understandably preoccupied with other matters. She agreed, however, to train at the first opportunity.

Once these details were hammered out, time flew past. The date of Yamcha, Tien, and Bulma's spaceborne departure came sooner than some people would have liked. Still, everyone made sure to gather in the Capsule Corp. gardens to see them off on their fateful day. Considering the circumstances, the mood was light- lighter, in fact, since any gathering of them all since the party.

As this departure was dragged out, Tien found himself distancing himself from the group. _Guess goodbyes have a way of doing that_ , he reflected as he leaned against one of the ship's pointed landing legs. Personally, he wasn't one to make a big deal of leaving- accordingly, he had said goodbye to Launch and Chiaotzu the night before. By now, they were probably back at the house in the mountains, preparing for Mr. Popo's training. It was better this way. _For all of us._ Tien scanned the faces amongst the small crowd gathered. Chi-Chi with Gohan, Yamcha, Retu, Suno, Yajirobe, Rayne, and Bulma's parents were stuck together in one big farewell hug clump. Arms were hung around each other, words of good faith were said back and forth; everyone together formed one big ball of emotive cheerfulness.

As happy as everyone acted now, Tien could see the beginning of longing sadness carry through their actions. He didn't blame them. Going into unknown and uncharted territory without a lifeline like the dragonballs to bring you back was terrifying. Once every goodbye has been said, anyone left on Earth could only hope the mission went well and stew in their own anxious misery. He should know- he was feeling miserable right now. _But there's nothing good about trading misery with friends who feel the same way. Nothing good..._

He lingered for a moment; then, he turned and floated into the ship.

A few minutes later, when the main lift into the ship rose, Tien's eyes jumped when he saw Yamcha up close. His hair, which he had been growing on-and-off for years past his shoulders, was cut so short as to make him unrecognizable. Short as they were, his black strands shot up towards the sky, giving his face a much more vertical look. He also saw that he was dressed in a repatched Turtle _gi_. The orange fabric and blue wristbands and belt were an odd juxtaposition to Tien's white shirt and green pants with red armbands at the wrists and ankles.

Yamcha noticed Tien's focused attention. 'I felt the need to change,' he professed.

'You look different.'

'I am different,' Yamcha said seriously. 'There's a chance that you, me, or Bulma doesn't come back from space. I'm going to try my hardest to make sure that doesn't happen.'

Tien regarded Yamcha for a moment, then shrugged. 'Alright.'

Bulma entered into the ship a moment later. Without wasting any time, she glided into the cockpit, wordlessly leading Tien and Yamcha inside. They all began seating themselves for launch.

'Strap yourselves in, boys,' Bulma cautioned them, letting her hands settle on the controls of the ship. 'This is going to be one hell of a trip…'

Outside, a few tense seconds passed before the ship sped upwards like a rocket. The blast of wind from this was so strong that everyone present was blown off their feet.

0o0o0

Amidst a burning landscape filled with ruined corpses, fallen warriors, slaughtered civilians, and countless broken artifacts of a new defunct society lorded an indomitable figure. His armor had been licked by flame, energy attacks, blaster fire- but the body underneath was untouched, even in the spots where the armor had been punched clean through. Far from being disturbed by the scene of carnage surrounding him, the figure seemed to bask in the devastation, using the quiet sound of ruin permeating his environment to clear his head. To him, there was nothing quite like the peace felt after a victorious battle.

 _Another job well done,_ Vegeta mused, as he absentmindedly reached down to an alien corpse and laid his grip around an arm. A second later, the sound of sinews ripping filled the air and Vegeta tossed the arm onto a cooking fire he had started just a few minutes before. He had worked up quite the appetite.

After a few minutes where only the sound of cooking flesh could be heard, the scouter on the left side of Vegeta's face beeped. _'Vegeta?'_ a voice buzzed into his ear.

Vegeta frowned. 'Yes, Nappa?'

 _'As per your instructions I've been directing the technicians to monitor the interstellar traffic going to and from LPT076. Nothing for the past month, but just a few hours ago, a single ship left the planet's orbit, with a speed not comparable to one of our ships.'_

Vegeta paused. 'What do you mean, not comparable?'

 _'It's not one of our ships- its speed is far too slow.'_

'Do you know where it's going?'

 _'The technicians can't tell me anything. If the ship is going to a planet, it's not on any of our maps.'_

Vegeta smiled. 'So he chose the path of a coward. Funny what happens when vermin congregate.'

There was silence on the other end of the line. _'What do you mean?'_

'Don't you understand, Nappa? Raditz has finally turned tail and deserted. All it took for him to grow some guts and try his luck betraying us was gaining a brother to boss around.' Vegeta spat. 'Pitiful.'

 _'But he's been with us for years! Since the very beginning!'_

'So?' Vegeta chuckled. 'I never thought very highly of him- and I didn't bother to conceal that fact.'

' _But… If he's fleeing with his brother, shouldn't he be taking two ships, not one?'_

'Think about it, Nappa. If he and his brother wanted to disappear, why would they take the ships provided to him! We could very easily track them if he did so! They must be taking a ship they acquired on Earth to a planet he knows we have no knowledge of. That way, we wouldn't be able to follow him…'

More silence. _'Did you expect this?'_

'To a certain extent. It struck me as odd that Raditz would so abruptly cancel a contract to make such a pressing appeal to be allowed to go to Earth and recruit his brother.' Vegeta wrinkled his nose. 'Why else would I order you to watch the interstellar traffic of the planet he was sent to?' he asked disdainfully. 'Use your head more, Nappa- typically, it comes in handy…'

 _'Yes, Vegeta…_ '

A gentle wind blew across the ruins, causing a dull echo to reverberate across the landscape. While Vegeta was grateful that he was able to complete this contract so quickly, it hadn't provided much of a challenge.

 _'Have you finished purging your planet?'_ Nappa asked after some time.

'More or less,' Vegeta replied. 'I'll have to spend a bit more time doing my final checks. But, if everything goes according to schedule, I'll be done in a week or so.' An idea sprung into Vegeta's head. 'Nappa, tell me; how far ahead are we for the year's quota?'

 _'A few months or so, the last time I checked.'_

A smile tugged on the corners of Vegeta's mouth. 'Listen to what I'm about to say very carefully, Nappa. Here's what I want you to do…'

* * *

A/N: Welcome to **Volume II** , or as I like to call it, **LOTS OF MOVING PARTS**. Hope you enjoyed another chapter of _Strength of MOVING PARTS._ Did I mention this chapter has moving parts?

I really had to bust some moves to get this chapter out on time. Wonder how it came out…

 **Reviews:**

 **Perfect Carnage:** Thank you for this wonderful review! Considering the top-notch writing I see in _Perfect Future_ , that's high praise!

And my new story is out, albeit just the one chapter. Your watch has ended.

 **TC9078:** *Rubs hands evilly*

 **LWexe:** Krillin :(

Piccolo! :(

 **Luke:** Thank you for the kind words! Also, who knows what happened to Raditz!? I guess we'll see what the future holds.

I'll try to have this story live up to your #1 status!

 **SomeCallItKye:** Thank you for the review! As it turns out, Mr. Popo acted in much the same way he did in canon upon Kami's passing… but the galaxy is in no way the same. Events are in motion…

We'll see what goes down!

And my other story is out! Give it a look if you're so inclined.

 **Lala:** Krillin gave it his all.

 **skyreal:** Sorry about chapter 41! It's been fixed now! As for the rest of your review: thank you!

It certainly _looks_ like the dragonballs are coming back into the story. But… we'll see.

Yeah, what is Gero doing right now? HMM!?

You're right about Frieza (and, really, anyone under him like Nappa or Vegeta) not knowing about the dragonballs. No reason for any of them to hop to Namek anytime soon, huh? I'm just as excited as you are to explore what a "normal" reign of Frieza looks like.

 **Anonymous:** I'll respond to your review as it goes:

Piccolo is assuredly dead.

Kakarot had a change of heart. Raditz probably should have treated Kakarot better.

I mean yeah, you could make the argument that it was a bit unrealistic for Gohan to be able to protect himself, but in canon he was only 4 or so when he slammed Raditz at full power, not to mention that he was only 5 when he was going toe-to-toe with Frieza _in his third form_. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that he reacted to protect himself and Chi-Chi when under duress last chapter. That's pretty much his MO- using his hidden power when forced. Also, you pointed it out yourself that Raditz was nowhere near full strength, plus his blast had been (somewhat) weakened by cleaving through Chi-Chi's attack.

I'll admit the events surrounding Raditz are a little plot device-y, but in my defense:

1) Yamcha really hated Raditz at this point. If he wanted to inflict maximum suffering on someone, letting them slowly bleed out would be the way to do that. Yamcha went out of his way to prolong Raditz's death by flipping him over, after all.

2) Yamcha clearly wasn't thinking clearly. I wouldn't be thinking clearly either if my best friend had just died.

3) Raditz was unquestionably in the process of dying. It's an unsafe decision to leave him alive if there's a risk an ally could save him, but if you're Yamcha or anyone else, who's going to help Raditz? Kakarot is dead. Piccolo is dead. You don't know about Nappa or Vegeta lurking in the background. The world, by all accounts, was purged of every possible threat in one day. I think it's reasonable for Yamcha to think that Raditz is going to die a lonely death because he has no allies left.

Don't make any assumptions about Raditz. I think it's reasonably clear he wasn't going to survive on his own. So, who then?... But what purposes?... I'm not going to give anything away.

Thank you for the detailed review! Have this update as a thank you!

 **Guest:** Holy cow! You've been reading for awhile! Congrats for sticking through my wonky writing in the beginning (if my recent editing/review of the Pursual arc is any indicator).

The review above you gives a good outline of why I thought Yamcha doing what he did wasn't unreasonable in the context of the story. That being said, you're free to think it doesn't stand up. I'm sure there's someone out there who could have handled that plot development better than I did.

That _would_ be a good guess. I guess we'll just have to see, huh?

Thank you again for the review! Here's to another 40-something chapters for you to read!


	44. Conscription

Outlanders

Chapter 44: Conscription

A/N: Based on a review by Kizzy, I realized that there's really no reason for Nappa to be using Vegeta's princely title in casual conversation with each other. I've changed the last chapter accordingly.

* * *

For the second time since dying, Krillin found himself utterly disoriented as to where he was- one moment, he was standing before King Yemma, the next…

He now looked over a seemingly endless expanse of yellow clouds, intersected and threaded by a never-ending white pathway. As Krillin took a wider look at the landscape, he became aware that the path resembled… a dragon? _More of an Eastern-style one… but not really? Dunno..._

'Beautiful, isn't it?'

Krillin turned- and saw a purple ogre worker in a crisp white dress shirt standing between himself and Piccolo. Bizarrely, Krillin hadn't felt the ogre worker slip an arm around his shoulder. _Why didn't I notice them earlier?..._ 'I…. yeah, it is,' Krillin replied.

Piccolo seemed to be a similar state of confusion to Krillin- he standoffishly shrugged off the ogre's arm. 'Where are we?' he asked somewhat aggressively.

'This is the way to North Kai,' the ogre said, pointing towards the winding path in front of them. 'Snake Way.'

'Ahh… a snake, then…' Krillin muttered to himself.

'That's it?' Piccolo questioned. 'North Kai is at the end of a path?' he scoffed. 'How asinine…'

'Oh, I don't think you'll feel that way by the end,' the ogre responded. 'Snake Way is quite long.'

Piccolo scrutinized the ogre. 'How long?'

'Long,' the ogre said, gazing out into the distance. 'I heard that it took King Yemma a full day to reach North Kai's place.'

'A full day?' Krillin repeated. 'That doesn't sound that bad.'

'Hah!' the ogre laughed. 'Yeah, that sounds like something a mortal would say.'

'What do you mean?'

'You'll find out soon enough.'

Without any warning, Piccolo levitated off the ground and blasted off through the air above the path. Krillin was about to do the same when the ogre grabbed his arm. 'Trust me,' he said, eyeing the receding figure of Piccolo, 'you'll want to walk. Think of the journey as a marathon, not a race.'

Krillin stared back at the ogre, blinked, then nodded. 'Alright… but that doesn't mean I'm going to take it slow!' Krillin then jumped and somersaulted through the air, landing atop of the beginning of the path. 'I'll keep a steady jog towards the end of the path! I don't want to take too long, you know?'

'Sure thing!' The ogre began waving one hand. 'Good luck!'

Krillin waved back. _Alright… let's get this over with._ He broke into a run.

0o0o0

As Rayne was in the process of checking out of the rinky-dink hospital she had called a home for the past month- Bulma had paid for their beds in advance, so even after everyone had been healed by the senzu beans, they continued to sleep there- a flighty nurse ran up to her just as she was signing the release form. Panting and flushed, the man took a moment to catch his breath. 'Sorry- _hoooo_ -' he wheezed, '-but there's something you need to see before you check out.' He held up a vanilla folder to Rayne.

'Alright…' Amused by the man's antics, she accepted the folder and opened it.

Her expression practically dissolved, reforming into a quivering look of disbelief and shock. 'No… this isn't… no…'

'I'm sorry we couldn't have told you sooner,' the man tried to comfort her. 'We only just found out…'

To Rayne, the man's words faded away. _This can't be happening. This… shouldn't be happening._ Absentmindedly, Rayne handed the signed release form back to the receptionist behind the desk, turned, and walked out of the building.

Outside, the sun hung high over the sky, just cresting past noontime. Rayne's hands flitted to her abdomen. _Krillin… damn it. I wish you were here…_

 _How the hell am I supposed to train now?..._

0o0o0

Aboard their magic carpet, Mr. Popo came to a slow stop in the center of the Lookout. Things were much the same as they had left them, down to the half-empty watering can they had left next to the garden- though it seemed that the wind had blown it over, spilling what water remained within in onto the tiles.

Frowning, Mr. Popo disembarked and materialized a mop in his right hand. They would have to make this place presentable in just a few weeks. That included tidying up, preparing food for their guests, determining what exercises to task them with…

They dutifully began to mop up the puddle of water surrounding the watering can. _Kami would certainly want me to use the pendulum room first. If they can handle that, then I can move them onto harder regimens…_

Aided by the brisk wind pulling across the surface of the Lookout, Mr. Popo cleaned up the spill in record time. Letting the mop faze out of existence, they bent down to collect the can. One hand grasped the handle near the top, and as they brought the can closer, the faintest glint of movement was reflected on its polished silver surface.

A boot crashed against Mr. Popo's back, toppling the attendant forward and nearly throwing them to the ground. They stumbled forward for a few seconds before being slammed by a roundhouse kick to the left, skidding them towards the center of the Lookout. One more strike slammed them straight down onto the floor of the Lookout, cracking and splintering the tiles beneath their body.

As Mr. Popo desperately tried to push themselves to their feet, a short, shrouded figure stepped up to them and placed one hand on their back. 'Mr. Popo,' he quickly said, 'eternal attendant- I banish you.'

No further pomp or circumstance was required- Mr. Popo body dissolved and crumbled apart, separating into a thousand different black specks that dispersed, moving across the divide between this world and the next. Another heartbeat and their clothes fell to the tiles in a neat clump.

The Lookout was still, save for the tense breathing of the four motionless figures present. After several seconds, the short figure in the center barked a laugh and threw back his hood, revealing a splotchy and dull teal head to the world. 'They're gone!' he yelled in success. 'They're both gone! Haha! I knew the fool would die eventually! He couldn't hold onto his title forever!'

The other three figures arranged themselves in a line before the short figure, each one bowing their heads. 'This begins a new day in the annals of Earth, Lord Garlic,' the one in the center said. 'As our oaths have bound us to your father centuries past, we strive to uphold those inviolable words now.'

Garlic Jr. looked on with adoration towards his servants. 'Rise; you are worthy. Through you three, the Earth will _know_ my rule. Now then,' he said, turning with a swirl of his cape, 'let's see what Kami left to me…'

0o0o0

The sun beat down on the white tiles, shimmering off as heat and light across the whole arena. Between a stretch of heat lines permeating the air, two fighters stretched.

'Can't say I'm surprised you picked this,' Yamcha remarked nonchalantly while bending his legs. The setting around them was startlingly accurate- even the symbol painted onto the main building's ring-side entrance was perfect. The only thing Yamcha could argue was missing was the raving crowd of spectators. 'I figured that you always liked the tournaments.'

'I did,' Tien called across the ring, doing some arm stretches of his own. 'Whenever the crowd was away, anyway.'

'So you enjoyed the fight between Piccolo and Krillin?'

Tien smirked. 'Immensely.'

Both of them finished their warm-ups and settled into their guards. 'You know, it just occurred to me we never settled our grudge match from a few tournaments ago,' Tien pointed out. 'You had a real chip on your shoulder then.'

'Still do,' Yamcha replied.

'Any frustration?'

'Of course.'

The scene froze unnaturally for a split-second- and then Tien and Yamcha crashed together leg-to-leg in the middle of the ring, sending out a shockwave that rolled blades of grass away from the ring. Strikes launched between them passed immeasurably fast, fists, kicks, dodges, and blocks jumbling together in one frantic procession after another- and then it abruptly ended. Tien rapidly blinked, sensing that he was back on the ship. Across from him, in a similarly seated position to his own, Yamcha also reoriented himself with his surroundings.

'That was… odd,' Tien muttered. He glanced across at Yamcha. 'Did you cause that?'

'I did,' Yamcha admitted casually. 'Tien, I have a question that's been chewing on my mind.'

Ignoring Yamcha's borderline rude behavior, Tien answered, 'Yes?'

'Why was Kami… or whoever he was before splitting into himself and Piccolo… the only Namekian sent from Namek?'

Tien scowled at him. 'What are you talking about?'

'Remember what Mr. Popo said? Proto-Kami was sent from Namek to guarantee that the Namekian race wouldn't become extinct. But if they were trying to save their race, shouldn't they have sent two people? I mean, if he was potentially going to be the last Namekian left alive in existence, why was he sent alone? He wouldn't be able… uh, well… you know…'

'Yamcha,' Tien said somewhat annoyed. 'You interrupted training to talk about this? _Really?_ '

'It was distracting me,' Yamcha confessed. 'I couldn't focus.'

'Well, focus on something less weird,' Tien said bluntly. 'We need to get back to training.'

'Can't bother to stop for a few seconds, can you?'

'I can't bother to stop for a few seconds _every minute_ , no.' Tien bit back. 'Are you committed to training before we arrive on Namek or not?'

'I learned telepathy pretty quickly, didn't I?' Yamcha rebutted.

'That's not what I'm referring to,' Tien said quietly, keeping a lid on his growing anger. 'You refuse to train with me for any significant portion of time. I thought we both agreed that pushing ourselves while we both stuck in space with nothing to do was in our best interests.'

'I did,' Yamcha quickly agreed, 'but I didn't consent to be driven to train like a madman. Not everyone can be as narrow-minded as you…'

Tien felt a vein on his forehead bulge. ' _Narrow-minded?_ Are you being serious right now?'

'Look,' Yamcha said curtly, standing. 'We come from two very different training backgrounds. I understand that, for you, training is nonstop exertion, day-in, day out, without any concept of a thing called _rest_. And _I_ understand that I don't train that way. I need time to reflect on _what_ I'm going to focus my effort on.'

'Well, excuse me if I feel you're not taking this seriously.'

They glowered at each other for a time, and in that time Tien stood to match Yamcha's height. 'I'll tell you when I'm ready to begin training again,' Yamcha declared, breaking off from their conversation and walking into an adjacent room. The door slid closed behind him with a metallic _hiss_.

Fuming to the point of wordlessness, Tien twisted his mouth into a series of increasingly angry expressions, before finally banging a fist into the wall beside him. A soundless dent formed within the metal.

He held that position for the span of a few heartbeats before striding off towards the cockpit- the part of the ship that was furthest from Yamcha. _I don't understand what his deal is! He's the one who said to me that we need to be prepared for anything! That this is life and death!_ He knotted his hands together so tightly that this knuckles started to turn white. _I'm doing everything within my power to make sure we don't die! That Krillin and Kami can come back to life! Could he be so blinded by his pride? Or the scars- being there at the end-_

Their conversation in the hospital flashed through Tien's mind. He remembered himself- by the time he reached the cockpit, he had forcefully uncoupled his hands and laid his arms flat at his side.

Seated in the pilot's chair, Bulma watched over the controls of the ship like a hawk. She glanced back at him as he entered. 'Yamcha giving you trouble again?' she asked.

Tien nodded, then dropped into a chair behind Bulma. 'He's… aimless. It's hard to hold his attention for even a brief mental spar between us. I don't know what to do…'

Swinging around in her chair to face him, Bulma sighed. 'He's not himself. Hasn't been since the fight with Raditz.'

'I know,' Tien said quietly, casting his eyes to the ground. He began to say something else, but then decided against it and shook his head instead. 'I know,' he repeated.

The cockpit was one of the louder rooms on the ship. The controls would occasionally make a quiet beep or _bzzt_ to draw the pilot's attention to a critical reading displayed on the console. This discordant pattern silhouette their thoughts. 'I don't think there's much we can do to help him,' Bulma said after a moment. 'He has to come to grips with what he's dealing with on his own.'

'I… don't- I don't know,' Tien landed on. He gazed back up at Bulma. 'Isn't there something we can do to help?'

Bulma shrugged, an oddly casual gesture for the severity of their conversation. 'Maybe.' She swiveled back around to the controls. 'I don't have the time or energy to find out what that might be, though. I spent whatever energy I could spare back at the hospital. He wasn't open to talking then. So, at a certain point, you just have to accept it…'

Tien found himself staring at the back of Bulma's chair. Accepting one's own inability to change things was a concept Tien was unfamiliar with. If there was one thing the merciless tutelage of Shin and the Crane school had taught him, it was the undeniable dominion one felt when taking another's life. _But… that's where we stand. Alright._ 'I'm going to go nap,' he announced, standing from his chair. 'Thank you for piloting, Bulma.'

She gave a mild wave of her hand without looking back at him.

Exiting the cockpit, Tien ambled through another set of doors to his bedroom in what might have been a closet before the ship was retrofitted. Clambering into his spartan, firm slab he called a bed, Tien propped his arms underneath his head, throwing out his elbows to either side. _Two weeks in and I'm nearing the end of my mental rope. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take..._

 _I hope something changes, and soon..._

He laid awake in that position for a long time before drifting off to sleep.

0o0o0

It hadn't taken Krillin long to realize that time had a way of stretching on indeterminately while in Otherworld. Whatever sun or source of light that illuminated every corner of this plane never wavered or dimmed. As a result, Krillin lacked any method to track the amount of time that had passed from one point in time to the next. At first, he had counted the steps he had taken, but he always found himself losing his count around the ten-thousand mark. He had then tried to keep count of how many bends he had rounded while traveling Snake Way- but he gave up on that measure around the ten-thousand mark, too. Absent of any distinguishing feature of his world, time ceased to be a concept for Krillin.

It was the same with his body. While he was convinced that he possessed a physical body (the ever-present tiredness and muscle burn from his unending running made that clear), it wasn't _acting_ how it ought to; his urges to eat and sleep came, chipping away at his mind for a brief period of time, and then passed without being sated. He could _ignore_ his bodily urges in a number of both useful and weird ways. Even running itself, while requiring a certain exertion of his will, was rote- it was like being in a runner's fog… forever.

The mental strain of his journey proved to be the most difficult aspect for Krillin to handle. As it turns out, not knowing what time it is or where you are had a way of dragging on the mind. Eventually, after a naturally indeterminable amount of time, there came a point where Krillin had to stop, drop to his knees, and reorient himself with reality.

'THIS IS INSANE!' he yelled out, fairly confident that any being that could hear him was thousands upon thousands of miles away. 'I'VE BEEN RUNNING FOR… I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW LONG, AND EVERYTHING STILL LOOKS THE SAME!' He sucked in a deep breath, then exhaled. 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!'

The noise from his yelling made no echo as it rumbled across the insultingly similar yellow clouds enveloping the landscape in every direction. Something novel _did_ happen then, however; a grunt sounded from above Krillin.

He looked skywards. Dangling in the air a few feet up was Piccolo, looking haggard and worse for wear. Without saying anything, he touched down to Snake Way next to Krillin. 'You're… here,' he said, catching his breath.

Realizing the peculiarity of the position he was in, Krillin hastily stood. 'I am. Is that surprising?'

Piccolo bunched the angular ridges above his eyes in consternation. 'Initially, I would have thought yes. But, having thought on it, no. We were near equals on Earth, were we not?'

'I'd like to think so.'

'Then… it makes sense.' Piccolo's face sagged. 'I've been flying nonstop since we started. You, I presume, have been running nonstop. And yet we've traveled the same distance…'

'Well, the ogre who showed us the way said I would have a better time running than flying.'

Krillin was surprised when, instead of growling, Piccolo frowned. 'So he did.'

A few moments passed where neither of them said a word. It wasn't awkward; they both enjoyed resting for the first time in their dead lives. Krillin took the opportunity to watch the clouds go by. He soon realized that Piccolo was doing the same. It then dawned on Krillin that he was seeing Piccolo be the rawest he'd ever been with another living being. _This is really weird. If someone told me that, one day, I was going to watch heavenly yellow clouds ruffle in the distance with Piccolo, I would not have believed them._

When the time came for them to move, not a word was said between them as they both stood and briefly stretched.

Together and side-by-side, Krillin and Piccolo jogged.

0o0o0

To fill the time before going to the Lookout to train with Mr. Popo, Yajirobe did a few errands for Korin. These errands were usually menial in the worst sense of the word. Stocking Korin's tower with hundred-pound bags of rice was frustratingly taxing, but at the very least, he wasn't carrying _two_ -hundred-pound bags of rice up the side of a tower. At least, that's what he told himself. And knowing that a senzu bean was waiting for him once he finished his tasks was a tantalizing reward.

At the culmination of one of his many stocking climbs to the top of Korin's tower, he found Korin sitting cross-legged and fidgeting with his staff. When Yajirobe had asked what was wrong, he had muttered: "I've got a strange feeling" while bristling his whiskers. When Yajirobe had asked Korin what he was talking about, the white-furred cat had begun squeezing his head between his hands and said something like "pre-par-a-shuns". _Weirdo._ Korin had done a number of strange things while they lived together- he didn't think much of this most recent development.

Yajirobe glanced down- presently, he was maybe a hundred feet from touching back on the ground again. He was very nearly complete with his back-and-forth climbs. Away from the tribe camped around the base of Korin's tower, a tidy stack of sacks were positioned near the edge of the forest. And… 'What?' Yajirobe vocalized his confusion. 'What the hell is that?'

Something grey and angular was traipsing around right next to his pile, dipping in and out of the forest in some strange dance. At one point, the entity started to lurch towards Yajirobe's rice stack.

 _NO! THE RICE!_ Acting on instinct, Yajirobe brought his knees up to his chest and pushed off the thin tower, angling himself like a missile. Covering the distance between himself and the edge of the forest in a blindly fast amount of time, he pierced straight through the grey thing, diagonally splitting it in half while bouncing off of the ground and flipping to land in a standing position.

It took him a few seconds to realize what he had just done. _Woah._ Yajirobe grasped his belly and futilely tried to shake it. _I've lost a lot of weight._

From the wreckage of the robot- yes, that's what that grey thing was, a robot- an angry looking blue imp scampered out. 'You idiot!' he screamed, shaking a fist in Yajirobe's direction. 'It'll take _years_ for me to build another thing that can climb that damn tower!'

Yajirobe cocked his head. 'The tower?'

'Yes!' The blue imp jumped, pointing at Korin's tower. 'The ONLY tower around!'

'Just climb up.'

'What!?'

Yajirobe walked over to a sack of rice and hauled it over his shoulder. 'If I can climb the tower with a hundred pound sack of rice on my shoulder, you can climb up by yourself. I'm sure Korin wouldn't mind another guest.'

'Are you insane?!' The blue imp screeched. 'There's no way you can climb that, even without a sack of rice on your shoulder!'

'Oh?' A _wooosh_ of air filled the clearing- the next thing Pilaf saw was an orange blip waving to him from high-up the tower's height. What looked to be a rice sack was also clinging to the tower. Soon enough, the orange and white blips were dancing up the tower's length, soon disappearing above the low-lying clouds.

Pilaf's mouth opened and closed a few times before spinning towards the pile of rice sacks nearby. 'Oh Kami! He'll be back! He's coming back! Mai! Shu!' he turned to the remains of the robot. 'We're leaving now! Get your butts out where I can see them and then get them moving!'

Accommodating groans were the only reply he got.

0o0o0

Sitting unmoving at the controls and faced with an unending, unchanging black visage of space that greeted her while the ship was in motion, Bulma found herself slowly slipping into sleep. She had just felt her eyelids flutter close when a wrenching motion nearly threw her forward out of her seat.

'Aagh!' she yelped, as her body boomeranged against the double-strapped harness holding her in place.

The ship around her blared, beeped, threw every possible shade of light across the cockpit in a chaotic and headache-inducing pattern. 'Alright!' she yelled, straightening. 'You've made the danger clear, computer!' On autopilot, her hands flew to the controls, twisting and turning every knob and dial to lurch the ship back into motion- and then she noticed a hulking steel-grey, oval-shaped object hovering just outside and above the ship. With growing dread, she realized that it was drawing closer.

'Oh… shit.'

0o0o0

Positioned over a square-shaped section of the ship's external composite hull, Nappa tapped a few times on the rebreather attached to his face and flashed a thumbs up to the two technicians staring down at him from a platform above. They nodded and turned their attention to a control board in between them.

The next moment, the section of hull Nappa was standing on collapsed downwards.

With a gentle tug, Nappa let himself be drawn into space around the ship, using his _ki_ to maintain a barrier of energy around his entire body. As he exited fully, he gripped a handle on the exterior of his ship and took a few deep breaths to check his air circulation was working as it should. When he was satisfied, he pushed himself off the exterior of the ship towards the smaller, white craft just below him. Using his _ki_ again, he accelerated as he moved, while at the same time drawing back his fist.

At the exact instant where he was mere feet away from the exterior of the ship, he drew back his fist and smashed it against the ship's hull.

0o0o0

Tien and Yamcha had scurried to the center chamber of the ship when they had felt the ship violently lurch to a stop. Just as they entered this chamber, however, a horrible banging sound resounded through the room, followed soon after by a _woooosh_ as a section of the hull above them smashed inwards, breaching the barrier between ship and space.

Caught off guard, both of them felt the air rush out of their lungs and their feet lift up off the floor as they were overpowered by the overwhelming push of air into the vacuum of space. They hurtled upwards, careening towards the newly-made breech. As their grip on consciousness loosened, a quick blow to the back of their necks hastened their lapse.

0o0o0

As soon as Bulma had figured out what was going on, she had donned her space helmet, grabbed a spacewalk-grade impulse thruster, and jettisoned the thickened glass separating the cockpit and vast expanse of space.

Several terrified seconds later, after the world had spun and twisted around her, Bulma closed her eyes and flung out her arms, activating the stabilizers interwoven in her spacesuit. Slowly, her sense of vertigo diminished.

 _Careful, Bulma…_ Her body stilled. _You're okay, You're untethered in the vacuum of space, but you're_ _ **okay**_ _. Open your eyes_ _ **very**_ _slowly…_

All around her, space spilled outward in every direction, conspiring to boggle her mind with its sheer vastness. Distant stars twinkled with light, shimmering and bleeding across Bulma's visor. Before her was nothing but the void.

Her right hand clenched down on her palm, pressing down on a button. Air began to shoot out from somewhere behind her, orienting her to the right. The grey oval ship from before came into sight, looming menacingly against the black backdrop of space. Rotating, she now saw their ship- and gasped.

A figure pulled away from it, dragging with it two smaller unmoving figures in each arm and maneuvering their bodies into a small, surgical opening in the hull of the other ship. Then, with malicious intent, the figure turned back to the smaller ship, leveled an arm, and lobbed a golden blast of energy at it.

Kami's ship stood no chance- the blast easily punched through its hull and detonated within it, exploding the ship outwards like it had been rigged to self-destruct. Wild scrap metal flew in every which direction, coming dangerously close to nicking a hole in Bulma's suit. By some miracle, debris of every size missed her.

Once this immediate threat of death had passed, a million things at once seized Bulma's mind. _No ship. I can fix this. I'm floating unbound in the vastness of space. Everything is okay._

 _I can't fix something that no longer exists. I can't fix a ship that doesn't exist._ The lower half of the pilot's chair noiselessly rushed past her, nearly clipping her right arm. _No ship._ Her eyes wandered over to the oval ship; she observed the figure who had destroyed the ship just a minute before starting to approach her.

Inexplicably, Bulma sighed in relief.

0o0o0

Nappa brought the last one aboard and shoved her into a cell with the rest of them. Slamming the door close behind him and locking it, he hadn't even bothered to look over who the third person was; the two others had already confirmed his suspicions from the moment he first sighted their ship.

 _Where's that rat Raditz and his brother!?_ He mentally raged as he stalked across this deck, stomping his feet against the hollow steel floor. For good measure, when he reached the bridge of the ship filled with a half-dozen technicians, he smashed the nearest control terminal to pieces. 'Get Prince Vegeta on the line, now!'

0o0o0

A knock. A knock on _her_ door? Ridiculous! _Who would have the audacity, the sheer will, to disrupt_ _ **me**_ _, of all people-_

'Oh.' Baba adjusted herself on her crystal ball. 'Come in.'

Nodding, Rayne walked into Baba's modest home, closing the door shut behind her. 'Hi, Baba.'

'That's Fortuneteller Baba to _you!_ ' Baba said petulantly.

'Fortuneteller Baba…'

They moved over to the same couch she and Yamcha had sat on only nearly… _what was it, seven years ago?_ Rayne wondered. _Eight? Feels like a different life… Guess it was._ After some prodding from Baba, Rayne sat on that very same couch.

'Good,' Baba commented. 'It won't do if any of my guests are uncomfortable under my own roof. So, tell me; for what do I owe the pleasure?'

Rayne glanced around the room briefly. 'I… don't know how to phrase this.'

'Try me. I'm usually very good at inferring.'

'Well… you can talk to those who died, right?'

Baba frowned. 'I'm going to stop you there,' she asserted. 'I don't bridge the gap between the living and the dead for just _anything_ \- only when I know doing so will improve the future. And, sorry to burst your bubble, I haven't seen a lot of me doing that in the future, either.'

'But-'

'No buts.'

'Even for a deceased, soon-to-be father?'

Baba looked at her for a long minute. 'Even for him.' Her face took a more sympathetic appearance. 'I'm sorry, but those are my rules. They haven't done me wrong before.'

When Rayne failed to bring her gaze up off the floor, Baba sighed. 'Would telling you about your's and Krillin's future put your mind at ease?'

Rayne sniffled and lifted her head. '...Maybe. What do you see?'

'A lot of good, a lot of _bad_ ,' Baba said bluntly, 'but every good life is full of both. Makes the good times that much better.'

'Can you be more specific?' Rayne asked, her curiosity growing.

Baba's eyes glossed over. 'Not really. There's really only one scene playing out in my head. The image of your daughter sparring with you… she'll be quite the warrior.'

'A… daughter?' Rayne looked down at her abdomen. 'You're sure?'

Baba's eyes refocused. 'Not really. Could be another child. Might not be _that_ child,' Baba said, pointing at Rayne's body. 'But one day… I'm sure of it. My visions never lie.'

'That's frustratingly vague.'

'It's not a perfect skill.' Baba chuckled to herself. 'You know, something just occurred to me- you're doing what your friend Yamcha did, what, a few years back now?' She stuck out five fingers and counted on them. 'Something like that.'

'Which is?'

'Demanding things of me and getting all uppity about my powers,' Baba said jarringly, taking a more confrontational tone. 'The dragonballs have spoiled you and your friends. I guess you've had quite the reckoning recently.'

'That's an understatement.' Rayne stood, and then to Baba's surprise, bowed. 'Thank you,' she said as respectfully as possible. 'You've helped me a ton.'

'Huh,' Baba muttered. 'Yamcha wasn't this thankful… though, I guess I didn't actually help him at all.' Baba slouched on-top of her crystal ball. 'Hmm. Welp. You got what you didn't want. Now leave me!'

0o0o0

From a quiet corner of the bar, a man watched the establishment's patrons filter in and out. Some were planning on being drunk, some were halfway to being drunk, and some were just plain old drunk. In the part of the room where the man was positioned, a badly shaped table leg stuck out in a passage that saw a lot of foot traffic, so inevitably, the man had to help a bar patron up onto their feet after falling from time to time.

The third time this had happened, the man pocketed a scrap of paper pushed into his hands as he stood. Once he had helped up this person- he hadn't even bothered looking to who the person was- the man quickly exited the bar, moving into an alleyway adjacent to the building. Checking that no-one was near, he opened the small scrap of paper.

A few seconds of taut concentration later, the man crumpled up the piece of paper, popped it into his mouth and swallowed it. 'Alright, alright, alright,' he said comfortably. The faintest twinkle of something thin and silver reflected from the man's face. 'We're in business.'

0o0o0

A dull muttering. Muted conversation bouncing off of thin walls. Amidst this quiet discussion, Yamcha's eyes fluttered open.

He had only to take a look at Tien and Bulma's downcast faces and the bars just beyond them. They were imprisoned. _Captured._ Neither of them said a word- they purposely avoided Yamcha's gaze. Ignoring them, he stood and moved towards the cell bars.

'I wouldn't bother,' Tien advised. 'This cell seems to have been made to imprison people far stronger than us.'

Yamcha placed his hands around a single bar and propped his foot against the bar's base. He began to pull. 'So you're suggesting that I sit down and wait to die instead?' He asked belligerently.

Tien folded his mouth into a frown. 'I'd rather not make whoever put us here angry.'

Hearing this, Yamcha ceased his attempts at bending the bars. 'That guy…' he recollected, 'who was he?'

'No clue,' Tien replied. Very briefly, his gaze flickered over to Bulma, but when she purposely averted meeting his eyes, he quickly sprang his gaze to something else in the nearly featureless cell.

Yamcha narrowed his eyes at this. 'What?' He levied his gaze at Bulma. 'What do you know?'

She brought her hands together and wrung them- Yamcha could now see superficial bruises on her lower arms, almost as if she had been gripped too harshly. 'Well… when I was brought in here, both of you were unconscious. I got a glimpse at the guy who brought us in- he had a tail.' Bulma said, her eyes going wide. 'A brown-furred _tail_.'

Yamcha's expression dropped. 'You're… kidding…'

'Another Saiyan,' Tien said bitterly. 'And it took five of us to bring down the last one…'

'And the ship is _gone_ ,' Bulma despondently added. 'Destroyed. Down to the _very last part_.'

Silence flooded into the small, rectangular cell, choking them of any chance to speak. Yamcha sat down on a bench opposite of the bench Tien and Bulma and let his head fall into his hands.

They didn't stew in their thoughts for long. The sound of something stomping across the floor reached their eyes long before they saw him, but coming face-to-face with their captor was every bit as intimidating as they feared it would be. The man was _huge_ \- he was maybe a foot taller than Tien, and was easily twice as thick. Yamcha would have thought the man was wearing a muscle suit if he hadn't known better. He also noted that their captor was garbed in much the same way Raditz had been- flat, oval shoulder pauldrons shot out horizontally, complementing larger sections of black plate that covered his midsection and fitted around his wrists. In a direct contrast to Raditz, however, he had virtually no hair to speak of, save for a thin mustache. And there was the tail, of course.

The man greeted them with a sneer. 'I hunted well today!' he boasted arrogantly. 'Three live catches! Though…' he stepped right up to the bars, making Tien, Bulma, and Yamcha incrementally scoot back deeper into the cell. 'not the game I was hoping for…'

Before they could say anything or ask any questions, the man turned and dropped a circular black cylinder from his hand onto the ground next to him. A few taps to the side of the device affixed to the left side of his head and a blurry blue projection shot up from the cylinder, filling out to about half the height of Nappa. This figure, Yamcha first noticed, had a lot more hair than their captor. Besides this, however, they were dressed in the same armor.

'It's as I told you, Vegeta,' the hulking man said, eyeing them with unveiled disgust. 'No renegades.'

The blue projection identified as Vegeta took his time inspecting every person before him. Even when delivered from what must have been light-years away, his gaze had a way of unnerving them. 'Well,' he said after some time, 'your assessment is correct, Nappa. You've apprehended what looks to be a bunch of tailless Saiyans. And you said their ship was?...'

'Obliterated,' Nappa informed him with a smug smile glued to his face.

Vegeta's gaze on them weakened. 'Tragic. Dispose of them and resume your monitoring of LPT076.

We'll find Raditz sooner or later-'

'Raditz?' Yamcha spoke up. He stood and padded over the cell bars. 'You're looking for Raditz?'

Simultaneously, Nappa and Vegeta both narrowed their eyes. 'You know of him?' Vegeta asked suspiciously.

A sick smile formed on Yamcha's face. 'I did. He's dead now.'

Alarmed by Yamcha's disclosure, Bulma and Tien shot to their feet.' _Yamcha!_ ' Tien telepathically yelled at him. ' _What are you doing!?'_

Silence. Yamcha chose to ignore him. He also chose to hold Bulma at arm's length behind him- she eventually relented and sat back down on her bench.

An uninterpretable emotion briefly crossed Vegeta's face before quickly being replaced by interest. 'Who killed him? Was it you?' Vegeta gave Yamcha a once over. 'You, the tailless Saiyan?'

'I'm a human, actually,' Yamcha replied sternly. 'And I made sure he died in the most painful way possible.'

'We were defending ourselves,' Tien interjected, rushing next to where Yamcha was pressing his body against the cell bars. 'If he hadn't invaded Earth, needlessly killing people-'

'-it wasn't needless,' Nappa growled at Tien, forcing him away from the bars. 'He was there fulfilling a contract, and he enlisted his brother to do just that.'

Yamcha's face creased with consideration. 'Wait… what are you saying? What contract?''

Beside Nappa, the projection shimmered. 'Such ignorance,' Vegeta mocked. 'And you think yourself clever for possessing a nugget of information we don't know. Raditz didn't just "appear" on your planet randomly. Or did you think it was a coincidence that his brother just so happened to also reside there?'

'We know about Kakarot,' Yamcha said testily. 'We know he followed Raditz's orders like a pathetic little lap dog. Ultimately, they both paid for his crimes against humanity.'

Bulma and Tien bit their tongues- what Yamcha was saying wasn't wholly true, but it wasn't particularly _inaccurate,_ either.

Nappa and Vegeta briefly exchanged gloating expressions. 'They really don't know anything, do they?' Nappa joked. 'And they just gave up the one useful bit of information they had to boot.' He swung his head, curled into a cruel mask, towards the inhabitants of the cell. 'I say we jettison them into space, Vegeta. If they've taken care of Raditz and his brat brother, then they've done our job for us. We ought to _reward_ them-' Nappa made a sadistic face when he pronounced the world _reward_ '-for their good work.'

From her bench in the back of the cell, Bulma saw Tien's posture flood with panic while Yamcha retained his almost suicidal defiance towards their obviously stronger captor. It was clear that neither one of them was going to talk their way out of a horrible death.

'Wait!' Bulma yelled, charging forward and pushing both Yamcha and Tien to the side. Her gaze focused on Nappa. 'You're right- we _should_ be rewarded. We took care of a problem for you- _easily_ , if I might add.'

'So?' Nappa laughed in her face. 'I heard what your friend with the third eye said- you were just defending your planet. Doesn't mean we're not thankful, mind you… but you three should have just stayed home. That way, you would have died amongst your friends when your planet was inevitably purged…'

Bulma didn't shrink back in the face of outright dismissal. 'Face it- we're allies,' she pressed. 'You didn't like Raditz, and neither did we. If our goals aligned then, why couldn't they align in the future? Surely that proves that we can continue to help each other.' When Nappa's condescending expression didn't budge, Bulma switched tactics. 'You mentioned Raditz was on Earth completing a contract, right? Are there any other contracts? Contracts that _we_ -' she gestured to the three of them '-could do?'

'I admire your spunk, lady, but if you think you can convince _me_ as to what _I_ want to do,' Nappa growled, 'you're _painfully_ mistaken.'

Vegeta had remained silent throughout this dialogue, carefully weighing every word of the blue-haired woman. 'What are your names?' he asked, intending his question towards them all but nonetheless not lifting his gaze from Bulma.

She jumped when he addressed her, showcasing her previously hidden nervousness. 'I'm Bulma,' she said, pointing to herself, 'this is Yamcha, and that's Tien.'

For a long moment Vegeta stared at her, keeping the immensely black irises in the center of his eyes in near perfect stasis. Eventually, his gaze broke away. 'Bring them to FP083, Nappa,' he commanded, causing Nappa to whip his head around to the hologram in surprise. 'I will be awaiting you there.'

'You-' Nappa bit his tongue. From the look of his face, he was displeased by this turn of events. 'What do you intend to do?'

Flickering, Vegeta's posture subtly shifted from one of interest to one of power. 'The humans have offered a deal. _I_ will judge if they can fulfill their part of it myself.' With that, Vegeta's image blinked out.

Nappa's attention lingered on the device he had set up next to him. 'You three are probably the luckiest Earthlings to ever live.' He pronounced, setting his malevolent gaze on them. After collecting the black cylinder from the floor, Nappa rose to his feet, turned, and began to walk away, twirling the key to their cell in one hand. 'For all the good it'll do for you…'

0o0o0

'So… how long have you known Mr. Popo, Korin?' Suno asked, sitting across from the furred white cat. They were passing the time before everyone else arrived by playing a game of cards.

'Forever,' Korin said absentmindedly. His attention was clearly focused on something else. Suno assumed it was the game. 'I think they're an eternal attendant that can be utilized in any way by the current Guardian of Earth. In other words, they don't die- they live forever.'

Suno put her hand of cards facedown on the table. 'Wait, what? They're immortal?'

'I think so.' Korin squinted at Suno's empty hands. 'Are we done?'

'I'd rather talk about Mr. Popo now.'

'Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't know much more than I've already told you.'

'What are they like as a teacher?'

Korin sighed and collected the cards from Suno's side of the table- they were clearly done with the game. 'I have no clue. I never trained with the guy.'

'Really?'

'Yes, really,' Korin replied sourly. He took the full deck of cards and tucked it into a sleeve, then put that in a small wooden box in the center of the table. 'What, are you excited?'

'Of course! Mr. Popo sounds like a wise master!' Suno beamed.

'Pah.'

A rummaging sound came from below the floor of the tower. Yajirobe emerged a second later, holding an empty sack of rice. 'Korin, do we have any more of these?'

'At the bottom of this tower, yes,' he replied.

'I mean up here.'

'Yes, and there's none up here.'

Yajirobe made an unpleasant face at Korin. 'You don't have to be such a sourpuss about it.'

'And you don't have to be so lazy! Yet here we are!'

Seeking to disentangle herself from this spat, Suno wandered over to the railed-edge of the tower. Coincidentally, Launch and Chiaotzu emerged onto the Tower's level from the other side at that very moment.

Suno turned once she heard Yajirobe and Korin greet them- and then halted. She approached and rubbed her eyes as if to confirm what she was seeing, what she was _feeling._ 'Woah… Launch, you're…'

Launch flashed a smile.'Really strong?' she bragged. Suno nodded. 'Want to know something about training? It's much easier when you have a goal you're aiming for. For me, Raditz is that new goal.'

Suno blinked a few times, then swung a suspicious glare at Chiaotzu. 'How come you're not this strong?'

Chiaotzu frowned. 'Uhh… ' he muttered a reply, feeling self-conscious. 'I've progressed in other ways…'

'Suno!' Korin exclaimed. 'That was very rude of you.'

'What? It's an honest question! Maybe Launch is doing something that Chiaotzu- uhh-' Suno's gaze caught on something behind them.

'Uhh… wait.' Suno pushed herself past Korin and Launch, walking over to the edge of the tower. As she did this, she drew everyone's attention to a thick plume of what could only be described as purple smoke surging down against the exterior of the tower. It lingered in the air around their level for a moment before resuming its downward movement.

Launch scratched her head. 'What was that?'

* * *

A/N: Pilloring is such a good word. If it existed. Shucks.

And more moving parts! Yippee!

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** I hope you're even more curious now.

 **Luke:** Typically, it takes me a week to a week and a half to write an average 7000/8000 word chapter. Though recently that hasn't been the case- I've fallen behind on my chapter reservoir, so it's been necessary to pump out chapters in about five days or so to leave some time for editing. In light of that fact, I honestly don't know how I was able to get last week's chapter out on time.

You may be right. You may be wrong. I don't know.

 **SoulAuron:** Spot on- it was Garlic. I think his arc is going to be a hybrid construction of both his first and second movies- so we'll see what that ends up looking like.

Who is Raditz, again?

 **KamuiMaster:** *shrugs*

 **TC9078:** And what a trip it was! R.I.P. Katas's son's ship (try saying that super fast).

 **Guest, who talked about GoChi:** GoChi may be on indefinite hiatus.

 **Transformers g1's-Prime:** Thank you for the enthrallment! Glad you like all three :)!

Yeah? You think Dr. Gero, eh? Now that you mention it, what _has_ that rascal been up to?'

Namek is… postponed.

 **Guest, who talked about Rayne in ch 13+14:** You really took me on a roller coaster there.

 **Guest (Kizzy):** IMO people were pretty glum in the aftermath of the battles in Saiyan Saga. Goku had never died, then the mood after the battle with Vegeta was very bad before Mr. Popo had informed them Tien and Yamcha could be brought back to life. Also, consider that in this fic they've all permanently lost someone very important to them in the form of Master Roshi. No main character ever permanently died in DB/DBZ, after all. Thus, I think a month is a decent amount of time for people to come to terms with the aftermath of the battle with Kakarot/Raditz.

I'm not sure what I'm going to have in terms of Snake Way shenans. Depends on how much I want to lean on the anime filler when building this fic. I will probably tweak with some things.

I agreed with your comment- it was weird to have Nappa using Vegeta's formal title. I changed the last chapter, so thank you for pointing that out!

Thank you for the review!


	45. Distant Machinations

Outlanders

Chapter 45: Distant Machinations

A/N: Sorry for bringing you this chapter late! Schoolwork, stress and a necessary breather from this story conspired to create a delay. Chapters will continue on a weekly basis from this point on.

* * *

Across the world, a thick, bunched purple smoke spread over the planet's surface like a wave of sickness, rolling over the landscape and flooding every sapient set of lungs with hateful energy. Cities and town descended into bloody chaos in a matter of seconds as neighbors turned on neighbors, friends turned on friends, and even parents and children leaped for each others' throats. Like a sweeping scythe, all that was once good and precious about the Earth that separated it from the violent and needless cruelty lurking in the galaxy beyond was eradicated.

Above this all, Garlic Jr. watched with rapt pleasure. He watched the Earth begin to remake itself in his image.

0o0o0

A long night took hold of him when the world slipped from his grasp, suffocating him into thoughtlessness. He felt nothing, heard nothing, _knew_ nothing as time passed without any tether of meaning- it simply passed, a judgment of his own existence doing no more than existing. His mind, tortured by such an unending pressure, fought to crawl out of such a haze.

 _Hua...ghea….ghuah..._

Bubbles of air floated up and down past him, streaking up down his matted, ruined body.

 _H-uahh…._

Red light bleared from beyond his world, pulling him closer to the surface of his own mind.

… _u...uh… huh?_ His eyes staggered open, showcasing a small room intermittently lit up by red light. But it was wrong- it was like he was watching a feed of his vision from somewhere remote and distant, wholly unattached to what must have been his body, his eyes…

His first instinct to move betrayed him; his body refused to budge when prodded by his mind. His arms, legs, even head… all parts of him were motionless save for his frantic eyes jumping around in his skull.

Outside of whatever he was in, a clanging came from his right.

'Oh, this won't do…' Someone then entered Raditz's vision, hauling a large metal pipe to the other side of the room. An old looking human set it down and then began twisting a knob above their head. 'Nothing can come in, not now…'

Raditz's eyes noticed something obscuring his full view of the man. Thin lines snaked in and out of his vision, framing a web that covered the entire extent of his visual feed. It was only after a few seconds of strained processing did his mind recognize the lines as wires, the web as a mechanical and electrical girdle, and that both were connected to a thick metal tube going _through_ his body. He could now feel the cold metal touch of the apparatus, penetrating his body with a sense of artificiality.

He screamed- but nothing came out. Not a single vibration graced his body or the liquid he was suspended in. _What's going on!?_

Without any prompting, The old man in the room swung over to him, stopping just beyond the glass. 'Hmm,' he murmured, looking up and down Raditz. 'Unintended. Perhaps a consequence of the atmospheric readings. No matter…'

Raditz was dimly aware that a lever was pulled, producing a soft hiss of air. Then he was dimly aware that he was sensing nothing. Then, he was… dimmed.

0o0o0

There was nothing for the fighters in Korin's Tower to do until the purple substance spooling down from the sky finished descending. With growing dread, they watched the sky below them start to take a darkened hue, eventually adopting a purple-blue shade. The entire Earth was slowly shrouded in foreboding light.

Launch, who was presently leaning on a railing and peering over the tower's edge, turned her head and looked at Korin's sideways. 'You're _sure_ this isn't part of Mr. Popo's training?'

The cat was pulling on a thin brown robe. 'Positive,' Korin replied quickly, tying a black sash around his waist. 'Not once in my eight hundred years have I ever seen something like _this_ happen.'

'It does look pretty bad down there…' Suno mumbled from next to Launch, unwilling to lift her gaze from the sickly looking sky below them. 'And… it doesn't _feel_ right, either.' She wrapped herself in her arms. 'My _ki_ sense is all wrong right now…'

'Alright,' Korin announced as soon as he had finished preparing himself. 'Gather round!'

Languidly, Yajirobe, Suno, Chiaotzu, and Launch moved over to him. 'Over the past few days I've increasingly felt that something _bad_ was happening,' Korin disclosed, meeting each of their stares, 'though I wasn't exactly sure _what_ was happening, nor was I willing to accept that feeling as the truth. I'm still not sure _what's_ going on, but I suspect that once we get up to the Lookout, we're going to run into trouble pretty quickly. You should all prepare for the fight.'

In response, they gave him grim nods. So we're going?' Chiaotzu asked.

Korin brandished a simple, almost innocuous looking wooden stick, painted in simple shades of brown and red. 'Just do as I do.'

0o0o0

Rayne had felt bad about wanting a chauffeur, but if she had known how to fly one of Capsule Corps. many high-speed planes, she would have gladly done so. At this point flying under her own power wasn't in the cards for her; she wanted to avoid all unnecessary physical exertion. Even taking the short hop to Baba's place had been a nerve-wracking experience. She figured that she had built up some goodwill among her friends, and so she decided to use it.

Once the situation had been explained to him, and even though he was serving as the lead mechanical scientist at Capsule Corp. in Bulma's absence, Retu dropped everything he was doing and offered to fly Bulma personally. It was easy for Rayne to forgot how charitable her friends were.

Their plane touched down at the foot of Fire Mountain without incident, despite Retu complaining about stubbornly strong winds and bad visibility for parts of the flight. Rayne would have probably commented on the strange purple hue to the storm if she hadn't been too busy locked in her own self-directed anxiety.

After Rayne stepped out and cursorily examined her surroundings, she rapped on the side of the plane. The window to Retu's cockpit slid open. 'You're sure you have nowhere to be?' She asked to the face that appeared.

Retu waved away her concerns. 'I made this time for you, Rayne. If you don't want to fly anywhere, I'll wait. A few hours sitting around isn't anything new to me.'

She creased her brow, nodded, and drew back, letting Retu slide his window down closed again. She hesitated near the plane for a moment, then spun and hastily began climbing up Fire Mountain. The path had a gentle slope but zig-zagged up the mountain, making it longer than it had to be, Chi-Chi was grateful- the long trek gave her time to think. _So… how should I phrase it?_

She rounded a switchback. _How about… "from a soon-to-be-single mother to another, I need advice"… No, that just sounds desperate…_

 _Maybe… "a baby is going to pop out of me. Help?"_

She halted. _Brain, what?_

As she rubbed one hand over her other arm in an attempt to prod her to think of something even marginally better, her eyes caught that the shade of light cast over the entire mountain was odd- curious, she turned and looked out across the land in the shadow of the mountain.

Fire and smoke frothed up from the flatlands below, stemming mostly from the village located not a few miles from where Retu had landed the plane. More alarmingly, everything, down to the leaves passing down the mountain to the streams and rivers twisting down its slopes, was basked in a purple glow.

Something twisted and dropped in the pit of her stomach. With a plunging terror propelling her forward, Rayne dashed up the mountain.

0o0o0

They presumed the ship was in transit, considering that Nappa never returned to them to follow up on any of his grisly promises. This fact, however, hadn't improved their collective mood; in fact, it had probably worsened it. There was no disputing it; with every minute that passed while they were locked away, they were being taken farther and farther away from their mission. When their ship had been destroyed, it had taken every useful tool with it. Gone were the star charts and the navigational computer, which had done most of the piloting for Bulma. Gone were the dragon radar and the quality of life items like the capsule house and the warm shower it would have graced her with. In the space of a few minutes, every good thing Bulma had planned on had been yanked out from under her, depriving her of some solace in what, even normally, would have been a trying time for her.

They were still alive. Bulma knew that she had saved their lives. And yet she knew that whatever ship they were on now was taking them further and further away from Namek and the hope that planet offered.

She bent over and let her head fall to her knees. _Such a horrible cost to survive…_

Her companions, Tien to her left and Yamcha across from her, were suitably silent. This, at least, was good- she didn't care much for what they had to say at the moment.

Tien seemed to think differently; he spoke up not a few seconds after this thought ran through Bulma's mind. 'Yamcha?'

The scarred human regarded Tien from underneath heavy eyelids. 'What?'

'Why did you admit to killing Raditz before?'

An immediate tension filled the small cell, making an already miserable space even more so. 'I killed him,' Yamcha stated. 'We were prisoners. I figured we were going to die- so I wanted to tell them this, disturb them, so that I could claim some small victory before the end.'

'And yet, they were happy to hear that Raditz had died.'

Yamcha narrowed his eyes at Tien, then broke off eye-contact. 'I figured wrong in that regard.'

'I know this is a useless conversation to have at this point,' Tien grumbled, not bothering to hide his dissatisfaction, 'but why? Why do _any_ of what you did without talking to us first?'

Yamcha's eyes jumped to a corner in the room. He said nothing in response.

'Fine,' Tien sighed, 'be that way. I'll make sure to keep up my end of this _healthy_ relationship intact; if I decide to do something to jeopardize everyone's lives, I'll make sure to do so _without_ talking to you, or Bulma, or the big fu-'

Bulma held up a hand, silencing Tien. 'Please…' she said softly. 'Please… just let the cell be quiet.'

Tien's mouth opened to continue, but then his expression changed and he clamped his mouth shut.

 _Peace, at last. Horrible, dreadful, anxiety-driven peace, but peace nonetheless._ In spite of the verbal quiet filling the room, Bulma began to rub her temples to stave off a forthcoming headache. _This is hopeless…_ Her eyes began to roam the room, looking for something of interest that would distract her. It was at that moment that Bulma noticed that both Tien and Yamcha looked awful- and then she remembered how they had been brought onto this ship. _They weren't in suits. Their bodies were shipped through space like cargo…_ She could now see the freeze burns that patterned their bodies, inflicting on them what must have been excruciating pain. The more she thought on it, the more remarkable it became that they had even survived their brief transit through the vacuum of space- _perhaps their ki had done that?_

 _First thing first._ Bulma rocked to her feet and began rummaging through an internal pocket in her suit. Clenching on something, she then released the suit's locks and let the heavy sections fall off one by one from her body. Yamcha and Tien both lifted their heads a fraction as dull _thunks_ registered on the metal floor.

Bulma squatted between them, flourishing a small medical kit. 'Do you two mind?'

Neither of them verbally replied, but she caught a glint of appreciativeness shine in their eyes and their heads nod incrementally.

Satisfied, she got to work.

0o0o0

By the time that Korin's frighteningly fast magical stick had finished propelling them all skywards, a good number of the riders were ready to vomit. They had made sure not to let go, however, and as a result, they all safely touched down onto the Lookout. What should have been a sacred place was quickly disturbed by Chiaotzu and Suno hanging by the edge of the platform and dry heaving.

'Give them a minute,' Korin said over the gurgling to Launch and Yajirobe. 'Meanwhile…' he scanned their surroundings. 'Where's Mr. Popo?'

Launch strode into the center of the Lookout and bent down next to a body-sized imprint in the tiles. 'Would this fit their shape?' She asked, drawing Korin's attention.

He and Yajirobe joined her. 'Unfortunately, yes,' he replied. 'What happened?'

'Maybe he slipped?' Yajirobe suggested.

'He's an eternal attendant,' Launch shot back. 'Eternal attendants don't _slip_.'

'Well, how else could this crater be created?

'Maybe someone sat down too quickly?'

' _Maybe!?_ '

' _Maybe_. You don't know!'

'Are you even using your eyes right now?'

Ignoring their bickering, Korin continued to study their surroundings. The air around them was turgid, as if no wind had blown here in quite some time. Just as he was about to acknowledge the creeping feeling of dread welling up inside of him, a sound startled him out of his thoughts.

 _Clack. Clack. Clack._ The sound of wood tapping down on tile started to emanate and echo across the air. Slowly, the five of them turned to the yawning entrance of the main complex. Chiaotzu and Suno gathered themselves and joined Korin, Yajirobe, and Launch.

 _Clack. Clack. Clack._ A short, diminutive hooded figure slowly came out of the darkness, revealing themselves to the world one step at a time. A wooden staff, smaller but similar to Kami's continued to _clack clack clack_ against the tiles from the figure's hand. Their robes were also eerily familiar- they were of the same color scheme of Kami's. Most disturbing of all, the same symbol was blazoned across their body that had graced Kami's front during his unflinching tenure as guardian- _God._

Korin felt the fur on the back of his neck stand-up. The figure's _ki_ felt so utterly _wrong. This is all wrong! Some… perversion!_

None of his companions seemed to experience the same sick realization he had felt. 'Who are you?' Launch asked somewhat casually.

A ghost of a smile may have formed on the figure's face, but considering their head was still hooded, it was hard for Korin to tell. 'Can't you _read?_ ' They responded, amused. 'I'm _God_.'

Launch rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, okay. Very funny..' She flippantly pointed at the crater at her side. 'Did you fake this? Or was it Mr. Popo?'

'Launch-' the name briefly caught in Korin's throat- 'everyone, something is wrong. This being's energy… it's vile! Use your _ki_ sense!'

Intrigued, they did so- and collectively, they took a step back. 'Who _are_ you?' Launch repeated.

At this juncture, the figure drew back their head, revealing an imp-like teal head. They were indeed short. 'I. Am. _God,'_ he proclaimed. 'Your God, Garlic Junior. Is this how you treat your better? _The_ better?...' he asked, hinting at some unspoken threat.

'Our "God" is dead,' Suno replied harshly. 'You're nothing more than a charlatan dressing up in a great man's clothes.'

'Such a pity,' Garlic mocked quietly. 'You really don't know what you're dealing with, do you?...'

'Pity?' Launch abruptly laughed. 'It took me a minute, but I've got your read, buddy- you're not even a _third_ as powerful as Raditz! This is going to be a cakewalk!'

'Prattle all you want! You'll bend to me-'

'Haaaagh!' Launch rocketed forward almost imperceptibly fast, aiming a roundhouse kick at Garlic's head. He moved lethargically slow, only succeeding in raising a single hand in a warding gesture in front of him.

Her hit never came. When Launch came within five feet of him, Garlic clenched his hand, summoning a wall of purple and black miasma to rise in front of him. Launch barreled through this and disappeared.

'Aha!' Garlic half-laughed, half-cheered, as the foul fumes around him dispersed. 'Fantastic! Wonderful! Kami couldn't even _dream_ of this power!'

'What did you do to her!?' Chiaotzu yelled from across the Lookout.

'Unimportant!' Garlic then began to rise into the sky. 'I realize now that you will not leave my humble abode peacefully! Nicky! Ginger! Sansho! To me!'

A rustle of movement came from the main complex- an instant later, three hulking fighters appeared on the ground below Garlic Jr. They looked taller, and physically, they looked _much_ stronger than their apparent master.

'These "guests" are being difficult!' he yelled down from above, pointing one imperious finger towards the clump of people towards the other end of the Lookout. 'Stall them, for it seems that they have not yet succumbed to the Black Water Mist!'

Yajirobe, Suno, and Chiaotzu froze- the situation was quickly spiraling out of control.

Korin sighed. 'Out of my way,' he commanded of the remaining fighters, pushing past them to the front. Upon his appearance at the front of his group, he drew back his hood and let his white fur glisten in the sunlight.

Garlic laughed. 'You?' he called down. 'You're still kicking? I would have thought someone would have _killed_ you by now.'

'Oh?' Korin said pleasantly. 'So you do remember me?'

'I remember how you cowered while Kami fought my father!' Garlic spat back. 'You, the weakling, who was helpless against their combined might! To you, they were titans! And now, aided by the powers granted to me as Guardian of Earth, I have surpassed them both!' He boasted, crossing his arms self-assuredly. 'You can't even _begin_ to approach my power!'

'That may be true,' Korin replied cheerfully, 'but, either way, I'm glad I prepared!'

Korin's positivity seemed to irritate Garlic Jr.- he frowned. One flat palm rose into the air, facing Korin's group. 'BEG-'

A sickening crunch filled the air, reminiscent of a building collapsing in on itself. The space between Korin and Garlic halved twice in the space of a second, nearly causing Garlic to tumble out of the sky. 'What!?' he growled, throwing out his hands to stabilize himself in the air. 'How are you doing this!?'

'I was trusted with a few responsibilities when I was given immortality,' Korin thundered, 'and being the caretaker of the position of Guardian was one of them! Haaaah!' Slivers of lightning erupted out from Korin's body, shooting and curling into a protective ball around him and Garlic. The Guardian quickly thrust his hands to the side, forming a sphere of energy around him. These two opposing figures seemed to lock in place, each one throwing their combined powers against each other. The wind began to whip into a frenzy, causing everyone else in attendance to raise their arms high to brace against it.

Realization struck Yajirobe. 'Charge!' he yelled out. 'Protect Korin!' With that, they raced forward, moving to intercept Garlic's henchmen.

0o0o0

Piccolo's presence at Krillin's side at first was alien, even distracting, considering that Krillin's first compulsion whenever the demon flashed in the corner of his vision was throw up a block. Habits that had saved his life on multiple occasions tended to die hard. Once it became clear that Piccolo wasn't going anywhere (or that he wasn't going to try and strangle Krillin's dead body to further undeath), however, Krillin began to accept Piccolo for what he was- a companion. While this had been a hard concept for Krillin to wrap his head around initially, the difficulty of accepting this development had served as a good way to pass the time; there wasn't much else to think about throughout their unending trek.

An indeterminate amount of time passed- any bodily urges Krillin knew fully died, suggesting that his initial desires to eat and sleep had been psychological, not physical. He found himself missing the sensation of sleep and the respite it offered from what was now unending consciousness.

He found himself missing a lot of things. _Seems like it's going to be a long time before I see any of my friends… Rayne... hmm…_

Mired in his sulking, Krillin was jolted out of his head when Piccolo's hand grasped the back of his _gi_ and yanked him back. 'Hey!' He exclaimed, shaking out of his grip and turning. 'What was that for?'

Piccolo said nothing; instead, he pointed one finger towards something in the direction Krillin had been running. Krillin briefly glared at him, before finally relenting and swinging back around. 'Huh...'

Before them was a staggeringly large palace, somehow even more visually and architecturally impressive than the complex that had first greeted them in the afterlife. A single avenue branched out from the main path of Snake Way, though importantly, Snake Way did not end at the palace. If anything, the palace looked more like a stop than the end of their journey.

'I don't want to go in,' Piccolo announced while Krillin was still in the process of figuring out what he was looking at.

The human gave him a sideways look. 'Why?'

'This clearly isn't North Kai's place. Snake Way continues.'

'So?' Krillin whined. 'We've been running for… I don't even-'

'Two months, give or take a month.'

'How'd you figure that?'

'What else could I be doing right now except counting the miserable days until this torture ends?'

They stared at each other. 'Fair enough.'

'Stopping here will just delay us from finishing this gauntlet,' Piccolo stated. 'And I don't know about you, but I'd rather not drag this out.'

Krillin couldn't argue with that logic, though… 'Why don't we just check?' he suggested. 'We can find out who lives here and if it isn't North Kai's we can continue on our way.'

Piccolo rolled his eyes. 'Fine. Lead the way.'

Both of them walked over down the side path and up to the palace's gigantic doors, taking the opportunity to stretch as they walked. Krillin knocked once on the wooden doors, producing an audible _rapp rapp._ After waiting a few moments for a response, he knocked again more loudly. _Rapp, Rapp, Rapp._ Still no response. Finally, Krillin called out, 'Hello? Anyone home?'

Silence. It seemed like this entire plane was devoid of any sound. That was another thing Krillin missed.

'No one's here,' Piccolo grumbled. 'Satisfied?'

'Maybe…' Krillin placed both hands on the door and started to apply some pressure. It didn't budge in the slightest. 'Perhaps with _ki…_ ' His grip suddenly slackened, as did his face. 'No… I don't sense anything. Weird.'

'Can we go now?'

Krillin held back for one more moment, straining to feel and hear anything… and failed to do so. The palace appeared to be thoroughly deserted. 'Alright… lead the way.'

Piccolo cast one more look at the building before storming off towards Snake Way. Krillin, pouting somewhat, followed him. _I would have enjoyed a good break, now that I think about it..._

0o0o0

A woman with pale blue skin crouched above a lip in the wall, carefully watching two figures dash past the palace through a window. 'Princess Snake?' she called out to someone behind her. 'Should we try to lure them in?'

Directly beneath this woman, in what used to be a grand serving hall, a woman in ragged and burned clothes stomped about, casting simmering glances to the ruined fixtures and furniture around her. 'Are you joking!?' She erupted. 'We still haven't fixed up this place since the last one! If you let them in I'll have your head on a silver platter!'

Frowning, the woman watched the two figures move beyond a ridge and disappear. Once this happened, she leaned on the windowsill and sighed longingly.

0o0o0

Though she was tried not to exert herself, Rayne found herself racing up Fire Mountain in record time. _I can't be blamed for having nervous scrambling energy, right? I need to use it somehow…_ _It's not like I can forget that the town below is on_ _ **fire…**_

Another few _ki-_ enhanced hops and Rayne found herself standing nearly level with the castle sitting atop of Fire Mountain. She was also face-to-face with a monstrous hole that had blown away nearly a quarter of the structure's side. _Dear… Kami…_ Lying near this gaping wound in the building was a vaguely humanoid shape.

Rayne raced over as fast and as quietly as possible. Smoke drifted through the area, forcing her to pull part of her _gi_ over her mouth and nose and slow down. She was about halfway to where she guessed where the body was when her foot crashed into something soft and large. ' _Oooohhhh…'_ a groan rose up from the ground.

She immediately cringed and yanked her foot back. 'I'm so sorry!' She burst out, kneeling down. 'I didn't see you, I… wait…'

The smoke cleared some. Rayne could see that the person she had rammed was _gigantic._ Arguably giant-sized. 'Who… who are you?' She managed.

The man on his back struggled to open his eyes. One massive hand trembled upwards. Instinctively, Rayne tried to grab it and force the man to relax, but the hand lurched away from her grasp and pointed into the castle. 'Please…' he said hoarsely. 'I'll be fine… save my daughter and my grandson…'

'Daughter!... So you're-'

The man's hand plopped back down the ground- he slipped unconscious.

After taking a moment to make sure the man wasn't going to die on her, Rayne stood and faced the gaping maw within the building. She could faintly sense that some people were inside. _So… Chi-Chi and Gohan. Still… what the hell is going on? Did they get attacked?_

She took a deep breath, then plunged through the breach.

0o0o0

It couldn't have been more than a few days of monotony, broken up by flickering lighting and meals given at odd times, did every single whirring and wheeze from the ship around them stop. Bulma was quick to assume what followed a few minutes later- Nappa clapped what must have been handcuffs on all of them and led them out of their cell.

Normally, Bulma would have relished the chance to pour over every inch of detail of the ship around her, seeking to sate her burning curiosity- but she felt no such impulse now. She wasn't feeling much of anything, if she was being honest with herself. Too much misfortune in too short a time. Though perhaps she was looking at their situation the wrong way. They were all still alive. _For now._

Nappa led them through a few winding, scanty hallways, up and down a few flights of stairs, and then herded them into a box-ish room. When two sets of doors slammed closed behind them and some audible machinery began adjusting the air level within the chamber, Bulma deduced they were in an airlock.

'We're about to disembark onto FP083,' Nappa informed them. 'Its atmosphere should be breathable to you. Raditz and his brother were able to breathe on your planet, correct?'

'Yes,' Tien muttered.

Nappa made a shark-like grin at them. 'Then breathing should be the least of your concerns.' A hiss filled the room and the wall before them started to lower down.

The sight that greeted them was indescribably alien- darkened black-green skies ran to the horizon, framing a rocky and craggy dull brown landscape. Smack dab in the middle of this vista, however, was a small, squat base about a mile out, softly lit by yellow light. It stood out like a beacon among the sparseness.

The sound of a boot ramming against metal sounded from behind them. ' _Move_ ,' Nappa growled as soon as the wall-ramp finished descending. The Saiyan stepped off the ship first, moving seamlessly down the ramp onto the rocky ground below.

The three humans, headed by Bulma, timidly followed him down. The instant Bulma stepped onto the ramp, however, her legs buckled and she nearly tumbled forward onto the hard metal. It was only through Yamcha's quick reflexes was he able to rush to her side and wrap a hand around her waist, catching her. His muscles screamed from the effort, even as his feet struggled to find purchase on the metal ramp. _This gravity!... It's insane!..._

With his back facing them, Nappa gave a half-turn of his head. 'Did I forget to mention this planet's gravity is higher than your planet's own?' he asked, amused. 'This won't be a problem for such _strong fighters_ such as yourselves, will it?'

Tien came up to the other side of Bulma and roped himself under her left arm. With added support from him, Bulma unsteadily rose to her feet. 'Keep leading,' Tien grunted to Nappa. 'We'll be right behind you.' If he was affected by the change in gravity, he made an effort to not show it.

Sneering, Nappa whipped around his head and set a brisk pace towards the complex in the distance. With both Tien and Yamcha grimacing, and Bulma looking to be on the verge of passing out, they persisted after him. For the most part, their path was flat and unremarkable, which was lucky- both Tien and Yamcha doubted they could have climbed even a small hill considering the circumstances. Collectively, and with Bulma barely conscious, they gasped in relief as they saw Nappa slow in front of them. A large gate slid into the ground, revealing an antechamber filled with a litany of different humanoid aliens of various shapes, sizes, and colors. None of them looked particularly friendly.

The hologram they had seen days earlier, a Saiyan with wicked hair and a permanent sense of power belying their posture, was present in-the-flesh and stood at the front of the group. With a simple wave of his hand, Nappa stepped to the side and motioned his captors to step forward. 'As per your request, Prince Vegeta,' Nappa said in an oddly deferential manner.

Tien and Yamcha hobbled over, each one supporting Bulma under one arm. Vegeta's smile grew. 'These are our would-be warriors? They can barely walk,' he commented with a condescending smile.

'It's… the gravity…' Tien sputtered. 'We're… just not used to it.'

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. 'Is that so? I'd _hate_ to break it to you, but this planet has one of the weakest gravitational pulls of any system in the known galaxy. What would you do if you traveled to a planet with four times the gravity of this planet, hmm?'

'Give us time,' Yamcha snapped, 'and we'll be adjusted as much as any one of you.'

Nappa and Vegeta shared a look, followed by Nappa beckoning over one of the various aliens gathered around. After barking some orders to a mottled green and blue bald alien, he turned back to them. 'You will have _one_ day to recover. Then, tomorrow, we'll decide if you three can work for us. Understood?'

Yamcha and Tien gave weak nods, withering under Vegeta's steady gaze. A throng of aliens then descended on the humans, enveloping them and helping them further into the base. As Nappa watched this, Vegeta motioned for him to follow.

0o0o0

Far away from any prying eyes and ears, Vegeta stopped Nappa in one of the base's solitary hallways. 'Your scouter noted the same thing, did it now?' he asked.

Nappa nodded. 'Barely topping a power level of _10_ for the two still standing. The one for the woman was even lower…'

'And yet they were able to stand- the two men, anyway. It would appear that Raditz's intel was accurate. These earthlings can hide their power level. There's no way a being with a power level of 10 would be able to walk here considering the gravitational pull on their native planet.'

Nappa eyed Vegeta. 'So you think they may actually have some worth?'

'Possibly. I'm more inclined to believe that they defeated Raditz and his brother now having seen this ability for myself. If they can hide their power levels, it would have been simple for them to catch Raditz off-guard. At the very least, I've grown more confident that they aren't working with Raditz and his brother. They don't have the look of people who would get along with him.'

'Has there been any more ship launches from Earth?'

'Not one,' Vegeta replied, 'which makes me think that the two ships we gave to Raditz are either still on the planet or destroyed. There's no way they could have left if they weren't with these earthlings. They're either still alive on the planet or dead, and I doubt these earthlings would run off and leave their planet undefended.' Vegeta crossed his arms snug to his chest, signaling to Nappa that he was thinking.

'They could have fled the planet because Raditz and Kakarot are laying waste to it. You know, like refugees.'

'But then where were they going? And if that was the case, Raditz would have contacted us in some way… unless, of course, he went rogue…' Vegeta began to massage his temples. 'It doesn't make sense… Again, Raditz's duplicity has created a web for us to untangle…'

'Raditz had to be sneaky!' Nappa chuckled. 'He wasn't strong enough to do otherwise. If he wasn't lying to his brother from the start, do you really think he could have convinced him to join up with us?'

'Hmm.' Vegeta narrowed his eyes at the ground, then let his arms fall back to his sides. 'Regardless, I have a feeling we know much more about our prospective mercenaries than they do about us,' Vegeta opined. 'I intend to exploit this asymmetry of information.'

'Is this what you'll be doing while I take the fighters out to the gorge tomorrow? Extorting the blue-haired woman?'

'Oh, I doubt I'll have to do anything that extreme,' Vegeta replied coolly. 'Her allies will be far away fighting for their lives. All I need to do is drop a small insinuation and she'll tell me everything I want to know…'

Nappa let loose a harsh laugh. 'That was always your way of doing things, even back on Planet Vegeta. Remember how you dealt with that hanger-on of your father? What was her name? Puashe?'

'Pash,' Vegeta growled, 'her name was Pash. And don't bring her up around me again.'

'Oh, but it's so funny-'

'Drop it, Nappa.'

0o0o0

Like a stone cast into a river, Launch felt herself be carried away in a storm, the world around her blurring into one indefinite and unsensible mess. When she felt her lungs start to burn for air and her flailing muscles start to lose energy, her vertigo came to an abrupt stop. She realized she was face-down on the ground, panting. Gingerly, she pushed herself into a crouch, breathing slowly and steadily. _Holy… Kami…_

Before her was… darkness. There was no other word to describe it. Even during the darkest nights where the clouds above her completely covered the unlit skies, she could squint hard enough into the hazy distance and be sure there was more to the world than what she saw. Here… she wasn't nearly as confident.

Launch wasn't very experienced with strange, otherworldly powers, but she was experienced enough with her our indignation to hazard a guess as to what just happened. _This is some magic bullshit, isn't it? He never even touched me! Ugh! Wizards! Or… warlocks, or witches, or something!_ _I'm going to beat the title out of that Garlic guy!_

As she began to rise, the world around her began to change- while the ever-pressing darkness did not lift, a stone gray path formed in front of her, leading to a previously unseen destination in the distance. Launch couldn't quite make out what it was… but it was definitely familiar.

 _Great. Now I'm recognizing things in the realm of imperceptible darkness. Definitely magic at work…._

She briefly surveyed her surroundings, but lacking any other direction to go that didn't include an unappealing wall of darkness, Launch sighed, shook her head, and set off down the stone path.

0o0o0

Having led their charge, Yajirobe was the first to crash against one of their opponents- his polished sword swiped through the air at the hulking creature adorned in black as night armor. Like a cat chasing a point of light, Yajirobe's sword flew from side-to-side, always coming mere inches from the creature's desperately backpedaling body. When his opponent inevitably made a misstep and stumbled, Yajirobe surged forward, twisted the sword around in his grip, and slammed the hilt into the creature's breastplate, shattering it at the center and exposing the dark grey skin beneath. Sailing backward, the creature landed in a tangle of limbs.

Scowling, Yajirobe straightened and leveled the sword's blade. 'You're not as strong as I figured you for.'

The creature began to snarl. 'Stop that!' he yelled as he unsteadily rose to his feet. 'No-one addresses Sansho of the Makyans that way!'

Yajirobe shrugged. 'Prove it.'

In a flash of movement, Sansho disappeared in front of Yajirobe, appearing behind him with a heavy swipe. Yajirobe pivoted, however, and caught the strike on the flat of his blade easily. He was motionless as the Makyan above him struggled to get through his guard.

An idea crossed Yajirobe's mind. 'Can you fly?' he asked nonchalantly.

Bewildered, Sansho hopped back and dropped out of his guard. 'What kind of question is that?'

'It's okay if you can't,' Yajirobe said, frowning sympathetically. 'I can't fly, either.'

'I… it's none of your business!' Sansho yelled at him. 'I'll destroy you!'

A glint of metal flashed from Yajirobe's side. '…'

Strikes flew at Yajirobe, but without any effort he caught every single one with his blade. The deliberately honed weapon danced in the air before him, almost as if it was moving of its own accord. Increasingly frustrated, Sansho backed up and then charged at Yajirobe, trying to grab his at the waist and wrench him to the ground. For his part, Yajirobe nimbly sidestepped and then slashed at the Makyan's back, scoring a thin vertical slice through the black armor. Sansho yelled out in pain even as he had to stop himself abruptly from nearly running off the edge of the Lookout. Wobbling, Sansho yelped when Yajirobe appeared before him, holding up the hilt of his blade.

'Time to see if you can fly.' Yajirobe whispered cheerfully.

'NOOOOoooooooo!...' With a tap of his sword, Sansho lost his balance and flew off the edge of the Lookout. Yajirobe briefly peered over the edge to confirm that the Makyan hadn't gripped onto the side, and upon seeing Sansho disappear from sight, he leaned back and sheathed his sword.

'Alright…' Yajirobe scanned the surface of the Lookout. Chiaotzu and Suno were going toe-to-toe with Garlic's two other henchmen. 'Those two are covered…' Out of the corner of his eye, Yajirobe saw a flash of movement. _No!_

0o0o0

'You… pest!' Garlic Jr. roared, as he thrust his arms out again in an attempt to break through the shell of energy pressing in on him. The barrier shuddered but did not break.

Several feet below, Korin alternated his expression between one of satisfaction and one of intense concentration. Jagged lines of light erupted from his palms, continually feeding into the barrier surrounding Garlic Jr. 'You don't deserve this title!' The stream of energy erupting from Korin reached a crescendo as pure white light began to emanate from Garlic Jr.'s barrier. 'BEGONE, FOUL POWERS!'

There was a crack of sound as the barrier fell away, releasing a mist of gold-white energy that rushed out of Garlic Jr.'s body and quickly dissipated into nothing.

Korin had but a moment to admire his accomplishment before he fell to one knee, clasping his midsection. 'That was… too much…' he panted. 'Too much energy lost…'

Garlic Jr. looked over his body with incensed revulsion. 'Curse you! You stripped me of my rightful powers! How!?'

'It's… what I said. I guard this place, in a way…'

'You!… I'll… wait…' Garlic Jr. began to smirk as he felt his latent energy come back to the forefront of his being. 'You haven't diminished any of my _other_ power at all…'

The cat gave an unsteady frown. 'That… was the gamble...'

There was no hesitation on Garlic Jr.'s part. His gaze lifted incrementally towards Korin before bursting into movement. 'Die!' he zoomed downwards, drawing back a leg-

 _CHINNNNNGGG._ The sound of metal vibrating rang across the Lookout, stopping Garlic Jr.'s leg a few feet away from crashing into Korin. Shocked, the would-be Guardian craned his head to the side. 'Who?...'

Behind a samurai blade pressed flat to Garlic Jr.'s foot, Yajirobe shook with exertion. His gaze was fixed to the ground. 'While I'm still alive…' The sword flashed, swiping upwards and flipping Garlic Jr. backward in the air. Baring his teeth, Yajirobe chased after him. 'You don't touch him!'

* * *

A/N: Heyo! Again, sorry about the one-week lapse. I've been sitting on parts of this chapter for a while now and it was a push to get this finished. Happy to say it's done now, though!

Also, in a change of pace, here are some power levels. Thought it would be useful considering the non-canon interactions here.

Garlic:?

Nicky:?

Sansho:240

Ginger:?

Yajirobe: 300

Suno:?

Korin: 200

Chiaotzu:?

Launch:?

Onto **reviews:**

 **TC9078:** Could King Kai be a stoner? Could Roshi somehow produce the goods in the afterlife? These are questions I'm now considering...

 **Transformers g1's-Prime:** Yep. A ride. Yeah, how _close_ is Frieza watching Vegeta, anywho?

If I'm being honest I do like most of the movie villains. IMO they suffer only because they reside exclusively in movies, i.e. it's hard to develop a background for a character and accommodate them with the rest of the story's continuity in the space of two hours or so. I find that DB/Z fics that organically integrate movie villains (I'm looking at you, _Break Through The Limit_ ), so that their introduction makes sense in the larger story, are better for it. This ultimately means, however, that movie villains will interact very differently with the story than you might expect.

That being said, I don't want to spoil who and what this story may cover. I will, however, definitively declare that no version of Bio-Broly will ever exist in any fic I write.

 **Luke:** Sorry for the delay! Hope this chapter sates!

 **LWexe:** Curiouser!

 **Kurokono Tasuke:** Thank you for the kind review! And reviews like the one you wrote inspired me to write more than anything! Stick along for this fic because it's going to be one hell of a ride ;).

 **Guest 1, 2, and 2 (who I assume is the same person):** 1) I think this chapter makes it a bit clear that they don't trust them fully. What they do recognize, however, is that know some things that they're interested in learning/ could potentially be useful.

2) Psychologically, I feel that "dead" people would still feel the urges they experienced while living by habit. It's like how I feel the urge to eat even when I'm not hungry. It's a habit.

3) Yeah, who knows what's going on there?

Thank you for the reviews! It made me reconsider (and I hope polish) some scenes in this chapter.

 **Legendary-AI:** Thank you for returning! I think you've missed quite a lot since you last checked in. I obviously can't say anything about what might happen with Kakarot at this stage beyond that's he's dead, but these are questions some people might be considering.

Raditz had some sort of plan- though it's not very clear. He was sneaky.

Vegeta is interested in what the humans have to offer. We'll see if he's satisfied.

Yeah, I'll cover the language thing next chapter. I feel like I need to put _some_ kind of explanation out there, you know?

Thank you for the compliment! Not sure if I'll ever write another fic for another fandom. I have a lot more familiarity with DBZ fics than anything else. That being said, if there was a future where I wrote other fics for other fandoms, it would probably be some sort of heavily divergent AU for either Star Wars of ATLA. Again, however, it's unlikely.

In terms of writing, every writer has a different style. In terms of creating a _story_ , however, the best advice I can give is to maintain a balance between knowing where you're going plot-wise and letting ideas come to you in the moment to create more interesting scenes. If you have an outline of where you want your story to be at the end of an arc, then you can consider and incorporate any cool elements or changes you think of to enhance that arc's conclusion.


	46. A Test of Strength

Outlanders

Chapter 46: A Test of Strength

A/N: Another week, another chapter! Hope you enjoy! Also, 199 reviews! Wild! Thank you all so much for your past and continuing support!

* * *

Garlic Jr. flew backward, frantically dodging to avoid the swordsman's lightning-quick strikes. He would only have a second to glimpse a flash of metal before a sword would stab at him, forcing him to stay constantly in motion. Abruptly, Yajirobe's grip on his sword shifted and he spun it in a circle, barely nicking Garlic Jr.'s arm and slashing off his cape in one fell swoop. The garment fell to the tiles in a clump.

'Yaagh!' Garlic Jr.'s roared as a point-blank purple blast of energy launched from his palms, flinging him backward even as the blast hurtled towards Yajirobe. Seeing this onrushing blast, Yajirobe grimaced and planted his feet. Swirls of blue energy began running up and down the length of his blade, giving it an otherworldly glow. When the blast was just a handful of feet away from him, he stepped in and swung the sword in a clean vertical slice, moving the tip of the blade from the tiles as his feet to slightly above and behind his head. The energy blast was hewn clean in two, compromising the integrity of the blast and exploding it to either side of Yajirobe.

Scowling, Garlic Jr. continued to hang in the air. _His sword is annoying… wish I could snap that troublesome thing in two._ As Garlic Jr. continued to catch his breath, he noted that Yajirobe, while similarly winded to himself from their bout, was moving back into a more defensive position around Korin. His face betrayed something akin to worry. _Wait… Ah, of course! Every strength comes at a cost._

Garlic. Jr. flew closer to them, though he made sure to keep himself an appropriate distance off the ground. Yajirobe didn't challenge him in the slightest. 'You can't fly!' Garlic Jr. exclaimed, throwing an accusatory arm at the samurai. 'Haha! What kind of fighter are you?'

Yajirobe squinted towards the sky. 'A regretful one.'

'I see…' Garlic Jr. purred as a ball of energy blossomed into existence in his right hand. 'So there's not much you can do to prevent me from lobbing _ki_ at you and your cat friend, is there?'

Coughing ragged, Korin trembled as he remained mostly prone on the ground. He wasn't getting up anytime soon.

 _Damn it…_ Yajirobe's grip on his blade tightened. 'Try me!'

0o0o0

The hard crunch of small rocks and hardened lumps of dirt beneath their feet echoed off the canyon's ragged walls, Straining underneath the planet's strong gravity, Tien and Yamcha had dutifully trodden far into whatever constituted a wilderness on this planet. Without a complaint or a whimper, they had pulled themselves over boulders, down cliffs, and jumped across chasms as they sought to remain behind their captor. Not that they had much of a choice in this. Nappa's relaxed posture and unrelenting pace essentially said: _If you run, I can and_ _ **will**_ _catch you._ And where would they have gone? The planet itself seemed devoid of any and all life except for the complex they came from, and judging from how most of the people there had eyed them it was doubtful if they would be warmly received there. So there was nothing else to do but walk, and hope whatever purpose Nappa had for their exertion was purposeful.

Eventually, they came to a stop at what must have once been a great and mighty river- a fairly straight gorge was jagged and angular towards the top but was wide and smooth at the bottom. A dry riverbed cut through the valley like a knife, whispering of some great prowess long gone. But beyond this, it was clear that the place they now found themselves in was a place of battle- the devastation wrought around them in the form of odd angles and delipidated groupings of rock made that clear enough. It was nicely tucked away from any other part of the planet- a perfect place to kill someone.

While the wind blew in unmanageable chunks, Nappa strode over towards the center of the riverbed. His boots left huge, heavy footprints in the soft dirt. 'This planet used to be in a much better shape,' he commented, focusing his attention in a spot on the ground. He crouched down to the ground and, curiously, he began to use his hands to cup dirt and dump it at his side.

Tien scrutinized this for a second, then cast his vision towards a part of the valley that looked like it was eviscerated out of existence by a _ki_ blast. 'What happened?' he asked.

'Sometimes we get a little overzealous in doing our jobs. This planet used to be one of the highest valued contracts out there- paid a lot of money if we purged it right, in other words. The reason it was so lucrative, however, is that this planet had one hell of an angry native populace…' As Nappa said these words, he clenched his fist and pushed it into the small hole he had made, shook it, and then scooped the dirt back into the hole and patted it down. 'They fought to the bitter end, and damn well took their planet with them. A lot of people on both sides died for a planet that, ultimately, wasn't worth more than this dirt…' He gestured broadly to the broken chunks of land around them. 'The scars of battle never really go away.'

Yamcha, who was propping himself against a rock-face, pushed himself away. 'Sounds like a thoroughly useless waste of life.'

'Most planets don't go like this,' Nappa replied, retrieving a small bag from his side. He unscrewed the bag's top and tipped it, pouring clear blue water onto where the hole had previously been. 'Usually we know how to pick our battles… or the natives have the good sense to roll over and die for us. On each contract, there's usually a few smart ones who betray their world to survive.' Napps stood, wiped his hands on the front of his armor, and took a few long steps backward away from Tien and Yamcha. 'You'd be surprised to know how many people involved in our army are survivors from now-defunct civilizations. Evidently, this planet was populated by foolish idealists.'

'That's…' Tien couldn't find the words to express his presently felt revulsion. 'What kind of-'

'-but enough about that,' Nappa interrupted him, who in turn was interrupted by the sound of dirt being heaved. 'Time to talk business.'

The ground in front of Nappa churned and shook, until an odd creature with a ridged dark green torso and a light green limbs burrowed out of the ground. It was short- maybe three or four feet tall, it was covered in unsettling dark veins and possessed startlingly red eyes. Its hands and feet, which were nothing more than three straightened talons sticking out at regular intervals, swiped and stabbed at the ground around it.

Nappa's voice wrenched them back to the present. 'You two, and your friend, were brought here on the condition that you could enlist under Vegeta and I and help fulfill contracts. Raditz and his brother's absence have left us short-handed for the foreseeable future. You two could help us out in that regard.' While Nappa spoke, the creature was motionless, poised to fulfill some sort of command. 'But… you see, we have no reason to believe your claim that you killed Raditz. And we have _no_ interest in weaklings who can't complete contracts for us. So consider this a test. This creature, a saibaman, will be about as strong as Raditz, if not weaker.' Nappa's face twisted in a grin. 'Kill it.'

Tien and Yamcha tensed on reflex. The green creature stomped and bucked, making an odd high-pitched warbling sound. 'What kind of sick game is this?' Yamcha demanded.

Nappa tapped a finger to the side of his scouter, bringing up a display of the nearby power levels. _10, 10, and… weaker than I would have liked. 800. Good, but not great._. 'Consider this your entrance exam and me as the proctor. If you live, you pass.'

The saibaman appeared to possess some sort of limited understanding what Nappa was saying- it started to drag its feet across the ground in preparation for a charge. Fangs swung in and out of sight from its mouth.

Tien quickly put aside every stray thought running through his head, 'Get ready!' he barked to Yamcha, who nodded and jogged over to Tien's side. Together, they both dipped their heads and began powering up.

Numbers ran across the visor of Nappa's scouter. He couldn't help but let one of his eyebrows raise in mild surprise. _This should be fun._

0o0o0

Going down the path laid out in front of her ended up being the right move. It was only after a few minutes of thoughtless walking did Launch find the stone underneath her feet abruptly end at a large gate set in-between two towering white walls. Even more encouragingly was a winch set in the ground nearby that began to raise the gate when Launch started to work it. _Now we're getting somewhere!_ Any sort of landmark was welcome news for Launch- or, at least, it was better than the never-ending darkness that seemed to tail her like a starving stray dog. She had the feeling that if she spent any significant amount of time in wherever-she-was-right-now, the darkness would start to get to her. Make her a bit more unhinged.

 _Comparatively. I've already reached a good level of "unhingedness"- don't want to be messing around with that if I can help it._

The gate finished moving upwards- beyond it was a blindingly white chamber to the point of forcing Launch to shield her head with one arm. She couldn't make out any feature of the room, but she wasn't going to turn back at this point either, so squinting as best she could, Launch walked through the gate.

A few steps into the chamber the air around her began to shudder and move- light flashed and floated past her in strange chunks, giving her the impression of stars moving across the night sky. The ground beneath her feet shifted from something hard to something soft, and the sound of wind slowly filtered into her ears. The light eventually dimmed, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself in a wooden building. _Wait… I know this place…_ though the color palette of the place was off and the fixtures seemed out-of-place, Rayne could distinctly recognize the bar stool she had sat upon every night for damn near a month a few years back. When she had been essentially cast out of Tien and Chiaotzu's home in order to "find herself".

Just thinking about that time made her want to punch a wall. _Hell, I'm not in the real world, so…_ her arm whipped out to the side, crashing through the flimsy wooden wall to her right. Her hand came away vindicated. _Worth it._

While the parameters of the room itself remained fairly constant, figures and shapes roamed around, coming together and dissipating like ghostly apparitions. Two distinct entities began to come into focus, however- seated at opposite ends of the bar were two nearly-identical women if not for the differing colors of their hair.

Launch involuntarily took a step backward. _Ahh, damn it…_ In one synchronized movement, the two women stood and turned to her, each one sporting a snarl on their face. 'You've come back, huh?' the woman with the blue hair growled. 'Like a coward, you came crawling back…'

'We were doing just fine without you,' the woman with the yellow hair said sadly. 'We're _happier_ without you getting in the way of us.'

Launch glared at the yellow-haired one, then yanked her gaze to the ceiling. 'Really?' She yelled out to no-one in particular. ' _This_ is what you test me with? My halves from a past life? Pathetic!'

The yellow-haired woman charged Launch at this comment, pulling back a fist. 'Don't you call me a half! I'm more of a match-'

She never finished her sentence as Launch closed the gap between them in the blink of an eye and wrapped her right arm around her neck, wrenching her to the ground. Launch's foot then came down on the yellow-haired woman's chest, pinning her.

The wooden floor creaked and shuddered, and the yellow-haired woman struggled to work herself free, but Launch's judicial grip didn't let up. Without sparing a glance at the person lodged beneath her, Launch turned with a soft face to the blue-haired woman, who was presently trembling in fear near the bar. With a gentle lift of her hand, Launch beckoned her other half to come closer. The blue-haired woman hesitated for a moment, flicking her gaze back and forth between Launch and the struggling woman beneath her, but eventually, she sauntered forward. They clasped each other's hands and nodded, passing some unspoken message between them. The yellow-haired woman intensified her struggle to break free.

'I never forgot what I learned here-' Launch said without looking down, pressing her foot down harder on her yellow-haired half. '-I'm stronger, together.'

As if some magic curse had been broken, upon Launch's utterance the room around her rapidly began to dissolve, stretching and fading all color and shape from the scene. Launch saw both halves of her give a small smile before they too dispersed into pieces and floated away.

 _Well… that was cathartic._ She stood and watched the last remnants of the bar blink out of existence. _It was always easy to for me to talk to my yellow self- violence is a language almost everyone understands._ _Weird to think that I got as far as I did without giving my blue self the time of day._ Launch glanced down at the hand that had gripped her blue half. _You were never the weak one. You always tried to be strong for both of you, in your own way. I wouldn't be here without you._

The space around Launch became more vivid, dynamic, as an increasingly fast cavalcade of shapes and colors blurred past her, giving her the impression that her speed through wherever she was was although she wasn't sure _how_ she knew this, she distinctly felt herself returning to where she was before entering this realm- _Earth. Alright… time to sock that imp's jaw- wait._

Launch leaned backward, slowing the frantic procession around her. Through what might have been the interdimensional equivalent of a window was an alien landscape- brown and dusty looking rocks framed a dreamlike scene of four figures buzzing around before her. Vaguely familiar shapes rocketed back-and-forth, trailed by flashes of light and color.

She had no idea what she was looking at- but she still felt it to be important nonetheless. Just before she felt her grasp window come undone, she extended an arm and shot a quick blast of _ki_ through the window, splattering the barrier inwards. She was only able to see a faint glimpse of something green before her momentum whisked her away. Forced back to face the direction she was moving in, she was overcome by blinding white light.

0o0o0

From an observer's perspective, the first few minutes of the meeting was uneventful. While Puar and Oolong crouched on a catwalk nearly flush to the warehouse's ceiling, every single shape-shifting mob boss that they had identified spoke in hushed tones to each other. The two of them had succeeded in bringing every person of import who was involved in the shape-shifting underworld to this meeting- the culmination of almost five years of effort- but now that everyone was in one place, they weren't sure how to proceed. As they conversed they were quickly figuring out that someone had misled them all and had drawn them to this warehouse- and the suspicion on their faces grew clearer in turn. On their own, Puar and Oolong weren't strong enough to take out forty-something people, each one protected by two or three bodyguards. It was the worst possible time for every single one of her super-powered friends to be conspicuously unaccounted for.

But, on this day, Puar received the most fortuitous development of her life. Just as guns were being raised and aimed towards every possible hiding spot in the building, purple smoke drifted across the warehouse floor. In a matter of seconds, every single person below started to savagely assault one another.

As rapt as she was with this development, Puar failed to notice Oolong's whispering until the pig had forcefully shoved her. 'Puar! What the hell is going on!?'

Puar could only smile. 'An act of Kami, that's what's going on. Look!' Puar excitedly dragged Oolong's attention to two mob guards bringing down another one of their bosses and plunging their hands into the fallen person's guts. Chunks of muscles and intestines flew into the air.

Oolong looked at this for a long moment. 'I mean… Puar, they're killing each other,' he said softly, watching as someone's neck was ripped open, spurting blood onto the floor. 'Shouldn't we stop this? This is horribly brutal…'

'Do you want to go down there and break them up?' Puar asked, incredulous.

'Uhh… no, I'd prefer not.'

'Then, like me, you're stuck up here.'

'Well, do we have to watch?'

'Just… turn around if you're so inclined,' Puar said dismissively. 'While you're doing that, I'll be watching the fruits of our labor.'

Oolong creased his brow, but nodded weakly and spun around away from the carnage. Over the next few minutes, Puar watched the bloodbath unfold eagerly, but upon seeing someone be drawn and quartered, her appetite for spectacle vanished. Mortified, she turned away from the scene as well.

0o0o0

Chaos had erupted across the Lookout in a startlingly short of time. While figures rose and fall all around him, Chiaotzu kept his attention dead-set on the smallest of Garlic Jr.'s henchman, who, since the beginning of the fight, had remained immobilized within a running position as a monument to Chiaotzu's psychic talents. Although this didn't prevent Ginger- a name Chiaotzu had learned from repeated threats over the past few minutes- from running his mouth.

'I can feel you slipping!' Ginger hissed, struggling against Chiaotzu's bonds like a worm trying to dig itself out of the dirt. 'You're weak! Otherwise, you wouldn't hide behind such a flimsy stalling action! Release me!'

It was annoying whenever an opponent was right- and, in this case, Chiaotzu agreed with Ginger. His psychic strength was lagging, weakening from such a sustained exertion over the past few minutes. There wasn't much he could do about that, though- Chiaotzu could clearly sense and see the Makyan advance in halts and spurts.

In retrospective, he was bewildered that he thought it would be a good idea to detain an opponent indefinitely, draining his own power in the process, without having some sort of plan in mind. Chiaotzu could have been fashioning a piercing weapon, or weakening the ground underneath Ginger, or even edging his captive towards the constant stream of _ki_ attacks Garlic Jr. was ferrying down to Yajirobe, whose expert display of defensive swordsmanship kept himself safe. But, instead, he was spending these precious moments grappling with his own confusion. What he was doing- willingly distracting himself in the middle of a fight- was against every teaching and lesson he had learned during his time under Shen, and yet he felt no pull to stop. There was something important to this hesitation, this blatant lack of consideration… floating just below the surface… _If only someone could-_

There. That was it. He had expected someone to help him. Someone who could have struck down Ginger while Chiaotzu had him immobilized. He, Chiaotzu realized, had expected Tien.

The thought chilled him. _I'm on my own._ Not a single person had even stopped and looked in on his fight, let alone tried to attack Ginger while he couldn't defend. Yajirobe was detained defending Korin, Suno was locked in her own battle, and Launch was simply missing.

What was it? Reluctance? Fear? Brazen confidence? Every single one of these emotions swirled within him, coalescing into one unyielding blob of feeling. A spool of something came undone in the center, however, prompting Chiaotzu to mentally lean forward and tug on it.

 _I wasn't there for them. When they needed me the most, I couldn't help them face Raditz due to my own weak stomach..._

Ginger lurched a foot closer, straining Chiaotzu's faltering psychic grip. He was feeling too much regret, too much self-loathing to muster a defense. With the last strands of his power falling away, Chiaotzu's strength failed and he toppled backward to the ground. The Makyan moved immediately, zooming to only a few feet away from him-

 _Phooom._ In the time it took for him to blink, Chiaotzu's opponent was planted face-first into the tiles, splattering blood and breaking limbs in a circle all around the center of the crater. Launch, who stood over the goon with one fist extended, gave a crisp nod to her friend and spun around- and her outline shimmered away.

Wide-eyed, Chiaotzu continued to stare off into space in front of him. _Too close._

0o0o0

Suno twirled, absorbing a hit to her forearms, before spinning again and catching another blow to her guard. Another hit, then another, and then she dodged backward and pressed herself to the ground, narrowly avoiding a wave of energy passing just a few inches over her head. On the way down, she lost her balance, and as she tilted to one-side like a child misplacing their feet, a foot slammed into her front, digging into her ribs and scoring her across the rough white tiles. Rips in her _gi_ and gashes in her side opened up, leaving a trail of torn, blood-stained white and blue fabric in her wake. She used her fist to dab at a spring of blood trickling out of the right corner of her mouth and stood, staring down her gloating opponent. This one had an infuriating smirk.

Her first true fight wasn't going as well as Suno would have liked. Too often in past fights she had either stood gaping on the sidelines or been so thoroughly and immediately outclassed by her opponent that she would be knocked out of the fight without so much as a chance to throw a punch. She was determined to change the narrative.

Her opponent lunged at her, but Suno sidestepped and pivoted, slamming a kick into the side of the Makyan's guard. Both of their bodies tensed and shook at the heavy impact, but Nicky was able to recover faster and zoomed forward, headbutting Suno in her chest and eliciting a gasp of pain from her. Nicky promptly delivered a few more palm strikes to her torso before leaning back and punting her body further away from him. Like before, Suno slid painfully across the tiles, weakly trying to grip them to slow her momentum.

'You know,' Nicky called out to her once she had slowed to a stop, 'you don't need to fight me. If you would just stay down, I'm more than happy to go pay a visit to your friend over there,' he said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder to Yajirobe, who remained in a defensive posture around Korin.

Shaking, Suno picked herself off the ground. Her red hair hung down past her head, adding to the disheveled and injured look of her ripped _gi_. 'Now…' she muttered angrily, raising her gaze to meet his. 'Why would I do that?'

'Well, I'd hit you less, for one.'

'I don't… care.' Suno stood, fending off her dizzy from the increasing number of times her opponent had smacked her around. Wheezing, she asked, 'Couldn't you attack him right now while I'm struggling to stay upright?'

'Oh, I could, but I'm not one to disrespect an opponent. I'll fight you until you stop. Whether you're conscious for that moment is up to you. Besides, Master Garlic is in no danger from your friend there.' Nicky's face coiled into an ugly grin. 'I can play with you at my leisure.'

Suno blearily shook her head, willing to clear her vision from any spots of pain. 'You'll… see what I can do.' Nicky simply bent lower to the ground, preparing to charge her-

 _Phooom._ Air blasted across the surface of the Lookout, prompting Nicky to turn his gaze towards its origin. 'What?...'

 _Phooom._ An arm appeared within Nicky's midsection, clean and without a trace of residue. It would have been almost dream-like if slick teal blood didn't gush out over in not a second later. Behind him, Launch grunted, frowned, and briefly made eye-contact with Suno. Before she could say anything or react in any way, Launch disappeared, leaving Ginger's unsupported and rapidly expiring body to flop forward to the ground.

0o0o0

Seven purple blasts screeched down from the heavens in a quick procession, each one aiming square at Yajirobe's sword. Seven purple blasts streaked and shuddered through the air, warbling with enough energy to wipe out a medium-sized town. But, in the end, seven purple blasts were cleaved into nothing, diced and dispersed into sparks by a freakishly sharp sword and an even freakier wielder.

Winded, Yajirobe made sure to keep the blade's edge pointed up, ready to slice through another blast. He had resolved, to the detriment of his body and his life, to stand guard over Korin for however long it took for the cat to recover. This promise was proving difficult to keep.

'Yajirobe…' Korin croaked from behind him, 'leave me…' The cat coughed and sputtered, caught in an expression of suffering from whatever damage he had done to his body before. Yajirobe wasn't fazed.

Hovering in the air above them, Garlic Jr. appeared to be in a similar state to Yajirobe- he took his time after launching his last blast at them to catch his breath. Stymied and incredibly frustrated, he began to run his mouth. 'You're really just going to stand there, aren't you? Guard over that pathetic being behind you? It's been a long since I've walked among earthlings… I seem to have forgotten how stubborn you can be!'

'Are you trying to convince me to stand down by insulting me?' Yajirobe replied, flashing a small smile. 'I'd recommend you try another tactic.'

Energy billowed into existence in one of Garlic Jr.'s palms. 'Gladly!'

 _Phoom._ While Yajirobe's sword carved through another blast, the sound of rushing air reached him from his right. _What?_

 _Phoom._ In an errant strike, Yajirobe tried swinging his sword wholly vertical, moving upwards, which put his blade directly against the approaching angle of the blast. The blade cut through it like it had done hundreds of time prior- but when Yajirobe's stroke finished and the sword coursed through and re-emerged out of the blast, he saw that two-thirds of the blade was _gone_ , consumed or broken by the last swing. Unable to cope with a sudden and crushing sense of loss, he let the hilt of the sword slip from his hands and clatter quietly to the floor.

'NOW!' Garlic Jr. boomed, making a show to disguise how tired he himself was. 'YOU DI-'

 _Phooom._ The boast was ruptured as a blur of yellow and blue rocketed up into the sky and smashed Garlic Jr. squarely across his body. The Makyan flailed in vain as his body tumbled down and pierced the dome of the main complex atop the Lookout, coming to a noisy and rumbling stop inside. Launch- who Yajirobe could now recognize as the assailant- remained suspended in the air. Her head turned to him. 'You two okay?'

Yajirobe gave a meek nod. As he did this, he spotted Chiaotzu and Suno trodding over to join him and Korin. By the look of it, their battles had taken a lot out of them.

'Ah… feels good to fight another day,' Chiaotzu remarked wryly.

Suno made a point of screwing her face in a sour manner. 'Feels good to have someone else fight your battles for you,' she expressed.

'It would have been a real _shame_ if she didn't swoop in and save you.'

'Just let me gripe.'

'Come out!' Launch taunted loudly towards the building. 'I'm not done punishing the thug who hurt my friends! In other words, you!' Energy started to crackle up and down her body. 'I'll blow up what remains of that building if I need to!'

From behind Yajirobe, Chiaotzu, and Suno on the ground, Korin loosed a fit of soft coughs. 'I'd prefer she didn't do that,' he said lamely, slowly pushing himself into a sitting position. 'And that she'd finish this fight before-' Korin's sight lodged on the something in the sky above them. Curious, the three of them turned and noted that, all around them, the sky began to turn a sickly shade of yellow, casting dark and concerning gloom all across the Lookout. Korin shook his head feebly. 'Too late…'

From within the complex, a dull rumbling began to grow. Launch narrowed her eyes and descended, electing to put herself back on solid ground. She touched down several feet from the yawning opening to the complex. 'You finally ready?' she shouted.

There was a pause and tension in the air, punctuated by the sound of something _very_ heavy moving from within the darkness. From Launch's position, she could see a single shaft of light flooding into the building through the hole she had created with Garlic Jr.'s body earlier. Slowly, a figure moved around the shaft, only giving Launch glimpses of a body. An incredibly _large_ body. _This… this isn't right…_

Similar to how he had first revealed himself to them, Garlic Jr. strode out of the darkness of the complex. What was once a diminutive, although deceptively tough opponent, was replaced by a hulking nightmare. Muscles were laid across his arms and legs like steel cables, wrapping taut against his frame. Veins latticed his body from head to toe, giving him an aura of monstrosity and overwhelming strength. But what startled Launch the most was his eyes; never before had she seen such clear-minded hatred from another human being.

Launch had but a second to all that she saw before Garlic Jr. shifted forwards, slamming into her wide-eyed body like a train and moving with her across the Lookout. The clump of fighters gathered in the middle ducked for cover as chaos once again erupted.

0o0o0

The castle proved to be a bit of a maze- it seemed that whoever had built the structure had prioritized an obtuse and unintuitive layout for the rooms and corridors, aiming to stymie any sort of coordinated hostile action towards its inhabitants. The experience was decidedly unnerving.

 _Would be better if I could pin down that weird energy… at least I'd know what I'd be walking into, then…_ The walls pressed down on her, amplifying her own sense of claustrophobia. _Being asked to run into a spooky swelling to save someone is stressful enough._ She crept around a corner and came face to face with an austere wooden door. _It would have been nice if Chi-Chi's dad could have told me_ _ **where**_ _she is-_

The door before her swung open on its hinges violently, propped against a stone wall by a fumbling and staggering Chi-Chi. Any clumsiness vanished, however, when her head tilted up and met Rayne's gaze and snarled. Without any warning, she charged.

'Woah!' Rayne exclaimed, bringing up a block with her arms- but Chi-Chi simply barrelled through her, throwing them to the ground in a limb-tangled mess. Rayne squirmed underneath Chi-Chi's body, forced to lurch her neck away from Chi-Chi's diving, frothing mouth. When she finally succeeded in gripping Chi-Chi by her arms and holding her a few feet off of her, the fangs jutting out of the Ox-Princess's mouth became freakily apparent. 'Aaah!' Rayne yelped, reflexively throwing Chi-Chi off of her similar to how someone would remove themselves of a spider. Chi-Chi rolled a few feet back, but undeterred, she quickly followed Rayne's lead and clambered back to a standing position.

'What's the matter with you?' Rayne asked testily. 'Where's Gohan, Chi-Chi?'

If Chi-Chi understood what Rayne had said, then she deliberately chose to give the most inhumane response possible- she puffed out her body like a predator and screeched, sending an awful chill down Rayne's spine. Then, like before, Chi-Chi abruptly charged her.

She was better prepared this time. Rayne nimbly stepped to the side, looping Chi-Chi's flailing and clawing arms behind her body and de facto restraining her. Whatever thing Chi-Chi had turned into howled and struggled, but it lacked either the strength or the coordination to get out of Rayne's grip. _Sorry, Chi-Chi…_ Rayne delivered a few quick jabs to Chi-Chi's back and head. Silence descended on them, and carefully, Rayne let Chi-Chi's unconscious body fall to the ground.

 _Too much physical exertion. Also... too… weird._ She shuddered. _Ugh!_ Rayne cast a sideways look towards the room where Chi-Chi had come from. A growing sense of… something... reached her. She recognized the strange _ki_ she had felt earlier was coming from that room. _Oh… oh, Kami. If Gohan's in there, and he's been affected by whatever had gotten into Chi-Chi… oh, Kami._

She lingered in the hallway, waiting to see if either the strange _ki_ would dissipate or if her own quaking would cease. When neither happened, she sighed, resigning herself to her duty, and charged into the room.

The sight that greeted her once she was through the doorway was breathtaking. All around a single crib was a white dome of energy, pure and powerful, which gave the faintest opacity to the room. Stepping closer, Rayne sighted Gohan within the middle of the crib, seemingly oblivious to everything that was happening around him. When Rayne nearly came into contact with the barrier, however, the baby's eyes fluttered opened and the barrier shrunk back into him like a string being pulled back through a small hole. The white lights thrown across the room vanished in the same motion.

Mutely, she stepped closer and took Gohan into her arms. He looked as content as any bubbling baby could be.

 _Kid… what are you?_

0o0o0

Retu rammed a quick palm-strike into the assailant's chest, flinging the woman off her feet into a pile of similarly-minded attackers. He paused, taking the chance to take stock of his surroundings, and noting that not a single more stark-raving-mad person was shambling towards him, he lowered his guard. His initial surprise at being attacked earlier by what appeared to be everyday farmers and villagers was soon replaced by a sense of competency. He hadn't had a good warm-up in awhile. He had honestly forgotten about the thrill that fighting and training gave him. Perhaps when Rayne came back he would proposition her for a match.

 _In the meantime, though?_ He laid a protective hand over the plane he presently stood watch over. _I can do this all day._

0o0o0

The gorge rumbled and rattled, shaking free any sort of precarious slabs or chunks of rocks that hadn't been disturbed by battles in ages past. Dull impacts sounded from the ground as more and more rocks from the gorge's side tumbled to the bottom of the riverbed, clobbering the once peaceful remains of a dead waterway. A single, final impact sounded- an entire section of one side of the gorge fell away, causing a massive cacophony of environmental destruction- and Nappa zoomed out from the resulting cloud of dust and dirt, his arms locked in a crossed position, as his right eye followed the energy readings coming from down below. He slowed his ascent as he came to the lip of the gorge and lowered himself down onto a perch overlooking the area below. Another explosion rang out- and the dust propelled up and past his body, draping him in a vague brown outline. When it cleared, Nappa could clearly make out the earthling Tien charge the saibaman only to be whiplashed backward by a punch to the jaw and receive a hammering of blows that smashed through any guard he tried to throw up. A few brief seconds later, a roundhouse kick slammed into Tien's abdomen and sent him sprawling across the ground. Squealing gleefully, the Saibaman turned its gaze towards the other earthling, Yamcha.

Nappa had to give them credit- they were giving it their all. He had to respect the weaklings for that. Because that's what they are, isn't it? Weak. Raditz was never a prolific contract fulfiller- year-in, year-out, he barely kept his head above water In all frankness, the fact that these two could defeat Raditz didn't say anything good about them. It was more a verdict of Raditz's weakness.

 _Perhaps…_ Perhaps Vegeta had seen something useful in these two earthlings. Something to be exploited. Their trick of hiding their power levels was useful, for one. If Nappa and Vegeta could disguise themselves and their powers at will, it would be simple to land on a target planet, mix in with the native population, and then strike for maximum damage. _Hmm..._

But there was no doubt in Nappa's mind that they would inevitably slip-up, say something out of turn, or utterly fail in completing one of their contracts. _And when that happens, I'll be there, ready to press my boot down on their throats…_

Another explosion punctuated his thoughts, causing him to refocus his attention on the action below. The saibaman crawled out of a cloud of dust, evidently surviving whatever _ki_ attack was sent its way.

 _Then again, I shouldn't get ahead of myself. Let's see if they survive this, first..._

It was a simple pleasure, but It had been a long time since Nappa had had the chance to try out a new recruit. _Hopefully, this goes better than the last one… speaking of, the corpse of that spiky-haired one should be around here somewhere..._

0o0o0

' _Yamcha, move!_ ' Tien telepathically hollered while propping himself off the ground by one arm, as a green outline appeared behind the scarred human fighter. Acting quickly, Yamcha spun and caught a kick with his right forearm, even as the saibaman's sharpened foot gouged across the surface of Yamcha's arm. Grimacing from the pain, Yamcha lashed up with a retaliatory knee strike, but the creature caught the attack effortlessly, sinking its straightened talons into his flesh. Unable to move or do anything else useful, Yamcha involuntary howled in pain as the Saibaman wrenched Yamcha's leg up and backward, flipping him and slamming him face-first into the ground. The taste of blood and dirt barely filtered up to his mind when he felt his body start to be dragged by one leg.

Nearby, Tien pushed himself to his feet, eyeing the encroaching Saibaman. Like a heavy sack, Yamcha was dragged on the ground behind the creature. Tien found himself mentally bemoaning their situation- the exact opposite of what he currently wanted to do. _What kind of monster is this?... This is insane!_ _The thing is toying with us!_ The speed of his heartbeat quickened- rage sank into his blood. _Fuck it!_ Acting out of anger and indignation, Tien brought his hands to his face and planted his feet in the ground. 'SOLAR FLARE!'

It was a quick move, and had even less preparation, but like always it was devastatingly effective. The saibaman stopped dead in its tracks and thrust its arms to his heads, screeching and stamping from the blaring visual pain. While it was debilitated, Tien rushed forward and batted the saibaman into one wall of the gorge. He then quickly turned his attention to the prone Yamcha at his feet. 'Are you alright?' he asked, extending a hand to the scarred human.

Yamcha clasped the hand and pulled, willing himself to his feet. 'I've been better,' he said bitterly, rubbing at his own eyes as the remaining visual residue from Tien's attack faded. Yamcha had seen and recognized Tien's Solar Flare, but he still hadn't acted quite quick enough to negate it entirely. 'Do we have a plan here, Tien? We can't defeat this thing at the rate this is going.'

Tien spared a glance at their "proctor" up above- he saw that Nappa, too, was to a lesser degree blinded judging by his hunched, protective posture. He muttered a curse under his breath. _Shouldn't have done that. What kind of idiot shows their ace-in-the-hole at the first possible opportunity?_

'Tien!?' Yamcha practically shouted in his ally's ear. 'What are you doing?'

Tien's gaze jumped back to Yamcha. 'We… we need to overpower it somehow. But we would need to pin it in place for a moment.'

'Yeah, and the chance of that-' Yamcha abruptly cut himself off and wrapped his arms around Tien. Together, they were pulled into the sky by Yamcha's flight, narrowing avoiding a barreling saibaman passing a few inches underneath their feet. Yamcha let go of Tien and flew higher into the air, aiming a blast down at the ground, but before he could do anything, the saibaman sped into the air and backhanded the human across the sky above Tien. With a sick grin, it then slowly turned its attention to Tien. It stared at him for a heartbeat.

Tien dodged. It was the most frantic and obscene combat maneuver he had ever performed in his life- he splayed his limbs as far as he could and pushed _ki_ out from his front, propelling him back-first towards one wall of the gorge and out of his attacker's path. The saibaman was moving far too quickly to adjust its target mid-flight, so with a growl it spun around, positioning its back to the ground, and started to decelerate in preparation to charge Tien again.

Something strange happened them. While Tien sucked air into his lungs and frantically tried to ready himself for the next bout, the air above the saibaman shifted and rippled like a stone plunging beneath the surface of a lake. The saibaman then suddenly and violently accelerated its downward speed, almost as if it had been hit with a crushing blow. Flailing, it was buried into the ground, leaving only half of its domish green head exposed to the air. Through hisses and snarls, it struggled to free itself from its entombment.

From that point on, things played out in slow-motion. Tien sent a single telepathic message to Yamcha: ' _Now!'_ He had no idea if Yamcha had recovered from the saibaman's last strike on him yet- but Tien doubted they would receive another chance like this again. Tien arranged his hands into a triangle in front of him.

'TRI-BEAM…' The latent energy within him bloomed into being, sparking and jolting with yellow streaks. With great care, he angled himself down to the ground.

'KAMEHAMEHA...' the words were distant, almost ephemeral, but Tien was certain he had not imagined them.

The saibaman had now clawed itself halfway out of the ground, choking and spitting out dirt in a rough spray around it. The light bearing down from above suddenly caught its attention, and with an expression of newly discovered fear plastered to its face, brought its arms up in a desperate blocking motion.

Sound and thunder returned to the gorge, louder than anything up to this point. Two blasts spiraled down from the sky, shooting towards a small green creature trapped at the bottom. A flash of light, then a release.

Tien and Yamcha were pushed by the explosion of the dual wings higher out of the gorge, coming nearly level with Nappa. By this point, the Saiyan had cleared his vision, and after tapping the scouter on his head a few times, he grimaced and growled. 'Lucky. You _pass_.'

They could sense as much. They'd won.

0o0o0

Launch's feet furrowed into the tiles, failing to catch on anything that could resist the force of the massive behemoth pressing down on her. Straining, she pulled on more of her power and propulsed herself from her feet, slowing down their momentum with her _ki_. They slowed, then stopped, as Garlic Jr,'s runaway plowing ground to a halt. Both of them froze in their positions, each one pushing against each other. Despite the massive size difference between them, Launch found herself holding her own against him. _Encouraging_

Less encouraging was that this insufferable troll was intent on screaming into her face.'THE ENTIRE WORLD WILL BE REMADE IN MY IMAGE!' Garlic Jr.'s roared, his voice a gross, deepened parody of what it was before. 'IT WILL ONLY BE A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE MY BLACK WATER MIST CORRUPTS THE PEOPLE OF THIS PLANET PERMANENTLY!'

 _Oh?_ Launch mentally tucked this bit of into away even as she tried forcing Garlic Jr.'s arms up and away from her. 'Permanent, huh?'

'YES! UNTIL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE FOOLS ARE DEAD!'

'Good to know,' Launch muttered, adjusting her footing. 'Too bad you won't live to see it, though!' She taunted, shifting her weight down and left. Garlic Jr. lost his balance and started to fall forward, impaling himself on Launch's carefully positioned knee-strike. He gasped, but then to Launch's surprise recovered quicker than he should have and grabbed her by that leg. She cried as he swung her by her leg like a flail and slammed her into the tiles beneath him, causing the foundation of the Lookout to shudder. Launch could only blink away her pain and surprise while she dimly felt her body be picked up again and elbow-dropped by Garlic Jr., driving any air out from her lungs and forcing her deeper into the ground. She coughed up a congealed clot of blood.

Garlic Jr.'s raised his hands, knotted into a grossly huge fist, high above his head. The intent in his eyes was clear-

A yellow blast smashed into the left side of his body, wrenching him off his feet and carrying him away and to the left of Launch. Not a second later did Suno appear above her and frantically help her to her feet. 'You okay?'

Shell-shocked and reeling from the intense amount of pain felt in such a short amount of time, Launch only numbly nod her head yes. This seemed to satisfy Suno, for the girl turned her gaze in the direction Garlic Jr. had tumbled off in.

'He's much stronger than he was before,' Suno said out loud. 'This willl be difficult...

'Yes,' someone replied from Launch's other side. Dimly, she recognized Chiaotzu floating and holding out one hand as if he had just shot a _ki_ blast. 'We'll have to take him together, wear him down-'

'He's more durable than anything else…' Launch interrupted. 'Any prolonged fight with him won't go our way. He's just too tough.'

'Then we'll overwhelm him-'

'I don't think you understand,' Launch said pointedly at Chiaotzu. 'Every single part of me _hurts_ after he hit me _twice_. We should not be in the business of getting hit again.'

'Well, do you have any other bright ideas?' Suno whined, annoyed by Launch's gloomy advice. 'We're not going to roll over and die by our own accord, you know.'

Launch took a hard look at Garlic Jr.'s across the Lookout, who was now standing and sneering at them twice as angrily as before. 'I have an idea.'

'Yeah?'

'Put your hands on my back.' Launch flexed, placing her hands diagonally and above her body. 'Combine our energy and I think we'll have enough force.'

Suno and Chiaotzu's faces registered skepticism, but lacking any better ideas, they both compiled and moved behind her. Launch felt two sets of hands press to her back soon thereafter, filling her body with a soothing, gentle pulse of energy.

Taking notice of what they were doing, Garlic Jr.'s began drawing back his arms, splaying his hands out in their direction. Wicked bolts of dark and light streaked all around his body, filling the air around him with a sickening hiss. 'I WAS GETTING TIRED OF YOU PESTS ANYWAY!' Darkened purple energy drawn from this miasma around him began rushing into his palms. 'AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO END YOUR PITIFUL RESISTANCE THAN TO DRAW ON THE HATRED AND SUFFERING OF THE PEOPLE OF THIS PLANET! AHAHA!'

Launch ignored him- instead, she focused her attention on the energy flowing through to her. Slowly, the energy in her palms began to coalesce into nearly identical spheres of _ki_ , only differentiated by their differing blue and yellow colors. Her hands then drew closer into her body, coming together at the base of the palms, just barely keeping the blue and yellow spheres from touching. If everything worked as she had practiced it, this would work. _Big "if", though..._

She lifted her gaze from her hands- and sighted Garlic's purple-black blast screaming across the Lookout at them. _Now or never!_ Like opening a spigot of water, the spheres blasted from her palms, dragging behind them longs trails of blue and yellow. As they traveled, however, the blasts swirled and pressed closer together, eventually mixing and binding together into one blast of alternating blue and yellow color. The head of the attack sharpened into a single white point and drilled into Garlic's opposing _ki_ blast. 'Two-Souls Beam!' Launch roared out.

The beams crashed into each other, struggling with the force of each other's attacks- and that fact was concerning to Launch, for she designed her attack to pierce anything it came into contact with. Energy was rushing out of her like crazy- any power advantage she might have had against Garlic Jr. was slipping away with every passing second. _It's not enough._ She shut her eyes, searching for any source of energy within her- and vaguely found the tether holding her to this world. She considered it, then thought about it, and then finally reached within her, grasping-

A third pair of hands touched Launch's back, flooding her with a burst of needed energy. The change was instantaneous- the blasts before her burgeoned in size and narrowed, taking a more refined shape. The clash between her attack and Garlic's broke- and a hurling sphere of white, blue, and yellow was flung towards the Makyan. The would-be guardian of the Earth balked, then grimaced, as the blast collided against his massive frame, pierced his chest fully, and rode him out past the edges of the Lookout. Several yards out, the energy impaling him finally lost cohesion and detonated, blanketing his body and the space around him in a deafening and blinding explosion. Then, it was over, like a star winking out of existence. Nothing remained of him.

Launch saw all of this with bated breath. When enough time had passed for her to accept the reality of the day, she fell to one knee and released a minute's worth of breath. The guiding hands pressed to her back slid off of her, giving her an odd sense of satisfaction. She half-turned her head backward, saw Chiaotzu, Suno, and Yajirobe panting on the ground similar to her, and a thought occurred to her. It felt good to be the hero in front, for a change.

* * *

A/N: Few things to note here. Garlic Jr. isn't immortal so there's no need to trap him in the Dead Zone or anything. Also, in terms of why he didn't use the Dead Zone, he wasn't being outclassed by any one particular fighter. Also, the idea of the Dead Zone is kind of dumb. So, yep, he dies a normal death.

Also, more power levels-

Garlic: 300, 400 beefed

Nicky: 250

Sansho:240

Ginger: 240

Yajirobe: 300

Suno: 225

Korin: 200

Chiaotzu: 230

Launch:350

 **Reviews:**

 **Transformers g1's-Prime:** I always figured Korin had a more important role than "strong cat who lives directly under the residence of Earth's god". It can't be a coincidence that his tower is directly underneath the Lookout, right?

 **DarkFireCat5241999:** Thank you for the review! Also, any Star Wars fic I'd write is _waaaaay_ out (if at all). I'd need to think a long time about the story I wanted to write.

 **Dragonblade101:** Thank you for the review! We'll see what pans out!

 **FiascoTurvo:** I'd agree the characters are kinda flat. In general, the first arc of this story ain't my best writing. It's gotten better since, though; I promise!

Also, in terms of DB plot, I didn't really stick to the actual storyline that much, so, yep...


	47. Picking up the Pieces

Outlanders

Chapter 47: Picking Up the Pieces

A/N: Heyo! Sorry this chapter is somewhat delayed! My semester is wrapping up and a lot of things are happening at once. Hope you enjoy!

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The Lookout was a mess. The day's battle had left the entire surface of it in disrepair, ranging from the splotches of blood that stained what was once perfectly white and clean tiles or the glaring cracks that spoke of the ruinous destruction of what was once a solemn, sacred place. The hole in the dome of the complex was glaring, and if Korin's hunch was right, would have to be fixed soon to prevent the entire roof from coming down. And this was ignoring the two still bodies that remained as quiet as death. Korin shook his head upon glancing at the two corpses, each one laid on opposite ends of the Lookout. _Poor fools. They followed Garlic Jr. into an oblivion of his own making._

But things were slowly becoming right again. Korin had deduced what that the purple smoke that had passed by his tower earlier was from Garlic's angry speech, and within a handful of minutes, he had retrieved the proper antidote to the venom currently coursing across the world. The Sacred Water had been just where he had remembered it, and after muttering a quiet thank you to a certain eternal attendant, Korin had dispersed it from the bottom of the Lookout. His _ki_ sense then told him what he could not see- the world was being soothed. _Mr. Popo would be proud._

A frown crossed Korin's features. Just thinking about the attendant made him sad. It was unclear what had happened to them, but judging from their continued absence even after the defeat of Garlic Jr., it seemed that they were gone. Which isn't to say they were dead. More like… they had been banished from this world, if Korin was right in how he understood the situation. While empowered as the Earth's Guardian, Garlic. Jr. must have dismissed Mr. Popo from his service or something along those lines.

Perhaps, if revived, Kami could return Mr. Popo to this world. Korin would like that.

Sighing, he turned his gaze towards the only other living souls still left on the Lookout. Chiaotzu, Suno, Yajirobe, and Launch all sat in a circle, each one either chatting with one another, taking stock of their injuries, or gazing pensively into the cloudless blue skies above. He figured it was time to rejoin them.

Launch saw him approach 'It's done?' She asked, bringing everyone else's attention to bear down on him.

Korin nodded solemnly. 'The Earth should be back to normal in a matter of hours… for the most part. I hope the devastation caused by the Black Water Mist was relatively mild.'

'So Garlic Jr. was being serious earlier when he said he was drawing on people's hatred?' Suno asked, wrinkling her nose. 'He had affected the people on Earth somehow?'

'I think so, but that's nothing to worry about now.'

A gentle wind blew across the area. It struck Korin how quiet everyone become now that he was near them. 'What?' he probed. 'What is it?'

'Korin,' Launch said carefully, as if broaching an uncomfortable topic, 'what exactly happened earlier? According to everyone else, you shot lightning out of your hands and nearly killed yourself. For what?'

'First off, "nearly killing myself" is an overstatement,' Korin replied. 'What I did was strenuous, not dangerous. Second, I was stripping Garlic Jr. of his Guardian powers.'

'You did what?'

'I severed his link to his position as Guardian of Earth. That, in turn, took away a lot of the advantages he would have enjoyed up here.' Korin cast a glance at the main complex building. 'This place is more powerful than you may think…'

'So… correct me if I'm not following correctly,' Chiaotzu spoke up, 'but are you saying that Garlic Jr. became the Guardian of Earth? How is that possible? Don't you have to be like Kami? Someone _good_ , that is?'

Korin's expression twisted. 'It's not that simple. As I understand it, Guardians are superior, if not distant figures to the people who live under their protection. Even the kindest ones require a certain degree of… detached purity from the realm they watch over. Sometimes those who are of a cruel heart can attain that unity of a soul through a strong conviction or desire. I assume that Garlic Jr. achieved such a thing.'

'So you're saying any person, good or bad, can become a Guardian? Do we have to worry about anyone else doing what Garlic Jr. did?' Suno asked. 'Could someone else make a run up here and do what he did?'

Korin shifted his gaze to her. 'Before all this, I would have said no. But now? I don't know. To be honest, I don't even know where Garlic Jr. came from. Long ago, his father had been defeated by Kami and the Guardian before him, and I had assumed that both father and son would have died in their defeat. Obviously, I was mistaken in thinking that.' Korin placed a finger to his chin. 'Though, now that I think about it, Garlic Jr. was probably able to do what he did because his father had briefly competed for the role of Guardian. Some sort of knowledge or experience was most likely passed on from his father to him. It enabled him to do what he did. Probably.'

There was a pause in the conversation as they soaked in what Korin had said. 'You know Korin,' Launch said dryly, 'you could have mentioned to us earlier that you knew so much about the ins-and-outs of everything,' she gestured the area around them, 'up here. Maybe we could have formed a plan before we went into battle with some sort of godly, magic-wielding type.'

Korin looked at her, amusement playing across his face. 'Weren't you the one who charged in without saying anything?'

Launch growled and purposely looked away from him. 'My point still stands,' she continued, intent on getting an answer to her question. 'Sharing this information beforehand would have helped.'

'Yes,' Korin said somewhat remorsefully, 'I regret not telling you all sooner. But you have to understand that what I've disclosed to you all is sensitive information. There's a reason why I, an eight-hundred-year-old cat, alone possesses this knowledge. The fewer people who know about this stuff, the better.'

'I have to say, if you ever wanted to a Guardian, you're nailing the distant and aloof part,' Launch said through slitted eyes.

Korin gave a low laugh, gently shaking his head for emphasis. 'Perhaps…'

Everyone more-or-less raised an eyebrow at him. 'Wait, are you being serious?' Chiaotzu asked.

'I'd be lying if I said a part of me _didn't_ want to succeed Kami as Guardian,' Korin admitted, 'and gain access to the knowledge and powers that position entails, but…'

'But what?' Chiaotzu asked.

'It's not the way of the Guardians,' Korin said flatly. 'The Guardian before Kami choose him for the position, as did the Guardian before that Guardian, and so on. There's a direct line reaching back centuries, maybe even millennia. I wouldn't want to be the one who breaks that chain. Besides,' Korin added with more levity, 'he's coming back, isn't he? Until then, I might be tempted to clean this place up and explore, but usurping his role would be another thing entirely.'

There was again a pause as everyone soaked up Korin's words. 'I never knew you were so wise.. or, I guess, knew so much,' Suno said bluntly. 'You just seemed like a cat to me.'

'I am a cat,' Korin replied cheerily. Something then flickered across his eyes. 'That reminds me- Launch, when you re-appeared earlier- where had you come from? I'm curious as to what Garlic Jr. did to you.'

She shrugged. 'I couldn't really tell you, to be honest. There was some sort of magic at work.'

'Could you describe it?'

Launch wrinkled her nose. 'Well… it was a very dynamic space. Things changed and shifted a lot. Though I guess, in the beginning, there was this great big blackness that hemmed me in on all sides and pushed me in a certain path. I had no other choice but to follow the path laid out in front of me- or, at least, that's how I felt. Eventually, I stepped through a gate and found myself within a room.'

'A room?...' Korin's brows furrowed. 'Could you describe it?'

Launch's sight flickered over to Chiaotzu for an instant before quickly returning to Korin. 'It was a scene from my past. A place I had visited before. I was the only person there… for a time. Then my two halves tried to… fight me?' She tapped a finger to her chin in thought. 'No, more like they tried to trouble me.'

'Two halves?' Suno chirped up, confused. Chiaotzu promptly nudged her to keep quiet.

'So it was some sort of spiritual, nondescript test?' Korin pressed, stroking his white-furred face. 'Hmm… then I think might have an idea of where Garlic Jr. may have sent you. There's a chamber on the Lookout called the Pendulum Room that has the power to temporally manipulate minds.'

'Meaning?'

'It can force you to relive memories,' Korin clarified, 'although, admittedly, it's quite an opaque room. A Guardian that is well acquainted with the room's nature can access any number of past, present, or future realities from any number of beings...'

A stillness dawned on the conversation. Korin belatedly realized that he was most likely unnecessarily confusing them. 'Regardless,' Korin said, shifting gears, 'anything else?'

Launch briefly considered whether to inform them about what she had done with the strange window she had encountered, but considering she couldn't make sense of what she had done herself, she decided she would keep the information to herself. She noted that it was an odd reaction to have around people she considered to be her friends, but her instincts rarely led her astray. Well, usually.

'Nothing else,' she answered after a few seconds spent thinking. 'I'm back here in one piece, and that's all that I care about.'

Korin gave a quick dip of his head in agreement. 'That takes care of that matter, then. Now then…' Korin swiveled to get a wider look of the Lookout. 'What shall I do now?'

'You sound like you want to stay up here,' Chiaotzu observed.

'Perhaps I do. This place has seen better days. It would be a crime if the Guardian returned to his home to find it a mess. And I haven't seen any signs of Mr. Popo, so… someone has to do it.'

'Wait-' Suno jumped in. '-is Mr. Popo not coming back?'

'I fear not.'

There was a sound akin to a frustrated grunt. Everyone turned and came face-to-face with a fuming Suno. 'That's not fair! He was supposed to train us! If we don't have him, then... ' her words lost the weight behind them, and she turned his head to one side. 'I'm sorry. It's just frustrating to hear that.'

Launch viewed Suno with an unreadable expression. Anyone who was paying attention could infer there was something deeper there than the surface level frustration she was showing. Launch set her face with a determined cut. 'Suno, would you like to train with me and Chiaotzu? We could always use another person to spar with, especially with Tien away.'

Something flashed across Suno's eyes; it was quick, but Launch had definitely seen it. 'I'd like that, actually,' Suno replied with a brightening face. 'As long as it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience for you two.'

Mischief ran across Launch's face like a mouse. 'Oh, trust me- you'll _earn_ your place. Isn't that right, Chiaotzu?'

He gave them a weird look like he wasn't exactly sure what Launch was getting at, but he nodded all the same. 'That's right.'

'I'm glad to hear that,' Korin spoke, turning back to them. 'You'll do well by each other.' Korin's expression then shifted, as if he was seeing something sad and unexpected for the first time. Without any warning, he pushed past them. 'Yajirobe?'

Korin drew attention to the fact that the swordsman had sat cross-legged on the tiles at some point in their conversation facing away from them. He looked meditative- which, for him, was as clear a red flag as any that something was wrong. He turned his body slightly towards them upon hearing his name be mentioned. 'My sword…' Yajirobe's gaze was fixed on the hilt and third of a blade gripped in his right hand. What was once a grand weapon now looked pitiful. 'It's ruined.'

'Better to lose a sword than an arm,' Suno said somewhat flippantly. Chiaotzu forcefully elbowed her to shut up. 'What?' she protested. 'It's true.'

'You don't understand,' Yajirobe said quietly, rotating the hilt and his hand around to view it from a variety of different angles. 'This was the only thing I had to remember my parents by. My father, specifically. He was a great warrior… and... ' Yajirobe cut himself off and shook his head. 'Now I have nothing left.' His body stilled.

For those who knew him, it was shocking to see Yajirobe this broken up about something before. Korin had lived with Yajirobe for _years_ and not once had he seen him like this. He, as did everyone else, wanted to say something to relieve the swordsman's aching heart, but again, Suno beat everyone to the verbal punch. Thankfully, she was more much tactful this time around.

'Not once, in the entire time I've known you, has that sword _nor_ been at your side,' Suno pointed out. 'Would you say that's true?'

The left side of his head faced her. 'It is.'

Suno smiled, as if she had just spotted a winning move. 'Then you've always been carrying around a piece of him with you, regardless of whether that sword is at your side or not. His honor, his _ideals_ , reside within you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have raised it at the ready whenever adversity came your way.' She hesitated for a moment. 'I saw you defending Korin earlier against Garlic Jr.'s attacks, armed with only your sword to defend yourself, even though you had no hope of counter-attacking. You stood your ground. I think your father would have been proud.'

Korin raised an eyebrow. He wasn't aware of this. 'Is this true, Yajirobe?'

'You should have seen it,' Chiaotzu said, respect radiating from his voice. 'While Suno and I were being pushed around by Garlic Jr.'s goons, he was harmlessly dismembering every _ki_ blast that was sent his way. He was like a statue.'

Yajirobe held up the sword hilt. 'But- the sword-'

'-Can be repaired, right?' Suno interrupted. 'It can be reforged into something stronger than before.' She crossed her arms out of confidence. 'There's no doubt in my mind.'

Yajirobe's gaze turned to each one of them in turn, examining the encouraging awe each one of them showed towards him. It was enough. 'I'll get around to it,' he spoke up, standing and patting himself free of dirt. 'but right now, I think I'm needed up here. Isn't that right, Korin?'

The cat gave him a sly smile. 'Only if you're so inclined.'

'We have a good thing going. Just because you're temporarily moving doesn't mean I'm not going to stick to you like a personal guard. Who else is going to eat all the Senzus you grow, anyway?'

Korin snorted, though his face turned serious a moment later. 'Speaking of, if any of you need some… I don't have any,' he said sheepishly. '

'It's fine,' Launch replied, making a show of rolling and cracking her back. 'We're stronger than we look-' her body abruptly froze, as did her face. 'Uh… yeah.' Very carefully, she maneuvered body back into a normal posture. 'We'll be fine.'

One of Korin's eyebrows arched, but he decided against pressing the matter further. 'Very well. If that's all, then you know the way out- the Power Pole should still be set-up to take you down.'

'You won't need it to get back down?'

'Well, I will, but-' Korin's speech dissipated, showcasing his concentrating face. A second later, Chiaotzu smiled. 'Ah. I didn't know you had that ability.'

'I'm a cat of many stripes.'

Launch flicked her gaze between Korin and Chiaotzu. 'What just happened?'

'Unimportant,' Korin said, turning from them and beckoning Yajirobe to follow. 'We'll keep in touch!' He called over his shoulder and waved. 'Until then, stay safe!'

They waved back.

0o0o0

Things had so suddenly and abruptly returned to normal that Rayne was inclined to believe she had just emerged from an unprecedented and intractable fever dream. But, to her dismay, the bruises and wounds on her best friend were all too real, as was the gaping hole in the castle's outside walls. It was a far cry from the stress-free environment she had imagined Fire Mountain to be. Though it wasn't all bad. At least Chi-Chi's fangs were gone.

Gohan cooed adorably in Rayne's lap. As she lifted the baby boy into the air and bounced the giggling tyke like a hot potato, she realized things could be worse.

Before long she was laughing alongside Gohan, finding herself in love with every little sound and burble he made. Was this what it was going to be like raising her own kid? Suddenly, she felt a lot less lonely. She stood and spun the kid around, happily seeking a way to keep the infectious giggling rolling.

Which was a bad idea. When Rayne spun Gohan around so that he was oriented facing away from her, she nearly choked upon seeing a tiny stump pointing out just below his waist. It was brown. It was hairy. It was wiggling ever-so-slightly.

Her eyes became a pure spread of white. _Oh. Right._

0o0o0

Numbly, Oolong and Puar slinked out of the warehouse, willing every sense they possessed to close-up and wither while they passed across scores of dead and mutilated bodies. It had been a bloodbath. One that was so bad that not a single person had outlived it. Even now, they could hear their feet quietly slapping the viscous liquid that coated the floor.

'Keep walking,' Puar spoke, forcing herself to be brave. Because that was what they were doing, right? Walking amidst the ruin of a battle was brave. Not in the risking-your-own-life variety, but brave nonetheless. By Kami, Puar hoped she was being brave.

Oolong seemed content to listen but not speak- the steady sound of movement tailed her wherever she went, giving a special sense of comfort in the understandably distressing situation she found herself in. Accomplices, Puar reflected, were underrated.

When they finally exited from a back entrance, emerging into a beautifully sunny and warm day, they both exhaled and panted, unaware up until that point that both of them had been clenching their breath. After this, they exchanged a glance, each one happy to be removed from such a grizzly scene. Their relief was not present on their faces yet, however- there was still one more thing that needed to be done. Fumbling with something on his person, Oolong eventually succeeded in producing a polished silver lighter. He weighed it in his hands; it was clammy with his own sweat. A second passed before he looked at Puar, who gave a nod to her head. In response, Oolong nodded back, flipped the lighter open, and lit it. He then hurled the nascent flame at a stack of cardboard and kindling arranged in a pile at the base of the warehouse. The flame spun through the air, shuddering against the wind and air, before landing amidst the pile and instantaneously sparking the whole gasoline-soaked pile into flames. With a frightening eagerness, the fire leaped and clawed upwards, snaking its way up the side of the warehouse.

'Our job is done,' Puar announced to the growing flames. 'May not a single more person like us be treated as a tool ever again.'

'Damn right.'

0o0o0

Bulma opened her eyes. A dull grey ceiling was the first sense to greet her, followed by the dull sound of whirring and the sensation of comfortable fabric beneath her. She was in a bed.

As she would have done in any other _normal_ circumstance, Bulma tried sitting up. Bad idea. Her cheeks turned red with exertion but despite her best efforts, she couldn't even lift a finger. _What the hell!?_ It was almost as if she was experiencing sleep paralysis- but everything was far too distinct, too vivid, for her to have been in an impaired state of mind. More importantly, she inexplicably felt a physical command over her body, which to her knowledge wasn't something someone usually experienced during sleep paralysis. She was just having trouble _moving_. It was almost as if some sort of pressure, maybe force, was pushing down on her-

'I wouldn't try to move any further, if I were you,' a voice reached her from some far corner of the room. It was unmistakably masculine. 'Your body hasn't and will not adapt to this planet's gravity for some time, if what the doctors have told me is true. You'd be best served by relaxing.'

Her mind had been halfway there to that conclusion before this busybody had interrupted her. Annoying. She didn't need to be told basic facts about her situation. She said as much. 'Were you trying to be perceptive?' she said snarkily. 'I could have figured out as much by myself.'

The other person in the room didn't respond. Instead, the steady sound of boots traipsing across a metal floor reached Bulma's ears, setting her ill at ease. It wasn't ideal that she couldn't twist her neck to the left or right- her head was in some sort of brace to prevent her from moving her head. While she was struggling against this set-up, a shadow passed over her.

Her breath caught. It was the Saiyan she had seen as a projection- the comparatively shorter one with an impressively vertical style to their hair and a prominent widow's peak. In person, she sensed what she had suspected- there was an aura of strength and fear that tailed the man wherever he went. When he spoke, his face maintained a certain degree of impassivity. 'You would bite the hand that feeds you? The hand that keeps you _alive?_ ' he asked in a low voice.

She hadn't wanted to show such obvious fear, but she gulped. It seemed that she had chosen the wrong person to try and throw off guard with her verbal aggressiveness.

A thin smile formed on his lips. 'Nevermind. I see it in your eyes. You understand.'

'I understand that we're all still alive because of you,' Bulma proffered. 'Your other Saiyan friend didn't seem very keen on keeping us alive.' She paused, studying his face. He seemed… entertained? Bulma couldn't quite pin down the expression on his face. Regardless, she decided to press forward. 'You recognized that we have worth. That we can help you.'

'Hah! You remain astute. Perhaps we should restart,' he said, letting the smile rest on his face. 'I am Vegeta- the other Saiyan is my subordinate, Nappa. Before we speak of anything else, I want you to answer some questions of mine.'

'What kind of questions?' Bulma struggled again against the brace holding her head in place. Her eyes flitted back-and-forth across her field of vision. 'And where are my friends?'

Vegeta simply stared at her. 'You'd like to know, wouldn't you? Would it satisfy you to hear that they're far away from here, fighting for their lives?'

'No, it wouldn't!' She intensified her struggle- even though she was quickly exhausting herself. 'Where are my friends? What's going on!?'

'Tsk. Answer my questions first, and _maybe_ I'll answer yours.'

'No!'

Vegeta's eyebrows drew into a thick line. 'What?'

Bulma's face was a mask of rage, but when the words tumbled out of her mouth, there were controlled and punctual. 'If you're trying to threaten me, don't try it! Either my friends are dead or dying, or they've overcome whatever stupid task or fight you've thrust on them! In both cases, there's no reason for me to tell you anything!' Even as Vegeta's smile threateningly melted back into his face, Bulma maintained her furious gaze at him. 'I've dealt with people like you before! You'll kill my friends no matter what I tell you if it suits you! I'd rather _die_ than help you!'

Vegeta was confused. Normally, people didn't grow _bolder_ the farther a conversation with him wore on. Perhaps she had underestimated his willingness to get what he wanted. But he wasn't a torturer, though sometimes the situation had demanded it, and he also knew the limits of his authority. Inflicting any serious harm on any person stationed at one of _his_ outposts would invariably draw the attention of any officials higher up in the army. And Vegeta wanted to prevent any possible reason for any outside meddlers to come to this planet. There was a reason he had chosen to bring the earthlings to such a far-off outpost, after all.

Perhaps he ought to change tactics. 'If I so choose, I could kill you. No repercussions would fall upon me. Your death on a backwater planet on the edge of the galaxy would go unnoticed. Do you understand? You're in no position to deny my wishes.' The smile returned to his face. 'How would your friends feel if they knew you were being so reckless with your own life?'

He had expected her to react rationally to a death threat. She had not. 'Fuck you!' she spat, spraying spit into his face. 'Get out of my room!' Unmoved, Vegeta took a step back from the bed and ran his white-gloved hand across his face. Rage flickered on his face like a dying star.

'I'll give you one more chance to spare yourself a horrible death,' he growled, his face taught with repressed anger. 'I want to know what happened to Raditz and his brother. And I want to know why you three earthlings barreled into space not a few weeks after Raditz landed on Earth.'

A pause. 'If you weren't so interested in intimidating me,' Bulma seethed, though her face appeared less angry than just a few moments before, 'you'd remember that we've already told you- Raditz and his brother are dead. We killed them.'

'Forgive me if I don't believe you. And you didn't answer my second question.'

It was a reasonable question to ask; Bulma would have probably sought the same information if she was in his shoes. That kind of thinking didn't make it easier to come up with a plausible lie on the spot, however. 'Frankly,' she said with as much confidence she could muster, 'that's none of your business.'

Vegeta's anger-laced expression didn't change, nor did he respond. He seemed content to have his dull black irises examine her. Abruptly, the rage dropped from his face. 'Bulma, was it?'

Her heart clenched. Being addressed on a first name basis by such a terrible person was a cause for alarm. 'Yes?'

'I think you misunderstood the terms of our arrangement when you and your friends were taken to this planet.'

'I thought we had agreed on a deal,' Bulma replied, somewhat confused. 'We'd work for you, fulfill contracts in whatever way Raditz was doing-'

'You don't understand. To me, Raditz was a _bug_ ,' Vegeta thundered. 'He was, essentially, a slave. He told me every miserable thing he ever learned, down to every pitiful fact about your planet. He told me Kakarot was a shell of himself, ruined by the planet he was tasked with destroying. He told me every despicable detail about you and your friends when he first arrived on Earth. Do you know why he told me these things, Bulma?'

Bulma made a face of fear- but, internally, her mind was whirring. _What the hell is he talking about? Was Raditz in constant communication with this guy?_ 'I don't,' she spoke candidly.

'He told me these things because he couldn't be trusted to make his own decisions. For that,' Vegeta held up one hand and jabbed a thumb at himself, 'he needed me. Do you understand? My subordinates _do not_ withhold information from me. They're not smart enough to have that luxury.'

'You think I'm not smart?' The words had rushed out of Bulma's mouth without even a moment spent considering them. This guy had a way of getting under her skin.

Vegeta laughed in his own harsh way. 'Perhaps not. I usually assume the worst of those who work under me.' His gaze settled on her again. 'But even the smart ones need to fess up about what they know.'

This was getting weird. 'Is this a requisite for working for you? You need to know everything?'

'Of course. And, to be honest, if you're not going to work for me, I have no need for you and your friends. So consider full clemency a requisite for _life._ '

Bulma paused to process. There were some things she could never, _ever_ , tell someone like Vegeta about, chief among them the potential existence of the Namekian dragon balls. She didn't even want to think about what a person as sick as him would wish for. And yet, she wanted to live- no, she _needed_ to live. They had to get to Namek somehow. And they couldn't do that if they were dead. Vegeta looming over her bed, while she was trapped in place by this planet's gravity- it was such a horrible position to be in… If… only…

'Can I discuss this with my friends first?' Bulma asked, breaking her silence. 'After all, I'm won't be fulfilling any contracts. I don't fight.'

He eyed her body. 'I'd assumed as much. What do your pitiful friends have to do with this?'

'It's would be their decision to make if they wanted to work with you, not mine. Regardless of what I say now, they might decide to turn down your offer. It wouldn't be fair to them to speak on their behalf.'

Vegeta scoffed. 'You think I care about fairness? What's to stop me from isolating you from them until I learn what I want to know?'

'I think I made myself very clear earlier,' Bulma said, a harshness to her tone. 'I'd die before I reveal any information I don't want to.'

'That may be true,' Vegeta mused, as if he was playing out that event in his head. 'You know what? It doesn't matter if you have your friends to consult. Even if you're bolstered by their company, you'll soon realize that it's better to cooperate with me than to spite me. Your ship was destroyed, and judging by how you and your friends stumbled in earlier, you weren't able to save anything from it before that _unfortunate_ event. Whatever goal you may have at the moment has no hope of being completed while you're stuck on this planet. Or am I wrong?'

He dared her to refute him. With every inch of his face, he dared her. She could not; purposefully, she threw her gaze to one corner of the ceiling.

Vegeta straightened. 'As I thought. Then,' he turned and began padding away from her bed. 'I await your forthcoming cooperation.' A few heartbeats later, and Bulma was alone in the room.

To her, everything felt too raw, too open. She would have liked to pull a heavy sheet over this entire wretched mess.

0o0o0

'So… that's the state of things.' Retu finished. Throughout his entire briefing he had progressively sagged downwards in his chair- he hated being the bearer of bad news. But someone had to step up- and as long as Mr. and Mrs. Briefs were riven with hand-wringing fear over their daughter, that someone had to be him.

Gathered before him, Chiaotzu, Launch, Suno, Chi-Chi, and Rayne stood in various anxious poses, broadcasting their own unhappiness at the situation. Outwardly, Launch looked to be the most upset. 'How do you lose contact with a ship?' she demanded, giving a voice to her doubt. 'I was there when Mr. Popo told us, verbatim, that Kami's ship wasn't built to fail. And now you're telling me that something's failed. The ship that was supposed to be the lifeboat for an entire _species_ is broken.' She shook her head as if she was trying to shake off her own anger. 'I can't believe this.'

'We don't know if anything broke,' Retu replied. 'All we know is that there's been no contact.'

'Were they close to Namek?' Chi-Chi asked. To everyone else present, she was noticeably baby-less- she hadn't wanted to take Gohan on the long trip to Capsule Corp., so she had left him with her father at Fire Mountain. 'Perhaps they had landed, and then maybe the… well, maybe something with the planet disrupts the signal…'

Retu looked at Chi-Chi sadly. 'Unfortunately, they were still two weeks away from Namek when we lost contact. There's no way they reached their destination.'

'What about something in space?' Chiaotzu speculated. 'Could they have passed through a nebula and only temporarily lost contact?'

'Could they have been attacked?' Rayne asked, her tone unnaturally even.

'Look,' Retu said, letting out a long sigh. 'I'm just stating the facts. It's been over a month since they've left the Earth, and even _if_ the ship is kaput, they should have contacted us with the other tech they brought with them. But there's been _nothing_. No messages, no broadcasts, no signals, not even a random beep. For weeks, it's been dead silent. It's like they disappeared.'

'This plan supposed to be our failsafe,' Rayne said bitingly. 'It was supposed to be _foolproof._ ' Her voice began to grow louder with bottled-up despair. 'I thought everything was going to go back to normal! I thought-' her voice caught, her eyes turned away, and Chi-Chi came to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 'I had _hope_ ,' Rayne said, fighting through her own sniffling. 'Now you're telling me all that dreaming was for nothing?'

Retu wanted to say something, _anything_ , that would have soothed Rayne's own anguish, but how was he supposed to say with absolute certainty that things would go back to normal? He had as little information as she did. He willed himself to speak, his mouth and throat hummed and squirmed- but nothing came out. He hung his head in defeat.

'We all knew the risks,' Chiaotzu said, using the distance in his tone to insulate himself from the rolling tide of emotions washing over them. ' _They_ knew the risks. And they would be angry to find out we thought so little of them.' His eyes swept across the room, grabbing hold of everyone present. 'Yamcha and Tien are the strongest of us, and Bulma is the craftiest person I know. Together, there isn't a whole lot that can trouble them. We shouldn't be so quick to doubt them.'

Rayne wasn't very affected by this thought. Chi-Chi stepped over and silently embraced her, letting her press her head into her neck.

'That's all well and good,' Suno said, breaking her own silence, 'but surely we have to do something, right?' Her face was drawn into a determined expression. 'They could be in trouble. If that's the case, then I'd have no qualms about launching and leading a rescue mission.'

'Well,' Retu started unsteadily, 'from what I understand, Mr. Briefs is in the process of prototyping another ship. We also have the star coordinates for Namek downloaded from Kami's ship. We could send another ship.'

'But if we did that, who's to say we won't run into the same exact problem Bulma, Yamcha, and Tien did?' Launch asked, venting her own pessimism. 'We'd be sending another crew out into who knows what. We'd be begetting even _more_ misfortune.'

'Well, certainly it's' better than doing nothing!' Suno argued. 'There's a real chance they're helpless right now, waiting for some sort of rescue-'

'We know nothing about what happened to them!' Launch shot back. 'How are we supposed to help them if we don't know where they are, or what condition they're in-'

'Listen,' Retu broke into their spat. 'We don't know what happened to the ship. We simply don't know anything about what has, is, and will happen. The ship could be fine. The ship could be destroyed. We're totally in the dark. And, beyond that, we know nothing about what condition everyone is in.'

Warily, he glanced around the room. Everyone seemed to be listening to him. He sighed before continuing. 'There are options available to us, but without knowing what we're going to run into, I think it'd be best if we held off on launching another rescue ship, if only for a few weeks, so we can think through our options.'

'And if they need our help right now?' Chi-Chi asked, her tone sad and accusatory all at once. 'And we find out later that we could have saved them?'

'Then we wouldn't be able to reach them in time,' Retu said sadly. 'Mr. Brief's ship is still a prototype. Would you want to ride an uncertified spacecraft into the deep space on the _chance_ someone may be in danger?'

Chi-Chi looked like she was going to argue this point, but in the end she shut her mouth and frowned.

Retu took another survey on the room. Sad, angry, disappointed- they were all painted in different shades of humanity, each person reacting in a way resonant with their own soul. it would have been beautiful in its own way if it also wasn't so crushing. 'We have to wait. Just a few weeks. Then, when we've thought through our options, we make our move. Until then, we have to keep our faith in them alive.'

Empty stares were the only reply he got. He couldn't blame them. No-one ever likes the messenger with bad news.

0o0o0

Bulma hadn't been left alone for long. A few hours of quiet consideration of Vegeta's parting words gave way to a reunion with Yamcha and Tien. It looked like they had been in a fight.

'What happened?' she asked, voicing her concern.

They looked too weak to stand. There was a scraping of metal on metal, followed by Tien and Yamcha appeared in chairs flanking her bed from either side. 'We passed,' Tien said with a joyless smile.

Yamcha was much more direct. 'We defeated some green monster that the big Saiyan, Nappa, had us fight.' He frowned. 'It was close.'

'And insane. What kind of army tests out new recruits by having their fight for their lives?'

Bulma's eyes moved back and forth between them. She couldn't put her relief into words. That wasn't true of her disquiet, however. 'I got a better understanding of our situation while you two were gone. Things are worse than we thought.'

Yamcha's frown deepened. 'What's going on?'

She explained to them the situation- what Vegeta had told her at virtual gunpoint. Either they worked for him as tools in the fullest sense of the word, or they didn't have a place here- or anywhere in the galaxy alive, for that matter.

At the end of her account, Tien raised his hands and clenched them into fists. 'But we can't tell him about where we're going! We'd be putting the entire Namekian race in danger!'

'I know,' Bulma said softly. 'We can't sell them out, even if it buys us our lives. It'd just end up dooming them along with us.'

Yamcha's face was unreadable for a second, though he kept his mouth clamped shut. 'We have to lie. We have no other choice.'

Tien threw a look at Yamcha. 'And you think he's going to believe that, based on how forthcoming we've been in the past? He'll see right through us.'

'Do you have any better ideas?' Yamcha said, nastiness creeping into his voice.

'Actually,' Bulma said, interrupting them, 'Vegeta made a slip in our conversation that could help us in fashioning a lie. He revealed that Raditz had been in contact with him while he was on Earth. He was fully aware that Kakarot had withdrawn from fighting us before he teamed up with Raditz.'

'Yeah? And how does that help us?' Yamcha asked, unconvinced of the relevance of this information.

'We can manipulate that pipeline of information. If we frame our goal or destination as related to something Raditz must have known about on Earth, then it makes the lie much more believable to Vegeta. It feeds into his own sense of superiority if it confirms or supports something he already knows.' Bulma made a sound of self-approval. 'Smart types like to be flattered that way. Trust me- I would know.'

'I see…' Tien rubbed his chin with his knuckles. 'We just need to concoct a story that he would believe based on what he knows about us and the Earth. Easier said than done…'

'We have time,' Bulma reassured them. 'If we can't think of a compelling story in the next thirty minutes, then I would be shocked. Just a matter of picking the right details and putting them in their proper places.'

'And if this works?' Yamcha asked. 'What, are we supposed to stick around here and work with them for the foreseeable future? What's the plan?'

'The plan?' A wicked smile enveloped Bulma's face from ear-to-ear. 'We play along until I figure out where Namek is. Then we nab a ship and make a break for it, consequences be damned.' A look of concern surfaced on her face. 'You two need to hold on for as long as you can. Anything you can do to buy me more time. Can you do that?'

They looked at each other, then nodded. Both of them gave her determined looks. 'We'll give it our all,' Tien said for both of them. 'For however long we can stall for you.'

In that moment, Bulma was reminded of why these two had accompanied her on a wild and crazy journey into unknown space. They were strong- but they were also dedicated to the mission. Long odds hadn't stopped them before. This time would be no different.

Together, they would get through this.

0o0o0

Months. Piccolo, despite his best efforts, hadn't been able to keep a totally accurate tally of how much time had passed while they ran a seemingly never-ending gauntlet. Instead, he was reduced to a frustratingly undescriptive unit of measurement. _Months._ It was sickening to think he had let a brief lapse in his concentration, driven by one of Krillin's horrible attempts at conversation, derail his meticulous counting. He had lost the one tether he had to perspective- the knowledge that this endless run was, contrary to how he felt, finite, and that there was a destination at the end. But now, he was lost. He had been reduced to a single, unquantifiable metric. _Months._

He was ready to throttle someone's neck. Perhaps they should have stopped at that palace. _Blasted, restless, all these thoughts, this desire to crush bones into dust, forestalled and forgotten by an endless path and an ever longer patience-_

'Hey!' Krillin yelped at his side, causing Piccolo to halt mid-step.

He rounded on his traveling companion. 'What?' he growled.

Krillin's face was blank. His eyes were focused on something in the distance. Slowly, the earthling's mouth curled into a smile. 'You won't believe it.'

There was a brief flutter of hope in Piccolo's chest, but he was quick to stomp this feeling into the ground. There was no joy to be found on this trip; no relieve. Just an endless, taunting path-

'Really,' Krillin prodded Piccolo into turning around, 'you should take a look.'

He turned without much hope. His jaw slackened a few moments later. 'It's… I can't believe it…' Piccolo mumbled. They had reached the end. Over the next mile or so, the path tapered off into a thin point and ended, looking much like a tail. Much like… the end of a snake, Piccolo realized. For the briefest moment mania seized him, filling his head with grandiose and ambitious dreams- but then Piccolo noted that he could see nothing else beyond the end of the path, except for more insufferable yellow clouds reaching to the far-off horizon. _Is this some sort of cruel joke? Did we run all the way out here to be greeted by more nothingness?_

An elbow nudged him in the side of his torso. 'Hey,' Krillin exclaimed, pointing one finger skywards. 'Up there!'

Piccolo titled his head up.

A planet. Somewhat far away, but a planet nonetheless. A _place._ There was no doubt in Piccolo's mind- every part of his soul roared with vindication- this was North Kai's planet. Up there awaited every strength and ability he had yet to master, every part of his potential that he did not know, all clamoring to be used.

A long exhale escaped from Piccolo's mouth. He took a moment to appreciate the significance of their accomplishment. If anyone was looking directly into his eyes at that moment, they would have said they were sparkling.

Casually, the demon extended his right horizontally to his body, eliciting a strange look from Krillin. 'Huh?' the earthling muttered.

Piccolo's arm then wrenched down and back, slamming an elbow into Krillin's midsection. Krillin was far too shocked and staggered from the sudden heavy blow to keep his feet on the ground- his momentum took him back and over the edge of the path and disappeared beneath a patina of fluffy yellow clouds.

Without wasting a second, Piccolo blasted off of Snake Way, hurtling himself towards the far-off planet in the distance. _Finally! Time to surpass that clown, once and for all!_

* * *

A/N: I'll be honest- I hadn't thought of that twist until the exact moment I wrote it. But I love it.

Aside from that, I'm curious if this chapter read any different from the previous ones. I've fallen in love with a certain fanfic over the past week and I'm wondering if it's coming off in my writing.

 **Reviews** :

 **Transformers g1's-Prime:** Thank you for the review! Glad to hear you enjoyed Launch getting the spotlight! She's definitely one of my more enjoyable characters to write.

 **LWexe:** Between you and me, I'd keep an eye on their relationship.


	48. The Lay of the Land

Outlanders

Chapter 48: The Lay of the Land

* * *

Vegeta's hand came to rest on the edge of his battle pod. To his touch it felt brittle, and he knew it was more worn, slower, and less comfortable than any of the newer models he could request, but he still appreciated it for what it was, what it represented. It was a tether to his past, replete with all the scratches, cuts, scuffs, and dents that could never really be fully smoothed over without replacing it entirely, but those scars made it what it was. This was the ship that carried him into battle and brought hellfire on the unsuspecting victims of whatever planet he was tasked to, as it was the ship that brought him back to his port of rest after every bone-crushing battle without fail. He wouldn't trade it for any luxury or asset in the galaxy. It was, in a word, priceless. 'That is what they told me, Nappa,' Vegeta finally spoke, pulling his mind back to the present matter at hand. 'They claim that, when we apprehended them, they were hunting down Raditz's allies.'

Behind him, situated just near the edges of the landing pad, Nappa shifted on his feet. 'And they expect us to believe that?' Nappa asked, clearly amused. 'Do they think we're that dense?'

'We shouldn't be so quick to dismiss their theory. Raditz could have been planning on betraying us,' Vegeta cautioned, 'even if he apparently died before he could do so.' He half-turned his head to Nappa. 'There's been no more launches from Earth, correct?'

'None. But you have to admit, Vegeta, that their story is far too convenient for them. It puts their goals directly in-line with ours.' At his side, Nappa clenched his hand into a fist. 'If Raditz had actually betrayed us, we would have hunted that traitor down to the ends of the galaxy. They knew this. So it just so happens that they were doing our job for us? Rooting out whoever was pulling his strings? I don't buy it.'

'I'm under no illusions that they're holding information from us,' Vegeta stated in a low voice. 'But the fact remains that they're offering this lie even with the knowledge that we could end their lives without so much as a wave of our hands. _That_ piques my interest- what would motivate them to go to such lengths to protect what they know?'

'There's a way to find out.' Nappa's mouth curved in a predatory smile. 'I could always go to Earth and knock around some heads.'

'It's certainly an idea,' Vegeta murmured. 'There's something that happened between them and Raditz that they aren't telling us. But-', Vegeta now fully turned to Nappa, 'we'll need to wait to examine the option further, among others, until after I return from Arcosia.'

Upon hearing this, Nappa's face immediately drew into a frown. 'You're meeting him on Arcosia? Not on his ship?'

'No,' Vegeta said, looking over his shoulder at Nappa and exhaling. 'Not on his ship.'

The wind pushed across the landing pad, scattering dust and dirt, and seized their conversation. Through slitted eyes, Nappa stared at Vegeta, curled his right hand into a fist, and diagonally laid it across his own chest. 'I'll be awaiting your return, my Prince.'

The significance of the gesture was not lost on Vegeta. He nodded in acknowledgment and climbed into his ship. With the hiss of its hydraulics, the pod hatch began swinging down, slowly removing Nappa from his vision. As the craft powered up around him, and the computer buzzed and blinked to process its pre-imputed destination, the Prince of Saiyans lapsed into reflection once more.

He hoped this wouldn't be the last trip his ship would make.

0o0o0

Piccolo could taste it. His vision narrowed, his pulse quickened, his body collectively clenched in anticipation as the air around him zoomed past him with scant appreciation for this moment. Every emotion imaginable was at the tips of his fingers, waiting for the proper moment to be expressed. Exhilaration was what currently motivated him-what sent him hurtling forward towards some far-off, quaint-looking planet. It was an undeniable rush to finally rush towards what had been his goal, his sole reason to trudge on in what Piccolo oscillated in believing was the universe's equivalent of purgatory, steadily grow larger in front of him. On that planet awaited a true master, someone who trains only the most worthy deceased beings in the galaxy. This North Kai would help him, without-

 _Uh._ Would there be any consequences for shoving that insufferable human off the edge of the path? Would North Kai even be aware of such a fact? Perhaps he ought to think of a lie. _"Krillin, ultimately, gave up. He must be miles and miles behind us now…"_ _That'll do._

Satisfied, Piccolo refocused his attention on the planet. It seemed that he had judged the size of the planet wrong- it was growing in his visual field much faster than he would have expected. _No matter._ He abruptly clamped on his _ki_ , depriving his flight of any more energy- but, inexplicably, he didn't slow down. Alarmingly., Piccolo noted that he was actually _speeding_ up as he approached the planet. His limbs thrust to all sides, Piccolo hurriedly focused his energy to his front, working to slow down his momentum.

 _Uh…_ He wasn't slowing down. Contrary to what he expected, he continued to move _very_ quickly. _Uh!-_

As ungracefully as any being in the known universe could have managed, complete with his limbs desperately flailing in every direction around him, Piccolo slammed into the planet face-first, throwing up a small spout of dirt in a circular pattern. As it turns out, the planet was _much_ smaller than he had thought it to be.

Pain, then shame held him in this position for several seconds. It hadn't seriously _hurt_ to collide with an asteroid-sized planet, of course, but it wasn't _pleasant_ either. When it came to move, however, Piccolo found that he couldn't; it was like a steel blanket had been draped over his entire body, snuggling him flush to the ground. _What's going on!?_

Muted sounds of figures shifting reached his ears. He wasn't alone. Focusing his efforts and his _ki_ , Piccolo barely managed to prop his head up by his chin.

Several feet away from him, two figures were lounging in lawn chairs, each one half-turned and curiously appraising him. One looked decidedly godly- their antennae, formal clothes, pale blue skin, and not least the massive _Kai_ symbol blazoned on their front were anything but ambiguous as to their significance. The other figure looked human. Suspiciously human. Something deep in Piccolo's brain pulsed at the sight of the otherwise normal-looking man. He might have thought more of it if he hadn't been distracted by the figures' similar black-tinted eyewear.

Piccolo's attention then rounded on the drinks they held a few inches away from each other. Were they about to clink glasses? _What the hell did I stumble in on?_

The human stood, setting their drink down on their seat with one hand and smoothing back their long, silky black hair across their head and down their neck with the other. 'This is a surprise,' the human remarked. 'You look different.' His gaze seemed to be searching the sky above Piccolo.

Piccolo narrowed his eyes at the human. There was something much too familiar about him.

'Wasn't there supposed to be two of them?' the one still seated asked lazily. Instead of standing, he had made himself more comfortable in his chair.

A long pause. 'There was,' the human replied, his tone less friendly than just a few moments before. He strode across what Piccolo now recognized as grass and crouched down next to the Namekian. Piccolo was helpless as the stranger rested a hand on his head; at the point of contact, a strange sensation spread across his body, reminding Piccolo of the action of flipping pages in a book. Not that he'd done much reading in his life- _I don't think I've ever read a book, actually. But I have a sense of it. Father?..._

Without warning the human rose, withdrawing their hand from Piccolo's head and severing whatever sensation had brushed Piccolo's mind. His displeasure was written clearly on their face. 'I shouldn't have expected anything different,' the man said in a low voice- he was angry, though not in a "attack him" sort of way. More like "angry inconvenienced".

The human stepped away from Piccolo and cast a glance at the seated person behind him. 'I need to go fix something. Keep an eye on this one while I'm gone.'

The pale blue-skinned person gave a curt wave. 'Come back soon! You'll miss the best part!'

Then, faster than Piccolo could track, the human in front of him blasted off the surface of the planet into the sky. It was… effortless. _His strength…_ His fingers dug into the grass and dirt. _It's unimaginable!_

'Take however long you need, by the way,' the other one called out to him, shaking Piccolo out of his thoughts. The Namekian spared a look and saw him still seated and sipping on their drink. 'People usually take a while to get used to the gravity.'

'Gravity?'

'Yep.'

'That's why I can't move?'

'Yep.'

'So I'm supposed to struggle until I can stand?'

'He took a long sip of their drink. 'Yep.'

Piccolo frowned. _Endless tests!_ 'You're North Kai, aren't you?'

The seated figure adjusted his glasses and flashed Piccolo a grin. 'Get yourself off the ground and I'll answer every question you have. And I am North Kai, if you were wondering.'

0o0o0

Krillin should have felt angry, betrayed, anything- but he there was nothing to feel. Even as his body fluttered through yellow clouds that grew thicker and thicker as he descended, thrown into its current predicament by an unexpected elbow blow, his mind was far away from where he was physically.

 _I thought we were getting along well._

The disconnect between what he thought was true and what actually _was_ true stung. It stung a lot. Piccolo had become something akin to a pillar for Krillin- he had become the only reminder of a life he had before death and the goal that awaited him at the end of Snake Way. Which isn't to say Piccolo would have been his first choice for this role, though. He probably would have enjoyed any one of his many friends' company over the glum and taciturn Namekian. But Piccolo had been enough- though he had groaned and complained and, even though he tried to disguise his own frustration, was obviously incensed at the length of their journey. Krillin hadn't needed someone who made good chit-chat or was even kind to him. He had needed solidarity. For every step of the way, Piccolo was right beside him.

And to be right there- glimpsing North Kai's planet peacefully wedged into place just a bit into the distance- only to be forcefully yanked away from journey's end was shattering. But, again, he didn't feel any anger. If anything, he felt disappointment towards his traveling companion.

 _I thought he knew better._

The clouds around Krillin now began to thin out and weaken- more of an ever-present pink background became visible. Krillin suddenly realized that he was still falling. He should have hit something solid by now. He looked down- and all he could see were low-lying grey clouds obscuring what must have been the ground. It was still an incredibly long distance away considering how fast he was presently moving. He was sure that, in all the time he'd been alive, he had never fallen continuously for this long before. _Okay..._

With slow and deliberate effort, _ki_ began to flow out from Krillin's body, slowing his never-ending freefall into a controlled hover. His momentum soon slowed to nothing, pulling the whipping air away from his skin. He seemed to be in the middle of nowhere- he was just below the visually impenetrable mass of yellow clouds he had just fallen out from amidst an endless darkened air that swirled and coiled through the air like a hundred thousand snakes. Wherever he was, it didn't seem welcoming. With a shrug, he began to accelerate upwards back from whence he came.

Krillin was mere feet from passing back into the clouds when he felt his momentum vanish. 'Huh?' he muttered, verbalizing his confusion. He examined his body and then the beginning of the thick clouds just a few feet above him. Tentatively, he extended his arm up. It pressed against a translucent barrier that refused to be solid; depending on how fast or slow he reached his arm towards it, it would appear at various distances away from him. Not in any circumstance did it disappear entirely, however.

'What the hell?...' He continued to prod fruitlessly at the barrier, and after some time dropped his arms to his sides entirely. 'Some sort of one-way barrier? Doesn't make any sense... What's the point of that?' Admittedly, he barely knew anything about Otherworld barring the check-in station and the torturously long path he had been glued to for the past few months, but from what he had seen so far, he found the realm to be pretty opaque. Nothing provided an easy answer to the question, "Why?". And now he couldn't fly up? He definitely preferred the version of the afterlife they had taught to him at the Olin Temple- he had always been a big fan of the idea of karmic reincarnation.

Krillin suddenly became aware that he was tired- he had spent a lot of energy slowing himself down and hovering in the air for the past few minutes. The scenery below him looked anything but inviting, but if he couldn't go up, what other option did he have? Soon enough he was dropping again in the sky.

The first landmark that revealed itself to him was a huge lake of red. _Blood_ red. Krillin's face shriveled up like a dry sponge. _Ah. I think I'm starting to see the bigger picture now._

His _ki_ sense was unsettled- as he descended, things felt weirder and weirder to him, as if the whole _place_ was off in some intangible way. Eventually he was forced to suppress his _ki_ entirely in an attempt to buttress himself against the roiling waves of discomfort. Doing so helped, though it didn't fully rid himself of this sensation. _If I had to bet… this must be hell..._

He sliced through the low lying clouds obscuring the ground- he quickly recognized these puffs as fog as soon as he entered them. The air around him was humid, cloying, seeking to reach into his lungs and infect him with whatever nastiness was in it. But it wasn't just the physical air- Krillin felt his entire _being_ be repulsed by where he found himself, shrinking away from any sort of interaction with this part of the Otherworld. He knew he wasn't supposed to be here.

His feet tapped down on the ground; he found himself in a grey, craggy landscape, full of jagged and pointing stretches of… well, the shapes _looked_ like they were made out of rock, anyway. Krillin decided it didn't really matter. He had to navigate this mess of a land and find out how to get out of here. Seeking to conserve his energy, he set out on foot down a relatively narrow path to his left.

He got maybe five feet before he tripped on a hidden pit in the path. Thrashing his arms wildly, Krillin toppled forward and rolled several feet down the slope of the hill he had landed on, just narrowly avoiding being skewered by any one of the shark-looking spikes. Unfortunately, his fortuitous rolling barrelled him straight into an occupied clearing.

Several angry-looking people whipped around and sized up Krillin, who was resting on his butt and rubbing the nascent bruises over his body. 'Hey!' one of the shorter ones said, jabbing a thick finger in Krillin's direction. 'What are you doing here?'

Still disoriented by his roll, Krillin limply titled his head to one side. 'Huh?'

Arms descended on Krillin and wrenched him off his feet. 'I'll ask one more time,' the shorter man now yelled into Krillin's face from just a few inches away. 'What are you doing here!?'

Krillin barely registered the spittle spattering over his face. He was much more consumed with studying the fuming face in front of him. The red hair and black eyepatch were unmistakable- this was the corpse of Commander Red with a yellow ring above his head come to life. A shiver jolted through Krillin's body.

He silence must have lasted longer than he thought because the next thing Krillin knew, he found himself being whisked away again. 'Get him out of my sight and towards the front!' the same voice from before hollered from behind Krillin. 'We need every human bastard out there fighting right now!' Someone at Krillin's side grunted and he felt his body be carried farther away from that ghost.

 _Because that's what he is to me, right? A ghost? I never knew Commander Red when I was alive. He's… a ghost._

 _I guess, until this halo above my head disappears, I'm a ghost too._ Krillin glanced at the two men carrying him across a wider, more open space of the land. They also had halos. _The same is true of them._

A dull pulse hit him, alerting him to a spike of energy in front of him. Lurching his head upright, Krillin nearly gasped when the sight of a battlefield assaulted his vision. Pure carnage raged in an amorphous line of bodies in front of him, full of humans clawing and kicking each other to the ground, though there was a distinct lack of fighters falling to the ground defeated. No… it was much too vague of a battle. The closer Krillin got to it, the less visually coherent it seemed. Didn't that happen at battles, though?

He spared a glance at the people gripping his arms- and found that he was alone in a wide-open field with his feet back on the ground. Disorientation sawed through his mind. Krillin looked back in the direction he had come but he saw no sign of Commander Red nor of the people he had been with. He was utterly alone in a blasted, empty wasteland.

His breathing quickened. _What?..._

0o0o0

'You see them, don't you?'

Two figures watched over the plain like unwilling guardians, unable to turn their attention to anything else. Very rarely would they see anything worth watching.

The one on the right rubbed their arms together. 'It can't be real.'

'It looks real.'

'He shouldn't be here.'

'And you know that for a fact?'

The figure rubbing their arms stopped, and in a long and drawn-out motion, began rubbing the front of their thighs. 'I should.'

'It sounds like you don't.'

'I wish I did.'

The figure on the left out a quiet chuckle. 'Well, here's your chance.'

'What do you mean?'

They gestured. 'Go on and ask him.'

0o0o0

Carrying two armfuls of groceries, Rayne laid a single free finger around the door handle, turned and twisted it, and used her body to push the door open. She stumbled into the large entrance hall that opened up into the Fire Mountain castle via the long, narrow hallways to her front and sides.

'Chi-Chi?' Rayne called out, her voice echoing slightly.

'In here,' a voice replied to Rayne's right. Adjusting her grip on the groceries, Rayne set off in that direction and swung herself into a small room. Seated on a couch chair, an exhausted-looking Chi-Chi looked on as Gohan, clad in a simple red shirt and diaper, scooted across the floor on his butt. A weak but genuine smile ran the length of her face.

Rayne nodded and strode over to a table where she set the groceries down. She then spun around and leaned on the fixture. 'He's growing up fast,' she commented, as she watched Gohan with the same type of adoration Chi-Chi had.

'He is,' Chi-Chi said wistfully. 'Soon enough he'll be walking and flying around, living a life of his own, and we'll be on the sidelines, saying the exact same things we're saying now, and-' Chi-Chi's line-of-thought stopped, and she turned and regarded Rayne with concern. 'It- it slipped my mind. You didn't need to get me those-'

Rayne held up a hand, silencing Chi-Chi. 'If anything was made clear to me recently, it's that I'm tougher than I give myself credit for. If I can subdue you in hand-to-hand combat, well…' her hand snaked down to her belly protectively, 'carrying groceries up a mountain won't do any harm. I've read that exercise while pregnant is pretty beneficial, actually.'

'Does this beneficial exercise include trying to keep a maniac from biting you?'

Rayne playfully frowned at Chi-Chi. 'You get what I mean.'

Chi-Chi smiled. 'I do.'

They let a calmness settle on the room, each one content to watch Gohan bumble around like only a toddler can. Rayne couldn't help but see that he was such a kind and loving kid- the type that any mother would be blessed to have. At times he did seem a little flighty and scared, evidenced when his face would draw into an anxious expression and he would twist his head around clumsily looking for her, but considering the circumstances, was this really a surprise? Not many children under the age of 1 have been involved in as many near-death experiences as he had. In some ways, it was a miracle that he was as normal as he was. Set him next to another toddler and he looked like any other kid who clamored to be with mamma. He was cute.

Watching Gohan was nice. Which made it a shame that Rayne had to move things along. The kid did have a tail, after all, among other things. 'Have you thought any more about what I said?' she asked, her eyes flitting to Chi-Chi. 'About the-'

'I agree about the tail,' Chi-Chi replied quickly without looking at her, indicating that she had been thinking on this topic before Rayne had prompted her. 'It should be removed. I'm not sure what I was thinking when he was first born- keeping that tail around for nearly a year was a dangerous thing to do. He most likely would have killed us if he had seen even a glimpse of the moon.'

Rayne let out a small sigh, releasing some of the tension that had been building up inside her the past few minutes. 'I'm glad to hear that. And as for the second question?'

Silently, Chi-Chi turned to Rayne, made eye-contact, and returned her gaze to Gohan. 'I'm undecided.'

'Do you mind if I ask why?'

Chi-Chi gave a sigh of her own. 'My thinking on this is complicated. Hard to describe. It's like trying to put to words a giant tangle of feelings and thoughts. Like trying to make it _real_.'

'Well, preemptively excuse me for saying this,' Rayne said in a more serious tone, 'but I would appreciate if you shared whatever's going on in your head with me. This is important, Chi-Chi. Gohan has _a lot_ of latent power. At every opportunity for him to show it, _even though he's not even a year old_ , mind you, he's proven himself to be undeniably strong. If he's given the right guidance, he could become the strongest of us one day.'

As this sentence lingered in the air, Gohan scooted backward right into the side of Chi-Chi's couch, and surprisingly, he didn't seem fazed by the impact at all; he simply spun around and started scooting backward in the direction he had come from. 'This isn't about his strength,' Chi-Chi replied as her eyes traced Gohan's past and future path along the floor. 'It's never been about his strength.'

Rayne crossed her arms. 'I don't think we'd be having this conversation if Gohan wasn't as mind-bogglingly strong as he is.'

'You-' Chi-Chi shook her head, 'You misunderstand. That's my fault for not being clear.' Chi-Chi physically turned in her seat so she could fully face Rayne, who adjusted the angle her body was laid against the table. 'It's not a question of whether he's strong enough to be trained, or whether he's strong enough that he _must_ be trained. It's a question of whether I want to thrust this lifestyle on him.'

Rayne blinked, thrown off by this statement. She had a good idea of what Chi-Chi was referencing, but she asked all the same, 'What kind of lifestyle?'

'The lifestyle of a fighter,' Chi-Chi clarified. 'Someone who pours their every ounce of energy and willpower they have into training, who pushes themselves to surpass whatever goal rises before them, and ultimately, someone who sacrifices their own energy and blood to protect what they care about. It's _dangerous_ to be a fighter. I mean, it's like... ' Chi-Chi trailed off, shuddered, and twisted her head away. 'I…'

'Like what?' Rayne asked gently.

'Like Krillin.'

'Oh.' Rayne slouched down, as if the words needed time to fully settle on her.

'I shouldn't have said that-'

'-No,' Rayne dismissively waved one hand, 'no, you're right. It's dangerous. I know that.' Rayne paused. 'Krillin knew that.'

Chi-Chi held her gaze with Rayne; she was sad and angry at herself for picking at her friend's fresh wound, but the words were spilling out of her now. 'I don't want to make Gohan into someone who lives and breathes by battles. That's not a good life. There's... _more_ to it than that. I shouldn't be thrusting a world of fighting on someone who doesn't want that. And I _know_ there's a chance that if I introduce him to this lifestyle now, it'll deprive him of choices of what he wants to do in the future. I'd be… hardcoding it into his life, in a way. His earliest memories won't be of falling asleep on his mother's lap, or of being bounced around on her mother's shoulders, or having... ' Chi-Chi's voice dropped off briefly, but then returned with a new rawness, '... or having a father that's around and _loves_ him… I just want to protect him from all the harm out there.' Her hands were now reaching and snaking up and down her body in a desperate effort to keep herself from falling apart. 'I just want to keep him _safe_ …'

For as long as Rayne had known Chi-Chi, she had never seen her come undone quite like this before. It was a strange juxtaposition to how they first met; it's hard to believe that the woman before her now had stumbled upon a dying girl in a forest and had patched her skull together, piece by piece. What Rayne saw before her eyes now didn't make that fact any less true, however.

'I understand,' Rayne said in a soothing voice. 'He's been through a lot. _You've_ been through a lot. Not many mothers need to battle to the death just to keep your child safe. But you did. And you won.'

Chi-Chi looked exhausted by her own emotional outpouring; she murmured, 'I guess.'

Gohan continued to bumble around the room, blissfully unaware of the dampened mood within the room. Seemingly taking a breather from the conversation at hand, Chi-Chi slid her attention back to the constantly in motion toddler, though the glum expression on her face didn't change.

A legitimately wise thought popped into Rayne's head as her eyes lapsed into the same watching Chi-Chi was doing. She was, frankly, struck by how insightful it was. 'Chi-Chi,' Rayne spoke again, 'can I ask you a question?'

Chi-Chi shot a miserable look at Rayne. 'What?'

'Don't you enjoy training?'

A corner of Chi-Chi's mouth turned downwards. 'In a way. Otherwise, I wouldn't have competed as many times as I did at the World Martial Arts Tournament. I was always in it more for the social element, though- I enjoyed spending time with everyone. We were such a tight-knit little gang, dedicated to testing our limits and helping each other get there… I enjoyed that.'

'And you don't think Gohan would enjoy that?'

'He might,' Chi-Chi admitted. 'He might not. But going down that path, it's... ' She gripped her own head in her hands, '... it's dangerous, and I wouldn't be giving him a choice… _oh_...'

'Chi-Chi…' Rayne padded over and sat on the chair arm of the couch, and draped an arm over Chi-Chi's huddled body. 'You're Gohan's mom; that makes him one of the luckiest sons in the world. I don't know a single woman who's more dedicated, caring, and conscientious than you. Tell me this; have you thought about striking a balance? You like training- he might like training- but you can do other things with him.'

Chi-Chi rubbed at her eyes. 'What do you mean?'

'You can teach him anything! Show him whatever! Instruct him about everything! Don't you understand?' Rayne's voice was bordering on manic. 'This kid is a blank canvas waiting to be exposed to some of the best things this world can offer! Everything you and him love to do- tell me, Chi-Chi, do you have any doubt in yourself?'

'I-'

'Don't answer that,' Rayne quickly butted in. 'You don't. You know why? Because you're an incredible person. You were saving my life at the age of… what, 13? 14? Fighting off the world's terrors at 16, 17? You trained under the greatest martial artists in the world! And you still found the time to visit your Dad!'

'Rayne…' Chi-Chi tried to decouple herself from Rayne, who had become a mess of energetic gestures. 'You're starting to freak me out.'

'Alright, alright-' Rayne made an effort to physically calm herself down, '-here's my point. If there's a mother out there who can strike the balance in a kid's education between the mind and the body, it's you.' Rayne loosed a bright, pleasant laugh. 'You've got it all, Chi-Chi! Brains and brawn! Bulma can't claim the same!'

At this, Chi-Chi poked her head up, her eyes red and puffy but her mouth stretched into a smile. 'Yeah?'

'You're an incredible person. If you make his welfare your mission, Gohan would have one of the most blessed upbringings a kid could ever _dream_ for. And, of course, you have a bunch of friends who would help you out in this endeavor.' Rayne chuckled nervously.' If I was in your shoes- and I soon _will be_ \- I'd know I'd like the help, too, of course…'

Chi-Chi gave Rayne a playfully suspicious look. 'From one mother to a soon-to-be one; are you just packaging advice for me that you've thought of for yourself?'

'Chi-Chi,' Rayne said slowly as he placed one hand on Chi-Chi's shoulder and one hand on her own chest, 'let me make the purpose of my rambling clear. For as long as I live, no harm will come to Gohan. Train him, educate him, but no matter what, I will make sure that the crazy chaos our planet gets wrapped up won't affect him. You have my word.'

Chi-Chi frowned. 'That's not your choice to make.'

'But I choose to make it mine regardless.'

'You sure about that? I could do the same for your kid.'

'I'd like to see you _try_.'

Chi-Chi laughed. 'Well, look what you've done,' she said, half-hiding her smile behind an arm that still dabbed at her eyes, 'you've made me laugh.'

Rayne gave a big, broad grin, and with one arm around Chi-Chi's neck, pulled her closer to her side. 'My scheme is revealed...'

0o0o0

The mess hall, hemmed in by stubby grey walls and filled to the brim with uncomfortable metal benches and tables, was a nightmare to navigate amidst the jostling and ill-tempered soldiers noisily chowing down on food. It was less of a line than it was a brawl which led towards the series of counters where food that was so bland, colorless, and tasteless that it might as well have been pureed cardboard was served on steaming trays. Tien had elbowed his way to the front, ignoring the stares of the alien soldiery around him, and had purposefully taken away two trays of food. They were unwieldy to carry through a crowd, but Tien soldiered on until he found an empty table in one corner of the room. Instinctually, he sat with his back against the wall; he always did prefer to be the one watching people rather than the other way around.

And so it was- his food untouched, Tien observed the other supposed soldiers of what he had come to know as the Planet Trade Organization, or PTO, go about their meals. If he was being honest, the fact that he was among soldiers didn't make a lot of sense to him. What did a trade organization need a standing army for? To fight people who didn't trade with them? Why instead wasn't he surrounded by traders? Diplomats? This whole place reeked of militarism. Tien could see it in the ways the technicians and other support staff avoided him, who were too scared to talk to him to even dare to look in his general direction. He could see it in how the soldiers presented themselves. Among each other, they made no attempts to censor their own violent and brutish nature. Spats between different soldiers seemed to be never-ending- one would end and another would soon take its place within the cramped mess hall. Fists acted like sheathed guns, ready to be unleashed at the slightest twitch. All this contributed to a remarkably violent work environment.

Concertedly, Tien patted the armor he now wore that made him indistinguishable on its chest plate- a dull vibration traveled through the piece, a testament to the inertia dampening technology that had been used to create such a battle-ready piece of armor. He hated it all the same. But perhaps this armor would help him survive a few more hits, absorb a few more blasts in combat. That was as good as much a reason to keep it around- or at least a good enough reason to not disrobe and blast the thing into smithereens immediately. The scouter was a different issue entirely. Because he could sense energy, it had no purpose to him except for serving as a chain to his Saiyan superiors while working a mission. At least he had been able to refuse to wear it while at base.

His attention was inevitably drawn to the other soldiers wearing more-or-less the same armor as him. The chest plates seemed to differ from person to person- Tien saw black and brown ones, as well as white ones identical to his own- but every other part of their uniforms, from the white gloves and tan pointed tips of white boots to the black jumpsuits, were identical to his own. They were, as individuals, made to be identical. Even though the Crane school had employed the same types of standardized clothing among its students, there was something more to his old school's practice- it was motivated by pride, not by utility. Displaying the Crane symbol on his clothing was a message to the world about his dedication and commitment to the martial arts. Tien suspected the armor he wore now sent an entirely different message. But, in other regards, the life of a soldier was very similar to the life of a martial arts student in a dojo. He was accustomed to becoming a face in a crowd again, someone worth no more than a glance and a scowl. His parallel training to become an assassin had stressed this- anonymity and inconspicuousness were some of the only elements of his work that he could control. For soldiers, these traits didn't make them better soldiers per se, but they went a long way towards making them better tools to their commanders.

That concept unsettled Tien more than anything else than this experience. If the soldiers before him represented what the PTO curtailed, what did that say about the people handing down orders?

Tien must have appeared particularly spaced because before he knew it, a fist slammed down on the table in front of him, startling him out of his thoughts. Hovering over his table, a smug-looking, purple-skinned alien flanked by similar looking cronies gave him a toothy smile. 'You're new around here, aren't you?'

Tien had spent enough time in a hostile martial arts dojo to immediately recognize what this alien was doing; this person was trying to get a scare out of the new guy. Calmly, Tien stood, all the while maintaining eye contact with the would-be thug. With some satisfaction, he noted that he was taller than any of the three. 'I am.'

There was a brief facial twitch from the lead alien, but his crafted demeanor did not break. 'I thought so,' he said pleasantly. 'It's pretty rare to see some new faces around here, and I've _never_ seen someone like your kind before. Me and my boys here were wondering what hole you crawled out of.'

'None of your business,' Tien replied gruffly.

The purple alien spread his hands wide in an appeasing gesture. 'Not true! We're all refugees of a sort- otherwise, we wouldn't be here on this far-flung outpost where the old and pestering waste away. Commonalities exist between us. C'mon,' the alien cooed, sliding closer to Tien, 'surely you must have crossed someone you shouldn't have, or maybe you're some kind of prisoner, someone who escaped the purge of their own planet-'

'I'm no-one,' Tien bit back. 'And I intend to keep it that way.'

A corner of the alien's mouth twitched. 'You're being difficult, aren't you!' he said through forced laughter. 'Come now; my friends and I only want to help you- sitting alone in this corner is as clear a signal that you need some. Contracts are tough to come by and even tougher to complete. Working together, I'm sure it would help us both-'

'Bez,' a hand clamped down on the purple alien's shoulder, causing him to immediately clench up and suppress a twinge of fear running brazenly across his face. 'You shouldn't be harassing my people.' Tien hadn't seen the Saiyan until the last second- he thought this was more due to the crowd-like nature of the mess hall than to anything else. Nappa leaned in more, such that his head loomed over Bez's shoulder like a bull. 'But you weren't doing that, were you?'

Bez shocked Tien by laughing, a nervous and anxious thing that died as quick as it left his mouth. 'You know me, Nappa! I just like to play around with the new guys, that's all!'

'Go play with some other new guys,' Nappa growled. 'These ones work for _me_.'

Nappa's hostility seemed to be a bit overkill- Bez was already physically distancing himself before the shift in Nappa's tone took place. But whereas before Bez appeared nervous, he now looked to be downright terrified. 'Of course! How could I be so silly!' Bez practically slobbered. 'This guy is strong- real strong- of course he would work for you! You're-'

'Beat it' Nappa grunted.

Bez and his buddies shook their heads quickly, apparently relieved that nothing more was said or done to them. Without a word, they spun around and hurried away from the table.

Nappa watched the gaggle of purple-skinned aliens quickly recede into the crowd around them before turning to Tien. 'Don't talk to them again,' he said flatly.

Tien furrowed his brow. 'Because they're miserably trying to intimidate me?'

'Because they're Qoolians,' Nappa growled. 'And they're a pain in the ass for any other race that has to work with them. You didn't tell them about your upcoming assignment, did you?'

'I didn't.'

'Keep it that way.' Nappa glanced around again, and then dipped his head and whispered, 'No-one here is your friend. Remember that.'

Considering from whom this advice was coming from, Tien appreciated the irony. 'I have.'

Nappa eyed Tien for an instant, his mind working out what exactly Tien's words might have meant, but he apparently had better things to think about. 'You and your buddy better eat quick.' Nappa said, staring at the two untouched trays of food on the table. 'I expect you to be on your way to LPT094 within the hour.'

'Worrying about us, are you?'

Nappa gave a dismissive wave of his hand. 'You can be cute when you want to, Earthling,' Nappa said dryly.

'Tien.'

With another dismissive wave of his hand, Nappa turned and started to walk away. 'Whatever. Just stick to the schedule.' The saiyan gradually melted into the crowd and left Tien alone once more.

Tien spent another half hour alone. After another ten minutes, he sighed, spooned the cardboard puree into his mouth as quickly as possible, and exited the mess hall with irritation exuding from his every step. Screw Yamcha- he would go to that planet alone if he needed to.

0o0o0

Bulma had very quickly learned that she hated being interred in a hospital bed. There was nothing productive about her life- she couldn't reach or rise without assistance, nor could she casually grab a phone or a laptop and keep her mind busy (not that they would have those things here)- and this lack of activity was causing her a lot of stress. She wasn't used to being so… _inert_. She even had to rely on machinery to fulfill her basic bodily functions; every time the cold fingers of the plastic bag strapped to her leg brushed against her consciousness, she had to repress an urge to scream. That last fact of her situation irked her considerably. Did no one on this backwater planet have the decency to help her to the bathroom?

That had been the first horrible week. In the second week, things became better as soon as she could stand and walk for a few seconds at a time. She could wobble over to a toilet situated in the far corner of the room, do her business, and then collapse back into bed. Piece by piece, she was gaining her independence back. That was something to be happy about.

But her visitors were few and far between. No-one seemed to care about a random person stuck with gravitational adjustment sickness, or whatever long string of words were said to her- her condition was either seen as too normal or too boring for any of the base's regulars to pay her a visit. Not that Bulma was complaining. A lot of the people at this base seemed like musclebound thugs, or in other words, people she didn't want to associate with. She was made sadder by the fact that not many of the technical staff visited her either. She had no idea what Vegeta had said to them when Tien, Yamcha, and herself had accepted his offer to work for him, but if they were informed about her status as a scientist, they didn't seem to care. Very rarely would anyone examine the machinery and vitals situated around her bed, and when such people did come, they made it a point to not talk to Bulma. She had to wonder whether there was some sort of quarantine put in place around her- perhaps they thought she was sick in some regard?

Regardless, she missed having someone to talk to. During her infernal entombment within this bed, she had become saliently aware that she was an alien trapped on a foreign world, who was in turn trapped within a bed. The isolation was distressing- back on Earth, she had always been sure to either keep herself surrounded by friends or a lab full of experimental prototypes that need fixin'. Here, she had neither. Tien and Yamcha rarely had the time to visit her, and even when they were present, they were either utterly tired from whatever training they were doing or were frustratingly untalkative. She hadn't expected anything different from Tien, but Yamcha's newfound reluctance to speak hurt. She felt like she was losing her connection with him, drip by drip, the longer they were stranded here. On the occasions when he would come alone, and his expression was as alien as any other stranger that would come into her room and ignore her, she could barely recognize him.

With companions like these, Bulma even would have enjoyed that short saiyan, Vegeta, coming back to her bedside to chat. Which is not to say they would have a pleasant conversation, but at least it would be _spirited._ Something to get her mind churning.

It was nearing the end of week two of her residence when, amazingly, someone spoke to her. An old human-looking man with pointed ears and a fringe of grey hair around the back of his head and his face came to Bulma's bedside slowly, but unlike the ones before whose gazes were focused on the wires and tubes feeding into her, his attention was fixed solely on her face. 'Hello there,' he said with the practiced manner of a doctor. 'How are you feeling?'

Bulma's eyes went wide in surprise, and her mind was caught on such a noteworthy event, but her mouth quickly answered for her. 'Alright. Could be better. I think I'm nearing the end of my stay in this bed, though.'

'Indeed you are. You're almost fully acclimated with this planet's gravity. Congratulations!' he said with undisguised admiration. 'You had one of the most severe cases of gravity sickness anyone at this outpost has ever seen. We were worried-'

'Let me guess-' Bulma cut him off, '-you thought I was carrying some sort of disease, right? Because my symptoms were so severe?'

'Why, yes.' One of his eyebrows raised. 'How'd you figure that?'

'I'm something of a scientist from where I'm from,' she said with a hint of pride in her voice. 'I kind of do it all.'

'Oh… well, good for you.' The interest in man's eyes began to fade. 'Unless you have any other questions, I'll take my leave. I should continue with my rounds…'

It took a split-second for Bulma to realized that the only engaging _and_ pleasant conversation partner she had had in the past two weeks was _leaving_. _Hold on_. The man was halfway out of the room when Bulma cleared her throat. 'Hey, could you… actually stick around for a little bit?'

'Hmm?' He turned; there was a confused expression on his face. 'What for?'

'Well, I have some questions,' Bulma confessed. 'This is a planet comprised of thousands upon thousands of things I've never seen nor understand. You're a _literal_ alien to me. From one scientist to another, surely you understand my curiosity?'

The briefest flicker of expression broke across the old man's face, but was quickly suppressed before Bulma could make sense of it. 'I guess there's no harm if I stick around for a bit longer.' He moved back to the bed and sat down in the chair next to it- Bulma noticed how carefully he lowered himself into the chair and how tired he looked once he was seated. His at first impressive presentation now was mediated by exhaustion and age.

Bulma spent a moment sketching out the outline of the conversation she wanted to have, then asked, 'What's your name?'

'Planthorr.'

'And I assume you know my name.'

'Bulma, if I remember correctly.'

'You are correct. You're not a human, are you?'

'A what?'

'You look like someone who could be from my species- a human. Though, looking at you now…' Bulma's eyes were drawn to the man's pointy, almost elf-like ears. 'I'm not sure where I got that idea from.'

'You'd be surprised how many species in the galaxy resemble each other. The leading xenobiologists theorize that sentient galactic life develops along roughly two or three tracks that are highly similar between different species.'

'Fascinating… that's… wow.' Bulma would have to make a few calls when she got back to Earth. Or tell her Dad, at least. 'Can I ask another question?'

'Go ahead.'

'How are we speaking right now?'

The old man raised an eyebrow. 'Are we not speaking the same language right now? Are we not speaking galactic common?'

'But… this is the language of my planet, my people, and we've never interacted with anyone not from our planet until very recently.'

A hint of mischief flickered across the old man's face. 'A common language would seem counterintuitive, wouldn't it? You just stumbled upon one of the greatest galactic mysteries- the commonalities between languages that evolved on separate planets and had _never_ interacted with each other are astoundingly high across the galaxy. There's usually one or two tracks of language that, within each one, contain a number of extremely similar languages.'

'So it's like the xenobiologist theories? There's an astounding amount of overlap and uniformity?'

'Exactly. Some religions claim these similarities could only be the result of divine intervention- but, as another person of science, you can understand my objection to that idea.'

'Yes… but… wow.' Bulma was dumbstruck. How was it possible that such radical similarities exist? She would have laughed at the idea if she wasn't having a conversation with a literal alien.

'I can see you'll need some time to take this in.'

'You seem much nicer than the others,' Bulma said abruptly.

'Hmm?'

'None of the other doctors of technicians cycling through didn't so much as look at me. You're the first person to show me some genuine compassion. I want you to know that I'm grateful.'

'Oh, well,' Planthorr said, smiling, 'I have to be nice considering my role here.' The old man gestured to a crude patch sewn into a white garment that ran down and covered his body from his shoulders down. It was red and blue, and shaped like a "V". 'Doctors don't get the luxury of being mean to their patients within the PTO, unless they have a death wish.'

'PTO?'

'Planet Trade Organization. Basically the organization that runs this station and most of the known galaxy.'

'Ah.' Bulma paused. 'Last question,' she said, eyeing the man's tapping foot, 'because I see that you've got places to be.'

'Right again you are,' Planthorr replied, chuckling. 'What's your question?'

'The name of this planet is FP083, right?'

'That's right.'

'What does that stand for?'

'Frieza Planet Zero-Eight-Three.'

'And who's Frieza?'

Planthorr snorted. 'Someone we mortals need not concern ourselves with. Not on a planet this far out, anyway…'

'What do you mean?'

But the man was already standing. 'I'll come by tomorrow. Until then, continue to relax. Spend some time walking around every day, but don't push yourself too hard, too fast. Gradually lengthen the time you spend standing and walking around. Do that, and you'll be walking around as well as me before you know it. Hah!'

As Bulma watched the old man stride across and out of the room, and laugh to himself at his parting joke, she noted with a pinch of frustration that Planthorr had ended up being as difficult as every other person that she had talked to the past few weeks.

She had to know what she was up against if they were going to escape from this place and make it to Namek. At this very moment, Tien and Yamcha were on their way to wage war on a distant alien planet, and if she didn't start digging soon, she would run out of time to construct an escape plan that didn't get them killed.

She needed to be on her feet. After a moment of preparation, Bulma swung her torso up and nearly fell onto her knees. She caught herself, however, and then, one-by-one, swung her legs off the bed to the side. _If other people won't tell me what I want to hear, I'll figure it out myself!_

0o0o0

Tien was halfway up the steps to the landing pad where his and Yamcha's ships awaited when he glimpsed a familiar mane of hair sticking up near one of the pods. 'Yamcha?' he called out as his feet finished ascending.

The hair spun, and Tien was face-to-face with Yamcha clad in similar white-and-tan armor to his own. 'Yeah?'

'Are you okay?' Tien immediately asked, forceful concern bleeding through his voice. 'We were supposed to meet in the mess hall before coming here.'

'I wasn't hungry.'

'So you didn't come at all? Did you even eat?'

Yamcha narrowed his eyes at Tien and placed a hand on the pod next to him. 'Are you ready to go or not?' he asked, seemingly uncaring about Tien's previous questions.

'What were you doing before you came here?'

Tien's tone was undeniably suspicious- he hated how conspicuous he was with his intentions sometimes. Yamcha rolled his eyes at him. 'What, are you my mom?'

'I'm the only friend that can back you up in a fight,' Tien growled. The sentence came off much more antagonistic than it should have. 'And if you're running around endangering yourself, then I can't-'

'Don't get worked up into a knot,' Yamcha said brusquely. 'You had your own preparations for what we're about to do, and I had mine.' He gestured to the pod in between himself and Tien. 'Shall we?'

'It's been a few weeks,' Tien stated, as if he was reminding himself of that fact as well. 'You can't keep ignoring me forever. Eventually, you're going to be forced to talk to me.'

'Are you done?' Yamcha said, glaring at him. 'We have a job to do, don't we?' He stood and motioned Tien to do the same. 'Let's get it out of the way.'

Tien spent a moment staring into the scarred human's eyes, searching for something to suggest that there was something still left of Yamcha that cared about his own wellbeing. He failed in that, and thus he entered his pod without protest.

A short time later, both pods rose gently from the ground, rotated in mid-air, and then blasted off into the sky.

0o0o0

Backpedaling, Krillin nearly tripped and fell over some feature of the ground, but he regained his balance and hopped backward just before tumbling. The fog was pressing down on him from every direction now, choking his sight of anything beyond five feet in any direction. He was fumbling around with his hands and feet in the strongest sense of the world now- his _ki_ sense had stopped working entirely, like the fog around him was both physical and _spiritual_. But that couldn't be the case, right? That's not how fog worked.

These questions seemed increasingly irrelevant as the space around him began to shift. Swathes of gray were beginning to form vague outlines of people of various shapes and sizes, but all except one remained ephemeral- out of the center, a short man with an eyepatch and a cigar parted through the smoke. 'My troops were looking for you,' he said in a gravelly voice. 'You ran off for a bit there, but we found you again.' His expression twisted into a pure knot of anger. 'Do you know how long I've been searching for you? You and your friends have caused me an unprecedented amount of stress. I've doubled the number of cigars I smoke in a day thanks to you!' He stepped closer, waving the lit cigar with his right hand. 'And now I have you right where I want you! You're alone! Defenseless! My boys will riddle you with more bullets than a wall facing a firing squad!'

It was surreal; Krillin felt like he was a kid again, running around fighting the big bad Red Ribbon Army. But he knew that time had passed, and that the person in front of him didn't scare him. He said as much.

'What?' Commander Red blanked. 'You… oh…' And just like that, Commander Red began to fade away into the background, as every inch of him untied and scattered back into the fog around Krillin. In more normal circumstances this would have shocked him, but throughout his traipse through the fog-induced confusion, Krillin hadn't forgotten that he was in hell. Things would be weird as long as he was here. _Which reminds me_ ; _how exactly do I get out of there?_ As far as he knew, he couldn't fly out, which meant he had to find something down here that would help him escape. But this was hell- it was tough to stick to a single path and, so far, Krillin had been led astray and confuddled by the miasma of fog dogging his every move.

As Krillin set off a direction and trudged further, the fog began to part and shift again. Like before, a figure emerged from it, but this time their gait was different- it was buoyed by contained power. Thus, Krillin was not surprised when King Piccolo emerged before him, though there was something decidedly off about him.

'You don't look like how I remember you,' Krillin said softly. 'You're different.'

A vein bulged on King Piccolo's head. 'But you're still the impudent whelp I crushed beneath my feet all those years ago. You still have that dumb expression painted all across your face-'

'This isn't real. You're not whole,' Krillin said calmly. He stepped closer, which caused King Piccolo to flinch.

'Wait!... Stop!...' King Piccolo pleaded, as his feet were seemingly rooted in place. 'Don't… please... ' His protests faded away as Krillin's hand slid into his body like it was water. King Piccolo's image briefly wavered before falling apart entirely as every brick of his figure crumbled into smoke. The fog quickly rushed in to fill the space where the demon had been.

Exhaling, Krillin withdrew his hand. He was starting to understand what was going on- the place was playing on his mind. These people weren't really here- he was being tricked somehow. _I am… I… wait..._ There was a sound reverberating through the fog. _A voice_?

He twisted and turned, searching. 'Hello?' On cue, like a ship parting through the fog, a familiar figure strode into Krillin's vision. Their spiky black hair was as dead a giveaway as any. 'Kakarot?'

The Saiyan looked identical to the last time Krillin had seen him, minus the grievous injuries and wounds. His gaze was fixed on him. 'So it really is you. I'm surprised...'

Krillin immediately got a different vibe from Kakarot that he had gotten from the other illusions… _no, that's exactly it… he's not like the others._

'You killed me,' Krillin blurted out. 'You saved Raditz's life.'

Weirdly enough, Kakarot didn't react to this statement at all except for extending a hand. 'I can get you out of here.'

'But you're not real.'

'And you shouldn't be here-'

But his words were cut off as a booming sound reached them, cutting through the fog between them and thrusting both of them backward. When the chaos settled, Krillin found himself gazing up at a human man, dressed in an unending stretch of purple fabric that clothed him from his neck to his feet. Their hair was black and silky, and black sunglasses rested on the tip of his nose.

A hand clasped Krillin's. He saw the man flash an eerily familiar grin. 'It'll just be like old times, huh?' He joked as Krillin felt his feet lift off of the ground. 'Just like old times…'

0o0o0

Piccolo had just managed to prop himself up on his elbows when a sudden shockwave rumbled through the ground, disrupting his balance and shaking him back to the ground face-first. Growling, he propped his head up once again and glimpsed the origin of the quake- the human from earlier was back and was cradling Krillin with both arms. _Damn it! Damn them both!_

The human let Krillin out of his arms- and, immediately, Krillin fell to the ground and came to rest in a similar splayed out position to Piccolo. It seems that he wasn't the only one being affected by this planet's gravity- still irked him that the human with black hair and North Kai handled it so effortless, though. _The universe loves to spit in my face-_

'Hey,' Krillin's choked voice called from Piccolo's right. 'Why are we being flattened to the ground like pancakes right now?'

'Wouldn't you like to know!' Piccolo barked. 'I wouldn't-'

'This planet has ten times the gravity of Earth,' North Kai said lazily. He hadn't bothered to move from his lawn chair since Piccolo or Krillin had arrived.

As the human man strolled back to his own lawn chair, North Kai's eyes flickered over to him. 'You should have seen- err-' North Kai sputtered. 'That's right.' North Kai abruptly reached for his drink and effected a long, noisy slurp.

The other man sat down and leaned back in the chair. 'I was quite the mess when I first got here, too. In his many years of fighting, never before had Kevin Woo encountered such a daunting physical challenge.'

'Who's Kevin Woo?' Krillin inquired.

'Myself.'

'Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?' Piccolo snarled.

'Yes.'

Another loud slurp punctuated the conversation. 'I'm glad we've gotten introductions out of the way,' North Kai spoke up, setting the drink down on the arm of his lawn chair and standing. 'But you two are here to train, right?'

Krillin and Piccolo both nodded as best they could from the position their heads were in.

'Then stand up,' North Kai said.

'Are you kidding?' Krillin replied in disbelief. 'I can barely move right now!'

'You may feel that way, but I can assure you that you can. This one here,' North Kai jabbed a thumb at Kevin Woo in the chair behind him, 'was able to stand after some effort on the same day he arrived here. And both of you are stronger than he was then. Stand.'

North Kai made it sound so easy. Like overcoming an oppressive force was as easy as willing it. For Piccolo, it wasn't a question of how much he wanted to get stronger- if he didn't have the power to get up, then… _Wait…_

Piccolo half-turned his head to the right. Amazingly, Krillin had shakily pulled himself onto his hands and knees, and was panting from the effort, but his expression was nothing but resolve- daring resolve that was thrown in Piccolo's direction by the human's focused gaze. The challenge was clear- he would stand before him.

Indignation bubbled up in Piccolo. WIth a drawn-out grunt, Piccolo pulled himself to his hands and knees, glimpsed that Krillin was now moving into a crouch, and quickly mimicked him. Over the space of seconds, the two of them raced to a standing position, each one clamoring to be the first one to do so. It was ungraceful, ugly, and undeniably hard- but the pure effort needed to do this radiated off of them.

Tucked away behind North Kai, Kevin Woo could only watch on with pride. _Not that I'd tell them it took me a_ _ **literal**_ _day to stand, though..._

It took some time but eventually both were fully off the ground. The two of them traded surprised glances with each other.

 _'Ahem,'_ King Kai cleared his throat. 'If you two are ready, we can begin.'

There was a clear physical toll exacted from both Krillin and Piccolo to remain standing, not to mention the discomfort each felt from being near the other, but they both continued to hold their heads high. This was what they were building towards, the reason for why they had taken step after excruciating step towards a place they weren't even sure existed. They both had their differing motivations for wanting to get stronger- but their resolve was unimpeachable. Nothing was going to get in their way- not even each other.

The two students glanced at each other, broke away, and bit into their cheeks. 'We're ready, King Kai,' Krillin said steadily.

The ghost of a smile graced King Kai's face. 'Glad to hear it. Now then- tell me a joke.'

* * *

A/N: Things are happening! Wowie! I'm super sorry for the weeks-long delay, but I needed to finish up some academic work/ figure out some story details moving forward/ recover from more sickness. Still as committed as ever to this story!

And we blasted past 100 follows! Holy freakin' moley! That's a lot of people! Thank you all so much! If I could suggest an additional action, leave a review! I'm pushing forward a lot of non-canon things in this story and I'd like some feedback on what you, _the READER_ , likes and doesn't like. With that, here are the reviews and see you next week!

 **Reviews:**

 **Transformers g1's-Prime:** Something of the sort you imagined. I tried to keep things pretty vague about what was going on in Hell.

Thank you! Sorry this chapter took so long!

 **Anonymous:**

 _Q: I don't understand how Vegeta and nappa caught up with the earthlings_

 _Their ship was as fast as the saiyans maybe faste seeing as they reached name before Vegeta did despite Vegeta having a head start(barely spent a day in regeneration chamber) and stealing the newest model they beat him to namek_

 _here they are in their old model, so they shouldn't have had any hope of catching up_

A: *rubs hands*. I was waiting for someone to ask this question.

Alright, so we know from the manga that it took a month for Kami's ship to take Bulma, Gohan, and Krillin to Namek. We also know that, using the Saiyans' ships as a template, Mr. Briefs was able to create a ship that took Goku to Namek in one week. This would imply, barring any sort of amazing (and unlikely) technological innovation Mr. Briefs could have made in space aeronautics, we should assume that the ships the Saiyans use, and by extension all of Frieza's forces, are faster than Kami's ship. You could make the case that, because it took Nappa and Vegeta roughly a year to make it to Earth that their ships are relatively slow, but we have no idea how far away they were coming from and whether Kami's ship would have done the trip faster. However, because we do know that Kami's ship is slower based on the travel time to Namek, we can assume that any ship within the PTO's arsenal that was even roughly specialized to intercept ships would be fast enough to intercept Kami's ship. We also don't know how far the planet Vegeta recovered on was from Namek and Earth. It could be that the planet was very far away from both the Earth and Namek, and the reason Vegeta landed when he did was because his ship needed to make up a lot of space ground quickly.

If this explanation doesn't satisfy you, keep in mind that the Saiyans also knew exactly where Kami's ship had launched from and were tracking it from the moment it had entered space. I'd imagine that this makes Kami's ship much easier to intercept.


	49. The Judged

Outlanders

Chapter 49: The Judged

* * *

'North Kai… are you serious?'

Krillin's jaw had crashed to the ground with such resonance that it could have been heard halfway down Snake Way. Piccolo, alternatively, shared none of his shock- his hands were drawn into ugly, angry claws. 'A joke?' Piccolo hissed.

'I am wholly serious,' North Kai replied calmly. 'Each of you must make me laugh. And when you tell me your joke, address me as King Kai, please. North Kai is what my coworkers and rivals call me. You two are neither.'

Heat lines, like the ones that rose off of black pavement on a hot summer's day, swarmed around the Namekian. 'This is outrageous! I am a fighter! Not some sort of clown!' Piccolo exploded.

'I expect my students to possess both a sound body and a sound mind. If you can't think of a humorous joke when prompted, then _clearly_ , you aren't worth my time.' King Kai rolled his neck once around, cracking it as he went. 'Now come on! Lay one on me!'

Krillin hardly noticed the stream of unintelligible, angry words that began to roll off of Piccolo's tongue, and instead pivoted his gaze to Kevin Woo comfortably seated in his lawn chair. 'You trained with King Kai, right?' he asked. 'Did you have to tell a joke, too?'

Kevin Woo bristled, as if unprepared for anyone to pay him any attention. 'Of course,' he answered. 'It… wasn't very…' he trailed off, holding back something he clearly wanted to expand upon. 'It's just trial and error. You can do it.' He then fumbled for his drink and took a hasty sip of it.

Krillin's eyes remained on the man. There was something to Kevin Woo that he didn't quite get. Ignoring the comment that he had made to him when he was being rescued, Krillin couldn't shake the air of intimacy that followed the fighter around like a cloud of flies. There was something both utterly familiar and distinctly unknown about the man. Krillin wouldn't have believed that such a feeling could exist if he weren't in the throes of experiencing it at this very moment.

Perhaps it was that he was human- but Krillin would have known of such a strong fighter just by sense alone if they had lived in the same time period. Then again, how old could Kevin Woo be? He could have been dead a thousand years and Krillin wouldn't know otherwise. What had King Yemma said? _How long has he been here? Was it-_

'King Kai, what do you call a wet napkin?' Piccolo spoke suddenly. His strained face looked ready to break into a hundred pieces.

One of King Kai's brows raised in interest. 'What _does_ one call a wet napkin?'

'A… moist towelette.'

What came next was one of the most excruciating silences Krillin had ever had to endure. It was made worse by the fact that King Kai appeared to be _scoring_ the joke in his head.

'By Kami,' Kevin Woo muttered. 'That was terrible.'

'I'd like to see you do better!' Piccolo barked, shaking a fist at him.

'That wasn't even a joke,' King Kai interrupted them, his voice laced with snootiness. 'That… was just a fact. Truly awful attempt. Got any more?'

'King Kai? I have one,' Krillin said.

'Oh?' King Kai half-turned to him. 'What is it?'

'On my way here I fell into the underworld... You could say it was quite the hellifying experience.'

At first King Kai did nothing, his eyes centered on Krillin and indicative of a mind really considering the meat of Krillin's joke. Then there was a snort. Before anyone knew what was happening, laughter rolled out of King Kai's throat like a dam collapsing, flooding them with a suffocating amount of chortling, giggling, and _sound_. So much _sound._ Krillin had never heard so many different sounds be made by one person at once. He had never seen someone roll across the ground like a runaway barrel from laughter, either. The theme for Krillin continued- Otherworld was a place of firsts.

What made the situation unforgettable, however, was the reaction of Krillin's favorite human-hating Namekian. He couldn't tell what was more bewildering to Piccolo- the fact that he had actually fallen into hell and had returned or that that joke had made King Kai laugh - but he would never forget the image of his green face wreathed with indignation, trauma, and despair all at once.

Kevin Woo said nothing. He was laughing, too.

'Wow…' King Kai picked himself off the ground, dabbing at the tears running down his cheeks with the collars of his sleeves. 'You're something else. I haven't heard a joke that funny in a millennium, _at least._ '

Krillin saw Kevin Woo make a face at this, but he ignored him and said, 'So?'

'Welcome aboard,' King Kai said, his smile glinting exactly like the sun on a clear day. 'Now then,' King Kai turned to Piccolo once more. 'Have you anything else to say?'

Piccolo looked to be a hundred things- betrayed, tired, exhausted- but the fire was still lit in his eyes. Even if it may have been physically impossible for him to tell a joke, he hadn't accepted this. Krillin smirked. _Yet_.

'Alright,' Piccolo growled, fixing his face into a composed, if not angry, expression. 'How do you make a horse jump off a cliff?'

'How _do_ you make a horse jump off a cliff?' King Kai parroted back, emphasizing the _do_ and stroking his chin.

'You tell it to get off its high horse.'

A single tortured second hung in the air, similar to the silence that had greeted Piccolo's first joke. But then, miraculously, King Kai's veneer cracked and, just like before, the waves of laughter rode out and trampled every one of them into the dirt.

Again, Krillin's jaw was on the floor- he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Even Kevin Woo looked shocked. _That joke was worse than mine. But… it was a joke._ _He actually told a joke._ His gaze flickered over to Piccolo, who looked only slightly less shocked at King Kai's laughing compared to his previous attempt. _Would his father have been able to do that? Probably not. Huh…_

Nothing was turning out as Krillin had imagined. Was this a good thing? Bad? He didn't know. _I guess… we both passed._ King Kai made a clucking sound like a chicken and zoomed past Piccolo on the ground. _Why does everything in the Otherworld have to be so..._ _ **weird**_ _?..._

0o0o0

The diner was quiet, typical of the time of day and the sort of clientele that frequented it- because it was one of the closest eateries near King Furry's palace, usually a lot of busy bureaucrats who worked there would quickly run in-and-out around noon for food before sprinting back to work. The rest of the time the small fixture was populated by a few early risers, some retirees, some young people with too much time on their hands, and the regulars who knew the menu by heart. Despite being in Central City, it's proximity near the palace and the public gardens made it a little bit too far out of the way to ever be at full occupancy. It was a quiet, slow place. Puar had been here before, and had liked popping in, each time appearing and dressed different, every once in a while these past few years. Perhaps she should have been more indiscreet.

Across the table from her and Oolong and seated upright in the booth, a woman clothed in nondescript clothing blew on her mug of coffee. Puar wasn't exactly sure how this person had tracked them down and directed them to meet here, and in the midst of considering this, the woman's voice lapsed back into her head.

'... so, we're not saying you'd be on the rolls _per se_ , but, for all intents and purposes, you'd have our support…'

To her left, Oolong was nodding along to everything the woman was saying, an annoying habit Puar had come to know very well during their time together. He always outwardly agreed with what a stranger was saying: no exceptions. Puar nudged the pig in the side and stilled him. 'How exactly did you find us again?' Puar asked, interrupting whatever sentence the woman was halfway through saying.

'It's my _job_ ,' the woman answered gruffly. 'And, come on, did you think that the death of nearly every major crime lord on this side of the planet wouldn't raise a few eyes? Any at all?'

'I would have thought you and your people would have been _glad_ to see them gone.'

'Why do you think we're having this conversation?' The woman raised her mug to her lips and took a long, hearty swig of her coffee. She took it black. 'Some of my colleagues, myself included, think very highly of what you've done. It's not often that we see people do five years' worth of work in a single night.'

'That's because it _did_ take five years,' Oolong spoke up. Hearing this, Puar nastily swung her head and glared at him; he immediately clammed up and started to fidget with his fingers underneath the table.

A small smile formed on the woman's lips. 'More proof of your effort and dedication.' Another sip. 'I have to say, you're checking off on all the criterion we have.'

'We have no interest in working with you,' Puar said plainly. 'We're flattered by the offer, but-'

'There are more than just you two, right?'

Puar paused. 'Huh?'

The woman leaned in over her mug. 'I mean, it wasn't just you two who took down King Piccolo, right?'

'I'm not sure what you're getting at. We didn't have anything to do with him.' Which was _technically_ the truth, even if Puar intimately knew the people who _did_ take him down.

'Are you sure?' The woman's eyes bounced back and forth between Puar and Oolong. 'I'll admit that this is an unproven theory of mine around the office, but it would make sense that I would think this, considering that I've spent so much time investigating your case, and that you two have been seen, in some way, shape, or form, with a group of people known to us to have won every World Martial Arts Tournament in the past 8 years, and who were _seen_ fighting King Piccolo-'

'-we get the point,' Puar interrupted her, sliding her open human hand in the air in front of her. 'You've got this crazy theory. You're crazy. We get it.'

The woman didn't look offended. 'You don't have to admit it. Just do me a favor and pass along the offer to your friends,' she urged, pushing the glasses higher up on her nose. 'Your friends would be doing the planet a lot of good by accepting.'

'Hypothetically, I think we _already_ do a lot of good without being tethered down to an organization,' Puar retorted. 'I'm sorry, but I don't see the utility of us joining up with a bloated agency. We seem to do things well enough on our own.'

'Do you think you two are aware of every weird thing that's happening on Earth?' The woman cupped her mug fully, downed the rest of it in one go, and then slapped the vessel back to the table and pushed it to the side. 'There are literally _hundreds_ of crises that people like me have to deal with on a daily basis. Did you know there was a robotic insurrection in North City just last week? Or that some strain of mutant deer nearly feasted on the entire population of a village not fifty miles south of here?' The woman paused and studied their faces. 'Judging by your blank stares, I assume you didn't. Just because these things aren't public doesn't mean they aren't happening. My offer stands. We can give you more pairs of eyes than you can imagine- you offer us your expertise. Just… consider it.'

With that, the woman smoothed out her business suit, grabbed a waiter and paid for her coffee, and departed. A conspicuous card was left on her side of the booth. Puar eyed it for a time, but eventually reached across the table and pocketed it.

'We don't have to decide right now, yeah?' Oolong asked, his eyes tracing the woman strut down the street through the window to his left.

'No,' Puar replied. 'I got the impression that this was an "open offer" type of discussion. She doesn't strike me like the person to bother us with this again. She just wanted to be heard.'

'That's a relief,' Oolong said, letting out a long exhale.

'Well,' Puar sighed, swinging out of the booth and motioning Oolong to the same. 'We better get a move on then, yeah?'

'Are you paying?'

'I have the money, don't I?'

'If I could remember where I put it on me before I transformed, I would pay-'

'I'll add it to the bank of Puar, with interest.'

'Come on!'

Puar left the money on the table and they strolled out, bickering all the while.

0o0o0

The hallway before her stretched on like a neverending maw, much longer than anything Bulma would have imagined existed in a base this small. She didn't want to admit it, but it was increasingly obvious that her extended confinement in a bed had affected her not only physically but also psychologically.

 _Screw it._ She clung to the hallway railing like a baby to their mother, terrified of what would happen to her if she let go. Well, she had a pretty good idea of what would happen. She doubted her body had adjusted to the gravity well enough to the point where a simple fall _wouldn't_ break bones- but this didn't deter her. If anything, it motivated her to move even quicker; the less time she spent out and about like this, the better. _Which means…_

She focused on the railing, on the kiss of cool metal against her skin, and shimmied forward, making sure to keep her hands clamped and close to her. Her feet would saunter forward, and her body and sweat-slicked hands would cautiously follow after. It was physical work that was utterly alien to her, as was everything else she had so far encountered.

She wasn't sure if time passed quickly in her strained state, or that the trip was much shorter than she had anticipated, but in what felt like no time at all, she rounded the nearest corner and sighted Planthorr chatting with a technician. He saw her, excused himself, and hurried over. 'This isn't what I meant about pushing yourself within limits,' he chastised her while his arms slid under her to help support her weight. 'What are you doing this far away from your room?'

This was the part she had practiced in her head- her execution would have to be flawless. She straightened her face, pushing away any discomfort she felt far away in her mind, and met his gaze. 'I want to start working.'

'Working?' Planthorr blanched. 'Are you kidding? You can barely stand!'

'So? A week ago I couldn't stand at all,' Bulma bit back. 'I'll be out and about like you in no-time- you said so yourself.'

He shook his head side-to-side, as if he was unconsciously denying her claims of what he had said. 'I'm sorry, but while you may be stuck here, it would be a _gross_ violation to let you be anything more than a patient. There's-' he sputtered, '- there are regulations!'

Bulma gave him a nasty look. 'Are you trying to tell me that there are more regulations governing the support staff of the PTO than its army? Because, as far as I can tell, my two human friends were able to enlist without so much as a form to fill out. Do you _really_ expect me to believe that? I can understand if I needed to complete a test, or some sort of certification course- which I'll happily do, by the way- but to think I have _no_ chance-'

'Well- Ve- I was told to treat you like-'

'Like what?'

Planthorr's eyes darted back in forth at something behind her. Bulma didn't have to turn around. Bulma knew there was nothing there. 'Like… I… please, please!' he begged, 'You can't do this to me! I'm so close to retiring, so close to qualifying for a living wage- please!'

He was practically crying onto her now. While Bulma didn't enjoy this part of the process, she couldn't temper her edge when dealing with people who had blatantly tried to hide things from her. She had to be firm and persistent. 'Calm down,' she said soothingly, taking one of his hands in her own and pressing it. 'I don't want that to happen- hey, look at me- I don't want that to happen. But I can't help us- you especially- until you share what was instructed to you. Okay? You need to tell me.'

Planthorr grimaced at her at length, his arms ready to spiral into a trembling mess, and a creeping furrow embraced his brows. 'We're both victims, aren't we?' he said at a whisper. 'I thought I was safe from him, from everyone, if I just shut up and followed orders-'

'Who are you talking about?'

He sighed. 'Prince Vegeta told me to keep you separate from any technician, engineer, or doctor. To isolate you totally within reason. So I directed my staff to never converse with you. Make sure to keep you alive and nothing more.'

Bulma dipped her head, processing what he had said. It made sense. 'But you spoke with me before this,' she pointed out. 'Were you violating his orders then?'

'My curiosity got the better of me,' he admitted. 'I have never before been ordered to treat one of my patients as a prisoner. I wanted to find a reason for this- and I found nothing but another inquisitive mind that the universe so routinely snuffs out. About halfway through our conversation, I realized that I was putting us both at risk, and so I removed myself from the premises.' A guilty expression spread across his wizened face. 'I should have just kept to myself-'

'-No,' Bulma gripped him more tightly, steadying him and helping to diminish his shaking. 'You were right to do this. Now that I know where things stand, I can act to save my own skin accordingly. Where is Vegeta now?'

'He'll be gone for the foreseeable future,' Planthorr muttered. 'His ship left here not too long ago.'

'He'll come back, right?'

Something hard slid down over his eyes as if a suit of armor was being pulled over a combatant. 'During my time with the PTO, I've seen many soldiers be consumed by forces far beyond their ability to fight. But that Saiyan does not fail in what he does. He has outlived stronger and better men- he is a survivor. He will return.'

'Good,' Bulma pronounced. 'I look forward to having a word with him myself when he does. Until then… I restate my desire to work for you.'

He looked reluctant, and Bulma imagined that he would say something along those lines, but he surprised her with what he said next.

'Frankly,' Planthorr said somewhat light-heartedly, 'you've given me no choice.'

'What do you mean?'

'I would never align myself against someone as ferocious as you.'

Bulma smiled. 'I like that answer.'

0o0o0

Vegeta's arrival on Arcosia stank of nauseating procession. He had been ferried away from his pod to the palace in a breathtaking amount of time, as in accordance with the customs of being summoned by the Emperor. Arcosia itself was a veritable jewel of the PTO, one of the few planets in its dominion that had never before experienced significant combat or civil conflict on its own soil, but to Vegeta, its association with Frieza could never be wiped from his mind. The flavor was bitter, sickly, something that would claw at his insides until he was nothing more than a husk pulled by strings. He willed himself to see nothing of this world- and so it was until he had entered the palace.

What concerned him more than the tripe ritualism was the eerie emptiness of the reception chamber. He had only been here a few times before, but on each occasion the room had been filled with eager courtiers all yearning for Frieza's favor. In the past, the court had made Vegeta laugh in the better moments of his life and stew in his own hatred in the worse ones. Still, there was something lost by not having them present. Perhaps Frieza had grown bored with the court and had dismissed them from his entourage. _Or perhaps he wants me all to himself._

Either way, it didn't matter. His footsteps still echoed against the cold stone floor, foretelling his arrival far before he had laid eyes upon the emperor.

Frieza, seated in a plain gray stone throne and flanked by his left and right hands- Zarbon and Dodoria, respectively- didn't even bother to look at him as he approached. Instead, his gaze was titled up and to the side, peering out into the distant darkness that clung to the ceiling of the chamber like mist. It was insulting; Vegeta had no doubt that this had been Frieza's intention. Impugnities had a way of adding up and festering over the years- their sum was greater than their parts- and Frieza had never bothered to disguise his opinion of him; insignificant, beneath a being as powerful and magnificent as himself. Vegeta hoped the vein bulging on his forehead wasn't visible.

'How _are_ you, Prince Vegeta?' Frieza asked in almost a lazy tone- but Vegeta knew better. A despot as dangerous as Frieza did not dare take their attention off a powerful subordinate, not even for a second. This thought was both flattering and cutting to Vegeta's ego.

He forced his muscles to make the same, rote movement that they had performed hundreds of times before, and kneeled. 'I am well, Lord Frieza,' Vegeta said in the performative tone a courtier would use. 'My mission to HPT012 was a success. I thank you for your patronage.'

'Oh, dispense with the niceties,' Frieza piped up, finally setting his gaze on Vegeta. 'We've known each other for long enough. I remember a time when you were a tiny baby, coddled in the arms of your father,' Frieza waxed, as if he was trying to mimic a tone of voice people with hearts used when recalling a pleasant memory. 'You were so _vulnerable_ then. You see, Prince Vegeta, because I've known you for _such_ a long time, I'm concerned about your wellbeing.' Frieza's eyes glimmered with sharpened attention. 'Do you understand?'

'Yes, Lord Frieza.'

'I become concerned when my subordinates withhold information from me. Do you understand, _Vegeta_?'

'...Yes, Lord Frieza.'

Frieza's head turned to his left. 'Zarbon?'

Without missing a beat, the teal-skinned alien cleared his throat and began. 'It has come to my attention that one of your own, Raditz, died recently on LPT076. But the report does nothing more than to state this fact. It lacks _context_ , in a word. So Lord Frieza has called you here directly to set the facts straight.' Zarbon paused, and used one hand to flip his single braid of hair over his shoulder. 'For this is a grave mistake to make.'

The floor might as well have fallen out from under Vegeta. This was the worst possible reason for which he could have been summoned; he was to be chewed out by the sickest- and most powerful- being in the universe. The complaint was tacit bullshit- _functionally,_ there was nothing wrong with submitting a report like that, even if it _technically_ wasn't allowed- but no-one ever made a big fuss about the rules covering submitting after-action reports unless they wanted to target a particular person.

 _Fuck_. He was that person. Zarbon must have specifically rooted around in his files until he found a suitably "unfit" report. Frieza couldn't be made aware of the Earthlings- not while he was still trying to determine what had happened to Raditz-

' _Vegeta_ ,' Frieza spoke in a deep and cutting voice. 'It is because of our long history together that I do not kill you where you stand- braver warriors have stood where you are now and have died for the same offense. So, I command you under the threat of _death_ ; be a dear and clear this little administrative _error_ up for us.'

'I… I erred in submitting my report, Lord Frieza.' Vegeta stated, keeping his gaze level with Frieza's feet. 'I apologize profusely for my mistake. Would you like to hear my full report?'

Frieza made a gesture on the edge of Vegeta's peripheral vision. 'Please, go on.'

'Raditz had approached Nappa and I with a hunch- he had thought that his brother, Kakarot, had been residing on LPT076 for the past two decades. He convinced us to allow him to travel to LPT076 to retrieve his brother.'

At this, one of Zarbon's eyebrows rose. 'Where would he get such an idea from, I wonder?' he mused. 'There is nothing in our records that indicate any Saiyan child would have been sent to LPT076 before the destruction of Planet Vegeta.'

'Though- remember-' Dodoria spoke up in a husky voice, '- at the end there were a few pods unaccounted for. _Remember_?' He stressed this last word especially.

'Hmm?' Something glazed over Zarbon's eyes and he quickly nodded. 'Yes, yes. I remember.'

'I do not know what knowledge Raditz possessed,' Vegeta resumed, 'but I do know that he was convinced of its accuracy. He had decided to pursue Kakarot, and set off for LPT076 shortly after informing us. He then died on LPT076.'

The last sentence hung in the air, its residency drawn out by the lack of conversation that followed it. 'It strikes me,' Frieza said, 'that this is a very nice _story_ \- but it does not explain why you omitted this little tidbit of information from us.'

The moment of truth. 'Lord Frieza…' Vegeta began,' it was an embarrassment for a Saiyan to die in such a manner, so I thought to erase the details of it altogether. Raditz died to combatants far below his own level, and failed in what should have been a simple mission. That is why I didn't report any further details of the matter- it would be the last strike upon his name, the last blow on his Saiyan pride to ever be recorded. I wished to spare him and us that dishonor.'

'Saiyan pride?' A twitch seized the emperor's face. 'Saiyan pride!' Frieza laughed, his voice trilling against the walls of the palace. 'Of course! _Of course!_ _It always comes back to pride!'_ The sound of Frieza's laugh was bitter and accustomed to these walls, and threw such a shade upon the entire room that Vegeta hadn't noticed at what point did Zarbon and Dodoria join in it.

The Prince, fixed in a kneel, checked his own rage as Frieza went on.'You silly monkeys can be proud of the darndest things, can't you? So, of course, you wouldn't be proud of one of your own dying on a backwards planet… of course. Everything is so _clear_ now, Vegeta. You wanted to salvage whatever pitiful amount of pride your race has left! It always comes back to pride!'

Vegeta wasn't sure if Frieza had intended him to respond, but he had no confidence that his voice would sound anything near calm when he next spoke, so he kept himself mute for as long as possible. It proved to be the right decision- much like the Saiyan, Frieza took his time regaining his former composure. 'You may rise, Vegeta,' Frieza stated in the lazy tone he had used at the beginning once the laughter had fallen away, piece-by-piece, until only the cold regard remained. 'Your answers are satisfactory, and so I thank you for coming here on such short notice. You have, and always will be, a great asset to the PTO.'

A thin smile graced Vegeta's face. 'It is an honor to serve, my lord.'

And then, with a simple wave of a hand, Vegeta was dismissed from Frieza's presence. The Saiyan knew the distance within the chamber between himself and the door was devoid of any prying eyes, so on his walk out Vegeta threw caution to the wind and let a vindictive feeling, comprised of equal parts rage and sick joy, consume him. He didn't dare imagine what his face looked like.

The bastard would eventually get what was coming to him- he would die one day. Vegeta simply wished that, when that day came, he would still be alive to hear of it.

0o0o0

Yamcha struggled to control his breathing. He hadn't known about one of the worst features of the ships the PTO rode into battle on- they were liable to bring their occupant out of sleep just before entering a planet's atmosphere, right before a series of terrifying and outwardly cataclysmic events would occur within a space not much larger than a small closet. This small world would rattle, shake, and burn as the ship beyond it would plunge through the air, leaving a red-hot tail of fire and smoke in its wake. There was nothing pleasant about being in a ship that had to land on a planet after just exiting interstellar travel.

In fact, it was-

Awful. If Yamcha was forced to sum up his current predicament with one word, he would say that. Awful. The shaking became so bad that Yamcha thought he would slide right out of his seat and jostle around the cockpit like loose change in a washing machine. It didn't come to that, though- the straps laid across his chest were firm, and kept him encased in his display case.

He wasn't sure what had caused him to be in such a mood- maybe it was because he was drugged and then _undrugged_ to sleep- but a few things were apparent to him.

They would never get back to Earth. He and Tien would be forced to work as contractors for bloodthirsty Saiyans- and the people pulling their strings- until they were nothing more than shadows of their former selves. They had promised Bulma that they would buy her time- but the weeks flew by and, while Yamcha was pretty sure she would be up on her feet by now, she- they all were- were swimming against the current. The PTO consumed sentient beings like a mill grinds grain-

And now the pod around him shuddered and beeped, foretelling him of an imminent landing on a foreign world where he would be expected to scythe through alien lives like wheat. It was some cruel, malicious order, and one which Yamcha was convinced was indicative of what kind of operation the PTO ran. The report he read had stated that the race on this planet had only interacted with aliens only twice before: the first encounter occurred when an errant ship crashed-landed on the planet. The natives had repaired the ship for the sole survivor and sent them back into space. The second encounter came when the PTO landed an expeditionary force on the planet, leveled an entire city as a test of the natives' military strength- to gauge the strength of their military response- and left.

That was how the difficulty ratings for these contracts were assigned- through the use of random, senseless destruction as sophisticated as figuring out how painful it would it be to get honey out of a beehive by kicking it. It was sickening. It was expected.

The pod gave a great and final shake, sending the strongest vibration through the walls of the ship by far, and swept away all the sound and fury that had become such an essential part of it. The silence that settled on the cockpit was quickly pierced by the hissing of the ship's hatch. In the same measure, the straps holding Yamcha to his seat automatically unclicked and fell away.

He- a quick glance to Yamcha's right confirmed there was an identical plume of dust in the air similar to the one above his own ship- they had landed in what looked to be a jungle. By the time Yamcha had staggered out of the crater, his muscles clumsy and weak from disuse (though the planet, thankfully, had the same gravity of the base), Tien was waiting at the top. With a small gesture of his head, Tien set off in a direction. Yamcha fell in behind.

At first, they were concerned with familiarizing themselves- this was an alien world, after all- but the jungle was quiet, and if their coordinates were correct, was much closer to the edge of civilization than the dark recesses of the wilderness. So they looked through the mass of multi-colored vines and twisted trees rather than at, and they walked instead of running or flying, because they didn't know where or when their mission would start.

'You read the report, right?' Yamcha asked when they had put in a good distance between themselves and the landing site.

Tien was walking side-by-side with him. 'Of course,' he replied in a businesslike manner. He then paused. 'I'm surprised you found the time for it, to be honest.' he added.

'Why would you say that?'

'Nevermind,' Tien said, trying to end the conversation with as much tact as a kid holding back a tantrum.

'So you want to hash through what you brought up at the landing pad, right? Is that it?'

'At this point? No.'

Yamcha hustled forward and swung into Tien's path. 'Alright. You want to know what I was doing?' When Tien made an empty gesture, he went on. 'I was digging around for information.'

Tien's mouth curled up in irritation. 'What are you talking about?'

'I've been spending every waking moment of free time trying to figure out how this-' he swept his arms over the jungle around them '-came to be. _Why_ we're here. Why the PTO habitually purges planets for the highest bidder.'

'You're that curious, are you?' Tien said scornfully. 'Should you have been figuring out where Namek is?'

'Shouldn't you have been doing that? Or, really, anything else to help?' Yamcha barked.

Tien narrowed his eyes. 'I've been spending most of my time training because I recognize that any one of our "fellow soldiers" is inclined to kill us at the first opportunity.'

'You're worried about the other soldiers? Really?'

'They're-'

'They're in the same ship as us,' Yamcha interrupted him. 'They didn't _choose_ this life. This life chose them. Do you know how many soldiers at that base are the literal last of their kind? Entire races have been reduced to nothing because of the PTO. Those who survived these purges had no skills, no familiarity with the wider galaxy except through an organization that had just eradicated their entire civilization. So is it any surprise that those who were strong enough to survive would join up with the PTO?' Yamcha cast a dark look at Tien, almost through him. 'When everything you care is dust beneath your feet, and the only truth that can be gleaned from such indiscriminate annihilation speaks to the undeniable strength of violence, wouldn't you embrace it, too?'

Tien kept his gaze steady on Yamcha. 'Monsters are still monsters, Yamcha, regardless of their motivations. I'm not going to debate the morality of men who have all been, to varying degrees, willingly complicit with an organization that commits genocide.' He set off again and passed Yamcha. 'Their involvement condemns them to any punishment that awaits them in the future, either in this life or the next. And, until then, we have to keep an eye on them, because the type of people who commit genocide are dangerous.''

Yamcha didn't move out of Tien's way- he refused to back down. 'And when we're done with what we're about to do, we'll have to say the same about ourselves, right?'

Tien looked at him, and then swerved to Yamcha's right, passing him, and continued to plow forward through the jungle. Yamcha waited for a few breaths, but when nothing else was said, he resumed walking.

More time passed. They continued to traipse through the undergrowth. Yamcha couldn't explicate _how_ he knew this, but he felt both himself and Tien calm down. Maybe it was because walking was a good way to cool off. More likely that they both knew they were close now, though. 'We got sidetracked,' Yamcha spoke up.

'What?' Tien replied without turning or stopping.

'Do you want to know what I found out through my efforts? Besides what I've learned about the general soldiery, that is.' Yamcha asked as he ducked underneath a vine.

'Since you seem eager to share, go ahead,' Tien said with a hint of condescension. 'Something earth-shattering, I presume?'

Yamcha smirked. 'Something like that. Did you know that our Saiyan friends aren't of the same status as the other soldiers?'

'Their armor always looked slightly different from the pieces worn by other soldiers- or our own, for that matter- if that's what you're getting at.'

'No- you misunderstand. They have a special privilege within the PTO- they're allowed to maintain a mercenary group and can hire or dismiss soldiers at their leisure, us included.'

'Yeah? And? What about that is noteworthy?'

'From what I've learned about the PTO, that's a very weird allowance to give to regular soldiers. Typically someone has to be employed within the PTO for years until they're granted the right to assemble their own group. So we can assume that Vegeta and Nappa have been doing this kind of stuff for a while.'

Tien briefly got his foot wedged in a tangle of roots, but with a slight grunt he freed the limb and soldiered on. 'If you had spent any time with them when they were interacting with the other soldiers, this wouldn't come as a surprise,' Tien said bluntly.

'Tien, we know that the PTO is bigger than it seems- soldiers are constantly cycling in and out of the base, we hear of other outposts and planets, which implies that the scope of its operations is massive. I'm not surprised that Nappa and Vegeta have toughed it out longer than most- they seem like the type to thrive in this kind of system; I'm concerned about who they might know. What _connections_ they might have.'

Tien froze, and Yamcha could see that he finally understand what he had been driving at. 'Do you think,' Tien said slowly, 'that they can figure out that our story is a lie?' He half-turned to Yamcha.

'Dunno,' Yamcha admitted. 'I don't know enough about the larger PTO to answer that. Let me ask you something; do know who Frieza is?'

Tien eyed him. 'I don't. I-'

A rapid blast of air swept through the forest, shaking tree limbs and blowing leaves in a whiplash-like pattern across the landscape. Yamcha brought up his arms to shield his face from the wind, and as he did so, his scouter finally registered the source- a massive uptick in energy had just appeared at where their objective, the city, awaited them. Tien seemed to have seen the same reading as Yamcha had, because he briefly glanced over to Yamcha, nodded, and sprinted off. Yamcha quickly followed in his wake.

The remains of the city turned out to be much closer than they thought. Fire, smoke, and ruinous sound moved in one unending motion just a few miles away, consuming what had once been an eminently alien and impressive settlement. Yamcha fought against two concurrent feelings- one of dread, one of relief. Their job had been done for them… _our job..._

Yamcha's scouter beeped, telling him what he was too distracted to notice- three people hung in the air just above them. They were close enough to be seen- and familiar enough to be recognized. Yamcha's nails dug into his palms. _No..._

' _You!_ ' Tien yelled from Yamcha's side.

With an air of insufferable smugness, Bez slowly descended from the sky, flanked by two other purple aliens who, all together, looked to be of the same race. 'You have my gratitude,' he mocked, emphatically sliding one arm across his body towards the ruined city, 'for letting us get in on the fun. Like I said before,' he conspicuously stared at Tien, 'contracts are on short supply at base.'

'Yamcha…' Tien nearly choked, his anger physically affecting his throat, 'You told this guy we were coming to this planet, didn't you?'

Yamcha was silent- he was feeling way too much, all at once- and could do nothing but maintain a glare towards the three aliens hovering in the air before him. This wasn't supposed to happen- he hadn't wanted to draw any more attention to them, or add any difficulty to their already difficult task- _I just needed more information!..._

'You'd be surprised how many new soldiers make the same mistake you made,' Bez said, his voice dripping with arrogance. 'They just wanted to get a handle on things, make the spinning around them stop for _just long enough_ to get their bearings, and then make the best of what they had. So many…'

He shook his head. 'Anyway,' Bez went on, 'now I get do to what I do best- steal other people's contracts right out from under them! The bounty on your heads will be a nice bonus!'

'Bounty?' Tien exclaimed.

'Don't you understand?' Bez raised one hand towards them, his fingers spread apart ever-so-slightly. 'Each and every one of us- our _respective species_ \- represents the last remaining item to complete on an old contract.' Light burgeoned in his palm, obscuring his wild, angry features from them. 'I intend to collect!'

Then the jungle burst into flames.

* * *

A/N: You may have noticed that I, like Piccolo, am horrible at puns. I extend apologies to all who need one.

Also! I hate to end my chapters on cliffhangers, but in the vein of getting back to a weekly update schedule, I punted a fight scene I had planned in this chapter to the next. Sorry about that- just another week more and you'll get that and a bunch of other cool scenes!

Also, terminology! You may have noticed LPT and HPT being thrown around when discussing planets. LPT stands for "Low Priority Target", and HPT stands for "High Priority Target". The more ya know.

 **Reviews:**

 **KagariAsuha:** Earlier in the story I decided (slash kinda inferred?) that Saiyans grow their tails back in times of great distress- so just because Gohan's tail is coming off now doesn't mean it's going to be gone forever. It will come back in the future. Probably.

Also Saiyan tails are such a cool plot device! I would have to be bonkers if I didn't try to feature them more!

 **Luke:** It is getting a _tad_ bit difficult, but I think that's the way these type of stories (the big, sprawling ones) typically go. I remember at the end of _Break Through The Limit_ , for example, that there must have been like fifty characters all running along full-speed towards the end of the story. That is a horrifying number of people to keep track of. It is also a realistic one :/.

But I, the humble author of a DBZ fic, relish the challenge! Having so many characters also makes it easier to experiment, bounce around, and generally write scenes- the same old faces aren't always staring back at you.

As to what you said about Kakarot? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. Next chapter will have some more answers for you, bud.

 **OneofTen:** Oohoohoo, I hope you enjoyed this chapter then. I aim to never disappoint the original brigade of ten.

 **Kizzy:** Organic is a great way to describe a story. Happy to hear that's the vibes you're getting from this fic.

We got a bit more info on how this life is treating Yamcha (spoiler; not well).

I love writing Nappa. Such a cool mix of impatience, baseness, and humor. I feel like, in canon, he was all three more because Vegeta didn't really reign him at many points during his fight with the Earthlings. Nappa is being kept around Vegeta much more in this story so far, so there are fewer chances for him to diverge from the way Vegeta would like to run things, but things may change soon…

I tried my best at puns. I really did.

 **LWexe:** Glad to hear it! I had missed you and your accompanying reviews the last few chapters!


	50. Termination

Outlanders

Chapter 50: Termination

A/N: I know, late chapter :(. Sickness has foiled me once more.

* * *

The change in the air pressure around Tien tipped him off to the attack before it came; a punch that cut through the dust bricked into Tien's right forearm. Bez's face followed soon after it, and he looked surprised that his attack did not land. Tien shifted his weight and side-stepped, swinging up his left leg into Bez's side and launching the purple alien back through the smoke.

Tien's senses weren't quite quick enough the second time- a knee crunched into the small of his back and knocked him to the ground. He rolled out of a plunging stomp and hopped up behind the assailant, delivering a quick series of jabs that sent his opponent reeling. Tien held off pursuing at the last second- he realized something-

It was clear that these guys were weaker than them- not by a lot, but enough to be significant. He would have to keep track of them-

His scouter beeped and exploded into a million pieces on the side of his face as a thin beam of purple energy drilled into the side of his head, causing his vision to swim and his world to flip. Two more strikes pushed through his disoriented block and knocked him onto his back wheezing.

Out of one clear-visioned eye he spotted two of the purple aliens standing over him. One farther away- Bez, Tien thought- began to charge him- though for what reason, Tien couldn't say, because the two nearest to him looked like they were about ready to finish him-

And then just like that, the two aliens lording over him were gone and Tien was back up on his feet, catching another blow on his block.

0o0o0

Holding each of the aliens' heads in one hand, Yamcha put on a burst of speed and wrenched them off the ground. He angled himself upwards against the struggling of his two captives and shot up straight into the sky like a rocket. About a hundred feet up, he abruptly spun and threw one of the aliens higher up into the sky, and in the same movement, wrapped his other free arm around the other alien's chest like a vise.

'Hyaaaah!' Yamcha used another chunk of his energy and accelerated faster, keeping his captive snug against his body as they both ascended further into the sky. The previously thrown alien was still spinning when Yamcha crashed into him, using the alien he held as a literal battering ram and letting him go at the moment of contact. Both of the aliens got mixed up with each other and hurtled even higher into the air.

Tangled together, they were an easy target. _Just how I planned it._ Yamcha clenched and rolled his body, pulling on the largest chunk of his energy so far. Veins bulging within his blue-white aura, he cupped his hands at his side and spooled his power into a single blue point in the middle of the space between his palms. It was old hat by this point- it had taken him no more than a few seconds.

'KAMEHAMEHA!' Yamcha yelled, thrusting his body upwards with the attack and releasing a massive wave of blue energy. From what he could tell the two aliens were as disoriented as ever, each one just now getting a grip on where they were-

And the blast crashed against only one of them, as the other had disentangled himself at the last minute and had frantically flown away- but flown away far enough to escape the blast radius. The other alien, having taken the blast head-on, was consumed entirely and was ripped apart by the raw energy of the attack.

 _Not the best._ Huffing, Yamcha realized that after spending so much energy in such a short amount of time, he far more equal to the one remaining than he would have liked. _He's on par now, for sure-_

His thoughts didn't get any further as a blow crashed into his chest and knocked him into a trajectory back towards the ground.

0o0o0

Fists crashed against fists, knees against knees, and Bez matched Tien blow-for-blow, inch-by-inch, as the two of them slammed and crashed against each other. Sweat trickled down his cheeks, mixing with the thin runnels of blood spooling out of the corners of his mouth, and formed into a single light red paste that adhered to Tien's lower face like glue. He used one hand to wipe it away, and in the next instant, that hand caught an elbow aimed straight at his face.

Through the haze, Bez's cruel face arranged itself before Tien. 'Perhaps Nappa _was_ right about you,' the purple alien taunted through a series of grunts. 'You're not like the other new ones; no, not at all…'

Tien tightened his grip on Bez's elbow. 'Shut up!' He planted his feet into the ground and with a great heave, threw his weight down and behind, pulling Bez's body over him in a clumsy arc. Bez's free arm shot up to Tien's head and was caught, entrapping their limbs together as they both crashed down to the ground on their backs. On the recovery, Bez moved a second faster than Tien and delivered a heavy forward kick to Tien's abdomen, winding the human and pushing him back several feet.

Bez swam through Tien's vision. 'You know, at first, your Saiyan keepers had well and truly scared me off.' Tien shook of his disorientation and side-stepped, narrowly putting himself out of range of a low kick. 'Grunts like me don't live long unless they learn not to mess with the monkeys or Frieza's elites.'

Tien dodged again, pulling his right side away from a hook-punch, and rushed Bez with a series of chops. Bez deflected the first few and caught the last, dug his soles into the ground, and caught Tien's full weight with both arms. Sinews stretched and muscles bulged, and each fighter pressed against the other with enough force to stake their feet into the loose dirt and whip their auras into a frenzy. White and light purple, far lighter than Bez's skin, intermingled and billowed with devastating results, flattening the scattered plant life for several feet around to the ground. Only solid-looking trees held fast against the storm.

It was quiet in the center. Bez, undoubtedly, heard the words as soon as they had slid out from between Tien's lips.

' _Solar flare._ '

The space around them was consumed with enough light to put a supernova to shame. Tien held his eyes shut for a second, and upon opening them, saw Bez's face contorting in an ugly squiggly line, water dribbling out of the corners of his eyes from the sheer visual pain of it all. He heard speech tumble out of the alien's mouth in gibbering, sad chunks.

Tien was unmoved. In one motion, he released his grip from Bez- his opponent was now backpedaling, acting on evolutionary instinct and desperately trying to compress himself into a ball- gripped the alien's right arm just below the elbow, and levered his hands in opposite directions. The bone, or whatever analog existed within Bez, snapped as easily as a flimsy wooden stick.

The babbling turned into the whimpers, and Bez collapsed into a pitiful mess on the ground. Tien left him like this, left him to stew in his own misery for a brief time, and then pointedly placed his boot on Bez's chest. 'I'm curious about what you said before,' Tien said in a slow manner in an effort to disguise his breathlessness. 'You're the second person to mention someone named Frieza to me.' Tien narrowed his eyes. 'Who is he?'

Bez wheezed, and tried to roll himself out from under Tiens' feet, but he was far too weak and debilitated to do so. 'He's… the gods-damned emperor, king, dictator… whatever you want to call him, he's supreme. Might as well be a _god_ …'

'A god? Is he worshipped?'

Another wheeze. 'He has a lot of people far stronger than us working for him. Make your own damn inferrals…'

A frustrated frown spread across Tien's face. The human bent down, gripped Bez by the chipped sides in his armor, and hoisted him into the air in front of him. His arm, bent and mangled at an unnatural angle, dangled uselessly at his side. 'I don't need to make my own inferrals because I have _you_. And before you die on me, you're going to answer every question I have, so help me-'

'Hah hah… hah…' Bez loosed a thin laugh, high-pitched and weak. 'You… you'll do it then?'

Tien was inclined to the slap the purple alien, and would have done so if he thought that Bez could live through it. 'What are you laughing about?' He asked sharply.

'You come into the fold, you set yourself apart from all the other soldiers, pick out a corner in the mess hall, and erect a wall between you and them… you think you're so _noble_ that you would never kill another person for profit, for a _written document_ … and yet, here you are, on this planet, my feeble body held within your grip.'

'In another time, I was an assassin; I'm under no pretenses as to the cleanliness of my hands,' Tien said firmly. 'And I will do what needs to be done to survive- and that includes killing those who would kill me.'

Bez said nothing for a time, his mouth unnatural still and silent. Tien was about to shake him when he spoke again. 'I don't believe you… prove to me that you're a _killer_.'

Tien's grip on Bez tightened, but the force was bottled up in his ligaments and flesh- his knuckles bunched and twisted with tension. 'You deserve to die. I'm sure of it.' His voice, though thickened with purpose, warbled off the walls of his own skull. _He's a murderer! Betrayer! He's nothing more than a soldier spinning in a homicidal machine-_

The thought caught on that last word, and the full weight of his actions, of _context_ , settled on him. _He was made this way, like metal ground into a cog-_

'Second thoughts?' Bez spoke up, piercing through Tien's thoughts. His voice still sounded brittle. 'It's not so easy when you full history is laid out before you- when you know that you'd finish their bloody work…'

At that moment, Tien's train of thought split down two different paths: one path couldn't help but embrace this person's bloody past, his full crimes laid at his feet and at those of his masters, and his fate adjudicated without any consideration of his own will, while the other path saw a quick end as the justest option, the proper deliverance on a soul that was so demonstrably evil.

He wasn't used to such doubt; neither, apparently, was his body. Before he knew it, his hands slipped from Bez's sides, letting the alien start to crumple to the ground.

Halfway there, Bez landed on his two feet, eyes open, and a searing pain scored itself diagonally across Tien's front. The human gasped from the sheer force of the blow, and with his mind blinded by pain, his body reflexively staggered backward. He had made an embarrassing error - _No_. _A costly one._ His own hand slid across his abdomen far too easily, but came back unbloodied. The attack hadn't pierced his armor. It was- he couldn't believe-

A thin beam, similar to the one that had destroyed his scouter, hit his right thigh, forcing Tien to one knee. The pain was much more real now- an involuntary whimper bounded out of his mouth.

'Oh? Was that too much?' Bez said playfully. Tien wrenched his head forward and glimpsed the alien standing, one arm still ruined, but the other raised in a dangerous gesture. 'Sorry- I just meant to even us out a little bit. You took one of my arms out of the fight- in return, I effected a similar handicap on you. Doesn't this feel fair _? Just?_ ' Bez didn't bother to conceal what he felt- he was incensed.

'You have… no business… using that word…' Tien managed in between ragged gasps. 'You've never experienced-'

Another beam lanced into Tien, this time piercing his right shoulder. His cry was weaker- he was weaker- than just a few moments before. Bez's continuing ability to fight had done worse than shock Tien; it had caught him off-guard.

'What do you know of justice!' Bez raged, his arm flopping uselessly at his side. 'Justice has no meaning for the weak! Only the strong are able to taste it!' His aura flickered and pulsed around him. 'You and I- we're nothing to the chaos around us! But on this battlefield, I will know the meaning of _just_!'

Energy gathered in Tien's core; Bez seemed to be too enraged to notice. Tien just needed to buy a few more seconds. Slowly, he lifted his gaze and sought out Bez's eyes. 'You're nothing but a pawn-'

A final beam ripped into Tien- a thick hole was drilled into the center of his chest, burned straight through his armor, and stopped within his flesh. Bez hadn't waited for Tien to finish; he had plowed ahead unaffected.

 _Too close…_ Tien gasped, and was flooded by such overwhelming pain that his legs shut down from under him and toppled. _Far too close…_

With a _dumdt,_ his back hit the ground.

0o0o0

HIs opponent was everywhere, all-at-once, and Yamcha could do nothing but guess and lurch in the right direction to avoid being hit. He wasn't always right, and he increasingly guessed wrong.

 _Damn it!_ Yamcha ducked underneath a mid-air sweep, his block just barely taking a glancing hit, and spun, twisting upwards and ramming a punch into the purple alien's lower abdomen. It didn't seem to do much- a blow slammed into his back a split-second later.

He tumbled through the air, all bearings lost, and despite the presence of a wide-open sky around them, he found himself being backed into a hole. The other fighter was just too fast, too quick, and most importantly, too _fresh_ \- he couldn't continue taking the blows he'd been taking if his chances to counter-attack were far and few in between. Growling, he righted himself, absorbed a plunging kick against the center of his crossed arm block, and threw out a horizontal wave of energy with one arm. His opponent was forced to back off as a wave of snapping light spilled out across the sky like stars. Yamcha bought himself a precious moment to breathe. _If only I could reach- get to him!..._ Yamcha's eyes widened, and he halted his descension through the sky. The space above him was still tangled with light and frayed energy, bewildering any pair of eyes that might chance to look up. Yamcha carefully tapped into his _ki_ sense.

The moment he did so, a purple-skinned body crashed into him from behind, ricocheting him across the sky. He was slammed once, twice, and hurtling through the air after a third strike, he found the extra bit of energy needed and readied himself. When the purple alien swung into him with a high kick in the next instant, the blow sailed through the air, passing harmlessly through Yamcha's afterimage.

The purple alien only had a second for his face to lock up with surprise before Yamcha reappeared behind him and wrestled him into a headlock. They hung in the air, struggled, and just as the alien's hands were snaking back to work against the human's grip, Yamcha wrenched.

The head between his arms moved in a grotesque manner to his right and filled the air with a chilling snapping sound. The counter-grapple against Yamcha never came- the body went limp underneath him.

Yamcha let out a long sigh, and then let the body go to drop back to the earth. He didn't bother to track its descent- there would be time to do so later, long after the events of today- and instead centered his _ki_ sense on Tien. He located him and Bez together on the ground and close to the edge of the jungle. With an added burst of _ki_ he sped down to the ground near them, though surprisingly, Bez didn't seem to notice his approach.

He understood what was the cause of the alien's distraction when Yamcha was nearly on top of them- Bez lorded over Tien, one foot planted on his armored chest, one hand raised in preparation for delivering the killing blow, and his attention exclusively focused on the body underneath him.

It was as clear an opportunity to act as any Yamcha had seen. Closing the gap between them with lightning-quick speed, he smashed his fist into the back of Bez's head. The purple alien let out a small flutter of air, and then he fell to the ground, unconscious. A sigh Yamcha hadn't known he was holding in hissed from his mouth.

0o0o0

With a groan, Tien let himself be hoisted back up onto his feet. 'Thanks,' he muttered, as he rubbed the spot on his chest where Bez's last bow had hit. The armor was cracked, chipped, and burned, but amazingly, the damage was limited to a circle about six inches in diameter and the puckering, burned skin beneath. There wasn't a doubt in Tien's mind that his armor had saved his life.

He was lucky in a number of ways. Upon further inspection, Tien found that the wounds on his thigh and shoulder were shallow- Bez apparently didn't have enough strength at the end to do any lasting damage.

As engrossed as he was with these revelations, he almost didn't notice that Yamcha had halted menacingly over Bez. Almost. 'Yamcha?' Tien asked. 'What are you doing?'

When Yamcha spoke, his voice was cut clean, sheared of all embellishment. 'What does it look like? I'm finishing him. He's still breathing.'

A great pain blossomed across Tien's chest, and Tien was certain it hadn't originated from one of his injuries. 'Are you sure that's a good idea? He might-'

Yamcha turned on him abruptly, and it became clear why he had twisted so quickly; his face was contorted from barely restrained rage. 'He tried to kill us, take our contract, and leave our bodies to rot on a doomed planet. He's exactly like what you said before- he's a monster!' Yamcha turned back again to Bez's unconscious body, his entire body now shaking. 'We kill him now! We sent a message to every other person who might try to gun for us! We-'

Yamcha's voice cut out as Tien chopped the back of the scarred human's head, halting his tirade and knocking him out cold. Tien quickly gripped Yamcha's body with his other hand and waited. One second. Two. When Tien was confident that Yamcha was unconscious- and not dead- he let the collar of Yamcha's armor slip from his grasp. With a heavy _thud_ , he came to rest on the packed earthen ground not a few feet away from Bez.

Tien only had a few minutes to decide on what he wanted to do- if the planet's armed forces hadn't arrived by now, they would surely be here any second. He imagined that, if they were caught, it would have been better to die to Bez than to live through what awaited them in captivity.

Ultimately, his decision wasn't a difficult one to make. Without wasting any time, Tien threw Yamcha, then Bez over each shoulder and sprinted off as best he could into the forest.

0o0o0

Launch palmed a punch, ducked underneath a spinning elbow, and simply tossed Suno over her shoulder at the first available opportunity. Her mind was prone to wandering whenever she sparred with the redhead fighter; while Suno lacked nothing in enthusiasm, there was a clear power difference between them that, if Launch was being frank, was annoying to train with. She wanted to test her limits against someone closer to her level-

Abruptly, she stood up as straight as a board, her body coming to grips with a shot of energy rushing into her, almost like the feeling of plunging head-first into an ice-cold lake.

- _What?-_

Suno was neither aware enough nor had the ability to be aware enough to pull back at the last moment; her fist sailed past where she expected a block and clocked Launch on her face, slamming her several feet through the air and to the ground. She had the briefest moment of pride surge through her, the thinnest smile starting to take shape on her face, before her mind caught up with the rest of her and forced her to stiffen. She ran over to Launch's side in the next instant.

'Launch! Launch!' Suno quickly knelt at her sparring partner's side. 'I'm- I'm so sorry! I didn't see!'

Flat on her back, Launch ignored her and stared emptily up to the sky, though she was probing the newly forming bruise on the right side of her head with one hand. 'It's okay,' she replied after appearing to collect her thoughts. 'I got distracted. I got… I don't really know _what_ happened, to be honest.'

Launch saw Chiaotzu run over to her at this point. He must have heard Suno's cries of alarms. 'Launch? What happened?'

'Describe it,' Suno urged her. 'Describe what you can.'

'I... ' But before Launch could put to words the sensation- the sensation that _screamed_ of Tien somehow- she found herself grounded again. There would be time to consider weird and odd events at a later date- at a _safer_ date. Because as long as Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin were gone, she was this planet's strongest defender. And Suno had delivered the first and what should be the last undefended strike on her during this tenure.

The thought of that riled her up. 'Haaagh!' Launch roared, sitting up and moving to clock Suno back in the face. The redhead fighter clumsily hopped back before smirking and tanking a follow-up blow on her block. 'You had me worried there for a moment!' Suno yelled above the renewed clash.

'You're allowed to worry about me when I'm dying!' Launch charged forward, swept Suno's legs out from under her, and then punted her further away with a spinning kick. 'And that's a long way off yet!'

Chiaotzu, who had been at their side when Launch has bizarrely restarted her spar with Suno, remained in the same spot as the two battled off into the distance. '...Alright!' he tried to call after them. 'Glad you're okay!'

0o0o0

Bulma ignored her own discomfort- which, if she was being honest, was something she could use practice in- and slowly followed Planthorr down the hallway's length. It was rare to see people scurrying about on this side of the base, and Bulma's suspicions as to why this was the case were promptly confirmed when Planthorr punched a code into a keypad, and through this, caused a door to slide open. A massive room, filled to the brim with strange machinery, sleek looking metal storage crates, and junk in some places, greeted her.

Planthorr turned to her. 'This is the medical storage room. There are a number of broken healing tanks in there-'

'Healing tanks?'

'As the name implies,' Planthorr noted with a hint of annoyance, 'they heal. People, more precisely.' As he said this, he gestured his hand to a row of odd, oval-looking tubes that were lined up in a row against the right wall of the room. 'I figured that you would best work in an environment like this- isolated, away from prying eyes. Practically no-one ever comes in here; most of this equipment is closer to being scrap than actually working, and very rarely does anyone need to pull items from these crates- this is a small outpost, after all.' His expression raised itself on his face. 'Does this suit you?'

Bulma briefly gave the room a once-over and nodded. 'It'll do fine. So you want me to?...'

'Try and fix-up the healing tanks. We've got a shortage at the moment and it would do us some good to get some more models in use.' Planthorr then rummaged in the pockets of his medical coat for a moment and produced what looked to be a thinly-bound pamphlet. 'This is a rough manual for how the machine works,' he explained, handing it to Bulma. 'Wish I could give you more help, but these are older, out-of-production models, and…'

'I understand. The fewer people who know, the better,' Bulma finished for him. 'I'll get to it.'

Planthorr let her pass into the room, and then stood just beyond the doorway. 'I'll be back later in the day to collect you. Good luck.' A few seconds later, the door was shut and Bulma was alone.

She turned over the manual in her hands. _Yeah, later._ She placed it down and decided to fully appraise what this room had to offer. Most of it would have interested her if she had been in a different, more curious mindset.

While lumbering through the room's aisles and running her hands over machinery old and dusty, she came across what looked to be some sort of administrative monitor laid out casually on a crate. A quick inspection of the wires feeding out of it made Bulma realize that these wires could neatly connect to a round white console situated a few feet away. The wires were just long enough to connect to the console without having to move either part, and armed with unrealistic hope, she flipped up what looked to be a power switch on the console.

Nothing happened. _Figures. Time to do what I do second-best, then; troubleshoot._

It took her some time- she always lost herself in her work, so she wasn't sure _exactly_ how much time had passed- but, eventually, the annoying, _obstinate little pieces_ came together and she heard the _click_ of electricity running through the circuit board. Sighing, she pulled her head out of the console and glimpsed back at the connected screen. A soft green glow heralded her success.

Bulma scurried over without even a second of hesitation. A cursory examination told her that her hunch had been correct; the console was some sort of database or information storage machine. She flicked through its contents, her eyes marching across the screen like soldiers proceeding across a flat field, until she found something especially promising- it seemed that this unit had once been connected to whatever served as space internet- _Another thing to look into; what serves as the galactic medium of information exchange?-_ and had logged a catalog of important logistical information about the PTO from that time. _Now, hopefully, this information isn't too out-of-date to be completely worthless…_

A few clicks, some drags, and then, by chance, she stumbled upon exactly what she had been looking for.

'What the hell?...'

Bulma could scarcely believe what she was seeing. From her perspective, a single point of view looking down on a 2-D map, the map of the PTO's territory seemed tiny. The program held this position for only a short time, however, and then slowly grew outwards into a 3-D map. A… staggeringly large 3-D map. The PTO wasn't a few systems, or hundreds of stars, or even localized to a single galactic quadrant- it was spread across the _entire_ galaxy. Bulma had to use a hand to physically close her mouth.

She spent some time processing this- it was humbling, and maybe a little terrifying- before remembering why she was examining the map- _why_ she was in this dusty storeroom in the first place. Bulma, scouring her brain for what she knew of the astrological location of the Earth within the galaxy, began looking around the edges of the map. _Come on… come on…_

It must have taken her half an hour before she realized she was getting nowhere with this method. Examining the galaxy piece-by-piece for one specific star was so grossly inefficient that it made her feel like a lunatic. Bulma had to think and feel like a lunatic _scientist._

 _There must be a way I can winnow the results… hmm… Wait. The PTO takes on contracts- so they must have a system for dividing systems between targets and those that they either own or service. Let's see…_ After a few minutes of searching, she stumbled across a filter for the map, broken into the classifications of _FP, Civilian, LPT,_ and _HPT._ She didn't have a clue to what these labels meant, but she had the power of deduction; she figured that Earth wouldn't be listed as _Civilian_ \- it was attacked by a homicidal Saiyan, after all, and nor could the planet have been in the _FP_ or _HPT_ categories- those included planets that were far too close to the center of the galaxy to possibly be Earth- so she was left with the _LPT_ filter. Fortune shined on her- there were only 100 LPT planets on the map.

She checked every single one, read every single dossier crammed pack with info on each planet's atmosphere quality, gravitational strength, and the biodiversity of the local biomes, flora, and fauna- and Earth was nowhere to be found. To Bulma's dismay, it looked increasingly true that the database she was working with was just too old-

Bulma's head snapped up from its forlorn position on the console as if pulled by a string. It was a simple task! She just had to reconnect this console to whatever served as space internet!. She probed the back of the console and found a number of promising slots, and through dumb trial and error wire plugging, she eventually found a cable that brought about some sort of update to the console. Then, in a single glorious advance, the screen was filled in with a number of new entries. In anticipation, she pulled out a notepad she had been hiding in her bra.

In the end, it only took her a minute to conclusively find the Earth. She hastily scribbled down this planet's interstellar coordinates relative to Earth- another unfamiliar measurement Bulma would have to contextualize on her own time if she wanted this information to be useful- and stuffed the notepad back into her bra. _First step done. I roughly know how much space there is between here and Earth. Figuring out where we need to go from here shouldn't be too hard…_ She stood, turned off the console, and unplugged the monitor. _Now then…_ she picked up the manual for the healing tanks that, by this point, she must have put down several hours ago. _Time to do my actual work..._

0o0o0

To Tien, it had only felt like a handful of seconds had passed between falling asleep on the return trip to FP083, their base-slash-prison, and waking up moments from landing. His second trip in the pod had made a few things about the inert state clear, though; it could never disguise the weakness someone felt in their muscles from disuse or the clawing hunger in their stomach from not having eaten in days.

There were some benefits. Upon waking he also found that his injuries, while still painful, had faded into the background of his consciousness. He wasn't sure whether he should credit this to whatever chemicals they pumped into the pods or the natural progression of time.

Mulling over these thoughts took him through the landing process- it was much smoother this time around, and Tien remembered someone telling him that PTO outposts were surrounded by some sort of inertia dampening grid which allowed ships to softly land- and, soon enough, he was crawling out of his pod. The landing pad they had touched down on, like all the other ones, commanded an impressive overlook over the planet's bleached brown vistas and dusty flats. These sights were quickly becoming comforting to Tien, if not familiar.

He was about to start untangling Bez and Yamcha- both unconscious- from each other in their shared pod when Tien heard someone begin to stomp up the stairs to the landing pad. It was the second-to-last person he would have liked to see.

'What the hell are you two doing here!?' Nappa roared, his boots ringing crisply against the metal grating beneath their feet. 'There's no way you two could have purged LPT094 that quickly!

Nappa most likely saw that Tien was visibly injured, but the human fighter drew his attention to the hole in his chest plate all the same. 'We fought. We _won_ , but we were too injured to complete the contract. So we came back here to recuperate.'

'You _ran_ ,' Nappa said accusingly.

'We were attacked,' Tien snarled. Even though Nappa could have been as much as a foot taller than him, Tien made sure to keep his head lifted clean off his chest. 'We were outnumbered and unprepared, and we _still_ got ourselves out of there alive.'

'And you think that's your job? To _survive?_ ' Nappa barked. 'Have you been listening to a single damn word I've been drilling into your thick skull? Your sole purpose for being here is to purge planets! Completing a contract is more important than your lives!'

'We _defended_ that contract from other PTO soldiers! They tried to steal from us, from _you_ , and they paid with their blood for what they tried to do!'

'And whose fault is that?'

Tien studied Nappa's face. 'What?'

'Whose fault is it that you got attacked by PTO troops?' Nappa said in a dangerous voice. 'You knew not to talk to the other soldiers. You _knew_ ,' he repeated murderously. 'So how did it come to be that someone caught wind of your contract?'

Tien felt his own throat tighten up, and consciously moved himself to the left to block Nappa from peering into the second pod. 'I don't know,' Tien lied. 'Perhaps-'

Nappa abruptly stepped closer, grabbed Tien by the front of his armor with his massive hands, and brought his face mere inches from his own. It was horrifying how little power Tien had during this entire sequence of events.

'Listen to me, you little jagoff,' Nappa uttered furiously while spit shot out of his mouth in a mist. 'You may not understand the stakes here, but you do _not_ disobey mine or Vegeta's orders. Any idea why?'

Tien found it hard to speak while locked in the harness-like arrangement he currently inhabited within his armor. He nodded his head "no" in the place of words.

'Because when you fuck up,' Nappa growled, 'that means _we_ fucked up. What you do reflects on us. And if you're running away from missions with your tail between your legs, like a full _coward_ who can't take a few hits and soldier on with the mission, then you've got no place within the PTO; really, then, you have no right to call yourself a warrior.' Nappa sneered, and seemed to be regaining some of the cruel mockery he had evidenced in the other times Tien had interacted with him. 'You're laughable.'

Nappa's face was looming over Tien, repeatedly drawn and tied into the fiercest and more disdainful expressions he had ever seen another sentient being wear, but all Tien could think about was his own anger, his own indignity of having his status of a warrior challenged by someone as brutish and base as the Saiyan before him. Nappa would never understand that what he had done was honorable, _merciful_. Bez wouldn't understand. Tien doubted that even _Yamcha_ would understand. To have so many people think so little of him, doubt him-

'You're pathetic,' Tien stated in a calm, cool voice, but it was delivered exactly like how he had intended it- the statement came from a place of his mind so far above Nappa and was laced with such undeniable self-expressed preeminence that the affront was impossible to ignore. And Tien would be lying if he said it hadn't felt good to say.

Those two words had an immediate effect; a vein bulged, a mouth turned into a gross mockery of itself, and Tien knew what was coming before it occurred.

'HUAAAGH!' Nappa threw Tien to the ground with such force that Tien's body pushed down into the steel landing pad. Tien felt his armor on his back crack and the thin slivers of metal scratch and, in some places, pierce his armor and scratch him. The entire process was so jarring that Tien had audibly choked when his bones knocked together against the steel, and gagged on a shoot of bile and saliva that splashed against the roof of his mouth.

For a moment the Saiyan, standing over him like a monster beyond the point of control, huffed… and did nothing more. Through what looked to be a concerted effort, the pure rage drained away from Nappa's face. 'Clean up this-' he pointed to the dent surrounding Tien's body, '-and rouse your friend.' Then, without another word, he spun around and stormed off.

Tien was left panting, half-imprinted in the landing pad, to consider the consequences of his actions.

0o0o0

'Breathe. You're not _breathing!_ '

A bamboo stick whacked Krillin on the leg, making him wince and reflexively pull his leg back into the position it was in before. As he did this, he frantically wobbled on his other leg.

'You're also _drooping_!' King Kai chided him before whacking both of Krillin's arms in rapid succession, forcing them to align in a line perpendicular to the ground again. The human fighter wheezed from the effort. 'Better,' King Kai said somewhat pleased once Krillin had become motionless again.

A few feet away, Piccolo was faring slightly better- key word being _slightly_. For the moment, that was all that was keeping him from suffering an utter collapse in strength. The gravity on King Kai's planet was crushing, and this exercise maintaining ridiculous poses with arms and legs jutting out in every direction made that fact even more bruisingly relevant. The only thing keeping Piccolo upright at this point was the joy he received every time he saw Krillin be whacked.

Well, that and the mystery surrounding Kevin Woo. The human, currently sat in a lawn chair while reading a magazine ( _where could have gotten that from? Is there an Otherworld press?),_ had remained conspicuously silent since their arrival, even though he hadn't left their side for a single minute. What exactly was his purpose here? He hadn't seen Kevin Woo train with King Kai at any point, though Piccolo was sure he had received training in the past from King Kai; strong _ki_ , even when suppressed, had a way of conveying a rough estimate of its own strength if someone knew where to look. This contributed to the mystery- how _strong_ was Kevin Woo, exactly? To not know what Piccolo was aiming for was an insufferable ambiguity.

Eventually, Piccolo's curiosity- and his need to vent- got the better of him.

'What do you do around here?'

'Huh?' Kevin Woo popped his head up from the magazine. 'What'd you say?'

'Why are you here?' Piccolo rephrased.

'Curious, eh?'

Piccolo made a face which said, _"Why else would I be asking?"_

Kevin Woo grinned and adjusted his shades. 'Silly thing for me to say. Sorry; let me start over. I'm something of an Otherworld enforcer- I go around helping out the Kais and the other denizens with tasks when needed. Sort of like a spiritual handyman.'

'You just said two different things,' Piccolo said sourly. 'And none of it was very descriptive.'

'Let me give an example. Do you remember the big guy behind the desk when you arrived in this realm? Really red, had horns?'

'You mean King Yemma?' Krillin jumped into their conversation, though he regretted doing so immediately as his slight lapse in concentration led to him receiving another rap from King Kai's bamboo stick.

Kevin Woo nodded. 'A little while back he conveyed to King Kai to convey to me that there were some disturbances going on in Hell. Some ruffians, or troublemakers- whatever. You get the idea. So I was tasked to go down there and investigate, knock some heads around and the like.'

'It's that easy?' Piccolo asked skeptically. 'Going between this realm and hell, that is.'

'Well, for someone of my position, sure. I was given the power to traverse the realms to do my job.' Kevin Woo subtly glanced at Krillin. 'Though for those who don't have that power, I imagine it's a lot harder. That's why I had to rescue your friend Krillin here, after all.'

Tension took hold of them for a time, but before Piccolo could growl at Kevin Woo for all he was insinuating, the human fighter chuckled and shook his head. 'You're a goofy person, Piccolo. Did you think no one was going to notice that Krillin disappeared at the exact end of Snake Way? The _literal_ finish line?'

Piccolo was prepared to defend the selfishness of his actions; but he was not prepared to defend their competency. His face went slack, and got stuck in a dumb and embarrassed expression.

'Kevin Woo?' Krillin spoke up once more, this time making sure his pose was stable enough to chance a question. 'If you don't mind me asking… what did you see when you came down to rescue me?'

'Hmm?' Kevin Woo appraised Krillin, then seemed to grasp what was motivating the question. 'Ah. You were confused about what was going down there, right? All the spectral figures and real-and-not-so-real people shuffling back and forth and without any consistency as to where they are, or _why_ they are, and without any logic to their actions?'

'...Yes, that's a good summary of it.'

'The shortened version is that Hell in the afterlife functions as a personalized realm of negative spiritual energy- the energy down there will prompt any individual's worse nightmares to appear real, and, in most respects, _be real_. Though there are, of course, people who have died and who reside in hell as well, who you may have bumped into while down there. But it's more likely the energy down there was just playing on your mind, created everything you saw from your fears and anxieties, because it meant to scare or hurt you.'

'But there are people down there who are real, right?' Krillin asked quietly. The thought had crossed his mind a few times since being rescued, and he had hoped to attribute every event he experienced while there to a consistent hallucination or some other figment of his imagination. But Kevin Woo's explanation left… questions. Unwanted ones.

'Indeed they are,' Kevin Woo replied. 'It's from them that the negative spiritual energy comes from in the first place. Evil people get subsumed by the negative spiritual energy, and when they finally pass beyond their bodily form, their negative spiritual energy torments the next generation of evil people.'

'It's really quite poetic,' King Kai chimed in from behind Krillin, reminding him to how close he was to another whack.

'You know,' Piccolo spoke up, 'I don't think you actually answered my original question.'

'But I did!' Kevin Woo protested. 'Or, at least, I thought I did.'

'Why are you _here,_ ' Piccolo stressed, _'_ on _this planet_ , specifically.'

'He's on loan,' King Kai said with a suppressed laugh.

'I am not!' Kevin Woo complained.

'Yes, you are,' King Kai said with the smug authority of someone who _knew_ what they were talking about. 'If you weren't, I'd still have my little helpers around here.

'Are you talking about the monkey and the cricket?' Kevin Woo asked hazily.

'The very same.'

Kevin Woo made a face of displeasure. 'No… please don't bring them back.' He brought up his magazine, shielding his face once more. 'A lot of bad memories are tangled up with those two…'

'You do know you'll have to perform their role with them gone, right?' King Kai asked.

'Well, that was the deal, right?'

'What role?' Krillin asked moment before a bamboo stick crashed painfully against his side.

'You're not _breathing_!'

0o0o0

It hadn't been Nappa's intention to leave the Earthlings to their own thoughts for hours, days, stewing in their own spaces in the base. Another type of being would have done this deliberately; they would have enjoyed leaving their victims hanging on an edge, using their own minds against them while they conjured and imagined every possible punishment awaiting them beyond a single door, but Nappa wasn't of this mind. He was immediate, direct, and straightforward.

So it was for this reason that he couldn't risk seeing them. He couldn't be sure that, if left alone with them, their heads would still be on their shoulders after he was done with them. So he waited, _forced_ himself to wait, at the cost of his own bloodlust and peace of mind. Because there was an order to things, a chain of command, and it would be unbecoming of a general to kill without first being commanded by his Prince. No matter how much Nappa wanted to twist their bones until they cracked, and rip their limbs off one-by-one until they were nothing more than misshapen lumps, he would wait until he was told.

Though he doubted Vegeta's opinion would differ much from his own. That was what had saved him- a recognition, Saiyan to Saiyan, that the Earthlings' worthless time here was up. That death was to be delivered.

And so the hours stretched into days, and the days stretched into a week, and through that time Nappa kept virtually imprisoned in his own room and ate sparingly, shutting himself out from every object in the world that could tempt his better impulses. His impulses to main, kill, destroy- they were useful on a battlefield but miserable to have at all other times. For these he relied upon another to help him, and that other arrived just before he had exhausted the little self-restraint he had left.

Vegeta strode into their private barracks nonplused, the sliding metal doors opening and closing behind him faster than they should have. 'Nappa,' he said in a low voice, 'I want an explanation _now._ '

Nappa stood, as one prepared to give a summary report, and began addressing Vegeta. 'The two Earthlings returned from LPT083 without completing their mission. They-'

'I have already learned what has happened with the Earthlings, Nappa!' Vegeta lashed out. 'I was told by snickering fools and pompous idiots about what occurred before my most trusted soldier had even approached me! While you were sulking in your chambers like a _child_ , unmanaged gossip has run rampant among the low-levels! Where were _you_ ,' he hissed, taking one emphatic step further into the room, 'to quell these heedless lies and regulate our respect! Our Saiyan pride?'

'I-' Nappa verbally stumbled and clamped his teeth down, caging his tongue behind a barrier, and denied himself an opportunity to speak. In a better frame of mind he could have defended himself; but he still felt the blood run through him, the barely restrained rage, and was worried to whom it would be directed to if it came out now.

' _Sit_ , Nappa.'

The Saiyan general hesitated, his hands coiling and tightening around the lips of his armor as if to break it, but in the end he relented and sat himself down. His muscles lost nothing of their clenched, murderous appearance, though.

Vegeta sought to keep his measured rage present, but with Nappa's descent, this too retreated. 'It doesn't matter,' he murmured, soft to the point where Nappa wasn't sure if he was still included in this conversation. 'Those who wagged their tongues are dead and those who might think to speak were taught not to. I see now it was a mistake to leave on the eve of this- this _sensitive_ period- and leave you to your own devices.' Vegeta held his gaze on Nappa, and a whisper passed through his lips. 'Yes, I think I understand well enough.'

'A few things have become apparent to me,' Vegeta continued in a didactic tone. 'One- the Earthling fighters are of no worth to us. They sabotaged themselves, unknowingly or otherwise, and failed to complete what should have been an easy mission. We have no reason to believe that this will not happen again; that they will not flee from another contract when lauded with the slightest bit of pain. They are useless in that regard, and they have proven unwilling to divulge to us the information we seek. The information we have kept them _alive_ for- the truth of Raditz's death.'

'Two- Frieza is breathing down our throats more than usual- either he or his cronies are suspicious of our activities at the moment- rightly so. If the Earthlings were anything _but_ Earthlings, I wouldn't have hesitated to report to the PTO that we had enlisted them. While we were here, so far out on the edges of the PTO's grasp on the galaxy, I had thought that we would be able to keep their existence a secret.'

The tips of Vegeta's fingers then flexed and pulled into his palms. 'But things have changed. I've been informed that Cui is on his way here; evidently, my explanation as to what became of Raditz was unsatisfactory to Frieza's lieutenants. When Cui arrives, he will discover the Earthlings for themselves and then, I suspect, charge us for treason, or something else ridiculous.' Vegeta shivered, and it took a moment for Nappa to recognize what he was seeing; it had been a motion of anger and repugnance. 'As much as I _loathe_ to admit it,' Vegeta resumed, 'I am not confident that I can beat Cui in a fight.'

Then Vegeta's tone and posture shifted to one more open, explorative.'Now I am curious Nappa; what do you make of this?'

Nappa snapped out of a haze, and was unaware that he had been in one. 'I think we're in a rough spot.'

'No; I ask of you what we should _do_ ,' Vegeta pressed.

The older Saiyan desperately wished to open himself, like a blocked pipe close to bursting, and divest himself of all the roiling anger speeding through him. 'It's clear the Earthlings are the root of our problems,' he answered gratingly. 'It seems like if we get rid of them, we put ourselves back into a decent position.'

'Perhaps not with Frieza; but I agree with the rest of what you said, though I think we might have different ideas on _how_ to get rid of them,' Vegeta said, his attention fixed to a spot on the floor. 'But something else has been made clear to me; information can be bought without them through other means.'

'What are you getting at, Vegeta?'

Vegeta's eyes were sharp, and through they seemed to sometimes be consumed with peering inwards, they always landed on Nappa at the most efficacious moments. 'I think it is time we paid Earth a visit. Wouldn't you agree?'

Nappa's eyes glossed over. 'So that means?...'

'I tire of our unwilling partners,' Vegeta said. 'They have been nothing but a liability. Before the day is done, we will dispose of them. As for the woman… no, I have a feeling that it would be wise to keep her around for a little while longer…'

Vegeta's expression shifted again, and to the older Saiyan's surprise, the Prince had a smile plastered across his face ear-to-ear. 'But the most important truth that was revealed to me during my meeting with Frieza is this- our time within the PTO is coming to a close, Nappa. Someone within the higher ranks is gunning for our blood, and unless something is done soon, our corpses will do nothing more than mark where we made our last stand. We have to make a move before our enemies do. And I have no doubt in my mind that that woman will help us to do this.'

The details of the plan were explained to Nappa in the ensuing minutes, and after, the old Saiyan general could only grin at what his charge had become.

* * *

A/N: Another chapter in the books! _THE_ 50th chapter in the book! Wowie! If I had a good idea for a special chapter, I would be writing that shit! Unfortunately, something like that is still a little ways off! But regardless, here's to another 50!

and here are some power levels

Bez and friends: 1,700 or so

Tien: 2,000

Yamcha: 1,800

So here's my logic; they had to adjust to a planet with roughly 3x the gravity of Earth. Also, at this point, they've been on FP083 for a long while- they've had time to train and prepare for their next mission. We saw Goku make crazy gains with the gravity machine on the way to Namek, and with the gravity on King Kai's planet. I don't imagine it'd be any different for Tien and Yamcha on a smaller scale.

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** I stole Planthorr straight from the DBwiki, so I think he's... not OC? Or at least he was never named within the show, though he's there/ manga.

 **yasho360:** Thank you for the review! I always love to get the feedback from the people who read the story in one go for the first time- reminds the present me, who is writing one slow chapter at a time, that there is a larger story taking shape beyond the edges of writing madness. So cheers, and thanks!

 **Kizzy:** You've got a point there. And, for all intents and purposes, consider Gregory and Bubbles... very far away... I think. Not sure. We'll see how I feel a week from now!


	51. Release

Outlanders

Chapter 51: Release

* * *

One after another, the white gloves made a clean _snap_ as they were pulled down the length of Vegeta's hands. Nappa had watched the Prince dress himself many times, had done so for many years, but there was an air of novelty surrounding this particular occasion. The armor, hewn to Vegeta's body like a smoothed section of rock, held itself in place as Vegeta sat and dug his feet into his ice-white boots.

Perhaps his unfamiliarity was driven by time- the last time Vegeta had requested his presence when suiting up, the Prince couldn't have been half of Nappa's height or age. It was… _years_ ago, if he remembered correctly, when Vegeta had come back from a difficult mission rattled- though, of course, as a true Saiyan he had never shown his disquiet directly, though Nappa could tell regardless- and had requested Nappa's presence to ensure he was dressed as befitting his status when he next emerged to the other soldiery of the PTO. Nappa had watched the prince struggle through his fresh injuries and dress without help, and had given his nod of approval at the end, and nothing more was said or done by either of them. But the veneer Vegeta strode out with on that day, which hid a hundred different painful wounds just beneath his intimidating attire, had remained unbroken since. The Prince was no longer a child, and did not need others to shoulder his burdens.

Which is why he didn't understand his purpose here. The Saiyan before him was completed by himself, for himself, and did not need Nappa to sit here. He felt odd, out-of-place, and his mind began to plunge and spiral-

'Rise, Nappa,' Vegeta commanded of him. 'Does it reach the floor?'

Nappa broke out of his thoughts and regarded Vegeta- regarded the long, flowing red cape that draped itself down his shoulders and billowed to his feet. It was measured perfectly; it ended just below the tops of his boots.

'No, Vegeta.'

Vegeta smiled at this, and with an unintentional twirl of his cape, turned away from Nappa. 'Come, then; we've work to do.'

His Prince was halfway out of the room before Nappa physically shook his head and fell in behind him.

How could he forget? He had a part to play.

0o0o0

'You would think we would have been greeted by now.'

'Well, Bulma is a busy woman.'

'Doesn't have to be Bulma. Could be a guard, or her parents, of one of those… those-' Fingers snapping. 'those people who… ah….'

'Are you talking about the scientists?'

'Yes! Those people.'

'Why would they stop us?'

'I dunno. Don't they have to leave buildings and walk around outside sometimes, too?'

'Can't give you a definite answer on that.'

'I keep telling you this- this is pretty odd…'

Puar ignored Oolong verbally trailing off behind her and instead focused her attention on the open field adjacent to the main, half-sphere Capsule Corp. complex, and studied the scene from within a row of bushes. She had to admit; It _was_ odd that they had gotten this far onto Capsule Corp. property without being stopped. Or seen, or flagged, or noticed in really any way. The last time Puar had been here, she remembered having to go through some sort of checkpoint with an annoying security guard. Or was that someone else? Did she _watch_ someone else deal with an annoying security guard? Dear Kami, she had played so many different lives and roles over these past few years she couldn't even remember which memories were hers anymore. She needed to do some much needed reminiscing with everyone, just to remind herself that she was actually Puar and not some robot cyborg designed to sometimes look like a flying cat-

Oolong began to shake her shoulder. 'Hey!' he whispered, pointing. 'Who's that?'

She followed his indication; a man on a pair of crutches was moving into the center of the field from the direction of the main building, though every few feet he would stop, poke the ground a few times with one of his crutches, and then resume his journey out. He looked vaguely familiar in the same way all strangers had looked familiar to Puar when she had worked that cover job of scooping ice cream in the park.

'I think I know that guy,' Oolong spoke up; he was now beside her peering out. 'Yeah, I definitely recognize him,' he said with more confidence.

'Really? Who is he?'

'He fought in one of the tournaments, way back when,' Oolong said, squinting. 'If I remember correctly, his name was Bam, or maybe-'

'Bam?' Puar questioned. 'What tournament was this, again?'

'The first one- err, the first one we went to. The one where Yamcha got to the finals.'

'The 21st? There wasn't a "Bam" there. Besides us, I remember the big, smelly man, the woman, the old man who won, and-' Puar's eyes went wide, and she focused her gaze on Oolong. 'Are you talking about that guy from the village? Nam?'

'That's it! Nam!' Oolong agreed. 'That's definitely it!'

Puar _hmmm_ -ed _,_ and appraised the man before them. 'No… this guy can't be Nam. He looks a lot like him, but he's far too young.'

'You can tell how old he is from here?' Oolong asked skeptically.

'I can tell with a high degree of confidence, yes.'

'I still think it's Nam. And if it's not, then it's someone we know. Let's go ask him.'

'Wait!' Puar grabbed Oolong's arm and halted him. 'We barely know anything about that guy. For all we know, he could be some sort of hitman gunning for Bulma's life-'

'You're being ridiculous.'

'No!' Puar protested. 'It's- well, we just haven't broken our cover in such a long time. I don't want to blow it for no reason.'

He looked at her, then shook his head. 'No,' he said, 'that's not it. Try again.'

'I'm… anxious,' Puar confessed. 'About meeting everyone. It's been a while; _years_. Everyone's changed. We've changed. I'm just worried about… everything…' Puar ended meekly.

Oolong wasn't the brightest pig around, and he would never claim to be particularly good at handling other people's emotions, but in this moment, he felt he did fairly well. 'We don't have to meet them today. We can wait. There's no rush. They're not going anywhere, and neither are we.' He paused. 'Alright?'

She still looked upset, but she forced herself to smile. 'We'll meet them soon. Just… a few more days…'

There was then silence between them, but it was a silence they had built together. Oolong was content to let things be until he glanced again into the open field. 'Hey,' He spoke up. 'I think the man is finishing whatever he's doing.'

They watched as the man reached the center of the field, did one final poke of the ground, and then spun to face their direction. 'Hey!' he called out. 'You can come out now!'

Puar and Oolong nearly jumped up in that instant, but collected themselves admirably and quickly slunk back into the bushes. 'Let's go,' Puar urged, 'now-'

'If you try to run, I promise it'll be unpleasant!' the man's voice rang through the bushes. His tone was ambiguous enough to be interpreted as widely as friendly, hostile, or just plain ambivalent.

'We weren't going to!' Oolong quickly shouted back in response.

'Oh…' the voice replied, muted. 'Okay!'

'Puar,' Oolong addressed her. 'You know we need to-'

'I know,' Puar conceded. 'Just… give me a minute.'

Two minutes passed before they emerged into the open field, Puar looking only incrementally more sheepish than Oolong did. 'Sorry about the snooping around,' he said. 'We just, ehh… haven't been around here in a while.'

Retu cocked an eyebrow at them. 'How long?'

When they informed him of the length of their absence, Retu's expression dropped an inch. 'Ah. I assume you're looking for Bulma, then. I'm sorry to tell you this, but she's not here.'

'What about Yamcha? You know him?' Puar asked.

'He's not here, either. They're both… in space at the moment.' Retu initially was going to include the word "lost", but the sight of their curdling faces deterred him.

'I don't understand,' Oolong said in a confused tone. 'What space? _The_ space? You're joking right?'

Retu frowned. 'A lot has happened. Mostly bad, but... some good. Soon. Hopefully. It's good that you guys came today, actually; everyone should be around in about an hour or so.'

Before Puar and Oolong could ask any more questions- they both looked _extremely_ confused- Retu gestured toward the Capsule Corp. building. 'I promise I'll explain everything in there. We really need to get inside first, though.'

'Why?' Puar asked.

'Because in less than a minute, the ground beneath our feet is going to curl back and reveal a giant spaceship. So, could we?...'

They didn't give him any trouble after that, and with time to spare, they parked themselves against a big, outward-facing window and watched a round and impossibly shiny sphere rise up from below. As the sheer size of it became apparent to Puar and Oolong- it was large enough to dwarf some of the smaller skyscrapers in West City- the seeming impossibility of the words that Retu peppered them with suddenly became a lot more reasonable.

0o0o0

Bulma strode down the hallway as fast as her legs and her boldness would carry her. It was dangerous to be pushing her body, which still hadn't fully adjusted to the gravity, to move as fast as she was going currently. But Tien and Yamcha hadn't minced words; their time here was most likely rapidly coming to a close, and if they were going to survive this imminent transition, they needed leave soon.

She rounded a corner, gripping the hallway's railing for dear life as she went, and started down the last long corridor to the supply room. It would come down to luck- an absurd amount of luck, to be exact- to determine whether she would discover Namek's coordinates. She still hoped to achieve the original mission they had set out with- while she did have the Earth's coordinates tucked away, and she was pretty sure she could pilot a ship back home for the three of them, there was no guarantee the Saiyans wouldn't just follow them there. It was safe to assume that if Raditz knew about the Earth, Vegeta and Nappa did as well, and knowing that…

Bulma really didn't know what to make of that. Tien and Yamcha also didn't know what to make of that, and were both reluctant to acknowledge the awe-inspiring amount of power Vegeta possessed. But Bulma didn't need things to be spelled out for her- the prospect of either of the Saiyans traveling to Earth now would result in a slaughter.

So she considered alternatives. And while she didn't like the idea that absconding off to Namek might cause the Saiyans to follow in their wake, she actually preferred that to any scenario where they might be tempted to travel straight to Earth. _But Kami, what a cruddy run of options…_

She was close to the room now, its door stretching out before her in a hallway that seemed to grow longer the more she tired, but the individual buttons of the keypad were in sight now. A few more paces and she would pass into the room and begin to work miracles.

There was an intersection just before the door, leading off to a passage she had never seen a person walk down before, and she was utterly shocked when someone stepped out that passage a few feet before she had passed it.

'Hey,' Nappa said with a cruel laugh, lording over her like a giant, implacable wall, 'what's the rush?' He then grabbed her by the arms and spun her around, ignoring her yelps and cries, and Bulma felt the cold touch of metal slapping across her wrists. 'You were running the wrong way!' Nappa exclaimed. 'The shuttle is in the other direction. Good thing I was here to straighten you out, hah!'

'The shuttle to where?' Bulma demanded fiercely.

'Somewhere else,' Nappa replied. He then shoved her, almost strong enough to push her off her feet, but she stumbled and caught herself after a few seconds. 'Get moving!' he yelled.

'And if I refuse?' Bulma hissed.

'Then you don't leave this planet. _Ever._ ' He came up behind her again, and Bulma could feel the hands hovering inches away from her back. 'Are you going to be difficult? Because it's a much harder walk when one of your legs are broken…'

She surged forward and straightened her back. 'Don't touch me again,' she bristled, throwing a furious glare over her shoulder. 'I can walk without your prodding.'

'Then _move_ ,' Nappa growled.

She took a few angry strides down the hallway, but then she stopped and asked: 'Are Tien and Yamcha waiting for me?'

Nappa laughed, and pushed her forward again.

0o0o0

Their utensils clanged and scraped against the metal trays, the two of them trying to eat as mechanically as possible, but after a time Yamcha let his implements clatter to the table and slid the tray away from him into the center of the table. Tien, sitting opposite him, eyed him and spooned another chunk of food into his own mouth. 'You really should be eating,' he said.

'I'm not hungry,' Yamcha replied.

'Neither am I, but you don't see me not eating,' Tien said before shoving another spoonful of food into his mouth. 'We both know that any one of these meals could be our last one in a while. So _eat_.'

Yamcha was unaffected by Tien's command; he even went so far as to push his own tray farther away from him. 'Why don't you go advise Bez on his eating habits? Huh?' Yamcha said bitterly.

Tien glared at Yamcha and dropped his utensils. He was never going to lie to Yamcha; they were two of the three Earthlings in space, and he comprised one-half of the people Tien would trust unquestionably out here. But at the moment, however, Tien wished he had broken that rule a few days ago when he had informed Yamcha that he had spared the alien that had tried to kill them.

'Do you want me to spell things out for you for the hundredth time?' Tien asked without any attempt to mollify his own thoughts. 'Because you were either not listening or didn't care the first ninety-nine times?' When Yamcha made no audible reply, he went on. 'Bez is an ever sadder person than you are, Yamcha, which you would see if you weren't drowning in the self-hatred you're projecting onto me. His circumstances for being here are no different from our own, except that he didn't have the luxury of leaving a planet that was worth fighting for- no, he ran from a world that was slaughtered for profit, and did what he had to to survive, because his home had ceased to exist and the galaxy didn't want him.' There was a little nagging voice in the back of his head telling him to stop, to _disengage_ , but even if Yamcha had started this conversation, Tien decided that he would finish it. 'For all I know, he could have been the last of his race, considering that we _killed_ the two that were with him.'

'We should have killed him,' Yamcha said, unflinching. 'He was a monster- you said so yourself.'

' _I_ would have been a monster if I had gone through what he had!' Tien yelled. 'Not to mention that I would never willingly _associate_ with someone that we both agree is that depraved! And, do need I remind you who _forced_ me to make that decision in the first place?!' If it weren't for the loud and ever-present ambiance of the mess hall, Tien was sure heads would have turned to the commotion he was making by now. 'It was you! _YOU_ enabled him to follow us! _YOU_ nearly **killed** us!'

Yamcha held his gaze with Tien through this, but a few seconds after Tien had finished, the defiance in Yamcha's eyes faded away. The tone of their conversation immediately shifted. 'I know I messed up bad,' Yamcha said, moving and wrapping his hands around his mouth like the many folds of a bandana. 'I thought getting information would help us… talking to everyone who might offer that… I thought...'

Despite himself- despite the gnawing, grinding anger that Yamcha's questioning of him had emboldened- Tien felt sad at the visible sag he now saw in Yamcha.

'I haven't seen anything of Bez since I dropped him off in the medical wing,' Tien said quietly, seeking to reassure the doubts that surely must have plagued Yamcha's mind. 'You know this; you know that we only have each other and Bulma to rely on. We have to keep each other strong. Which… is why we should eat.'

'I'm not hungry.'

There was nothing more to be said between them, and Tien, having lost his appetite, did the same as Yamcha and pushed his tray into the center of the table. Amongst the hall of cheering, brawling, and boisterous PTO soldiers, they alone were silent.

Tien was about to try and restart their conversation when something caught his attention; a deathly silence had descended on the room. He was just able to alert Yamcha to the change in atmosphere when a figure stood up on a table at the far end of the mess hall.

His heart nearly stopped. Vegeta, buttressed with a red cape and a menacing smirk, threw out his arms to address the crowd. 'Everyone! I have an announcement to make!'

The room was large enough for someone to be seated at the edges and be unnoticed, so with as much inconspicuousness as Tien could muster, he leaned over his table towards Yamcha. 'We need to go,' he whispered, ' _now_.'

The color had drained from Yamcha's face- he seemed to recognize to whom the voice which was now booming off the room's walls belonged to. 'Alright, yeah.'

'I bring news from Frieza,' Vegeta proclaimed as Tien and Yamcha pushed themselves through the edges of the crowd. 'He said, word-for-word, "I could not be prouder with the men and women who serve under me", and to that effect, he arranged for me to present everyone at this base with a reward.'

Murmurs rose up from the gathered troops; some were confused, leery, but these were quickly overshadowed by the growing clamor of interest riding across the crowd. Voices began to form words. "What did he say?"- "What's the reward?"- "About time! Busting our asses…"

Vegeta ignored them. He always ignored the chattering of idiots. 'The reward is this!' He yelled above the growing noise, setting his arms into a straight line above his head. The bottoms of his palms pressed together, and above their combined surface, a dark blue glow began to spill out and down.

Even if Tien hadn't known how to sense _ki_ , he would have ascertained what was about to happen by the simultaneous _beep_ of every scouter on every soldier's head present. As such, he practically threw himself towards the nearest double-door exit, dragging Yamcha to the ground with him. He was halfway there when a word cut through his mind-

' _FAREWELL!_ ' And his world was absolved in a tide of noise and light.

0o0o0

Bulma was chained to a metal railing within the shuttle like an animal, and when she had raged and spat out every curse she could think of at Nappa, the bad taste in her mouth was made worse by his cruel and indifferent laughter. She would have liked to grab the nearest thing near her and throw it at his stupid bald head as he ambled off, but chained as she was, there was no nearest thing to her, and even then, she doubted she could have thrown it with enough strength to reach him. And, so, she was left alone with some of the most vindictive, violent thoughts that had ever entered her head.

But these thoughts were meaningless, here, now; she forced herself to let go the seething anger, and focus on what she could do. She set out fiddling with the metal handcuff that detained her- failing to find a fault with it, she started to manipulate the handcuff to see how far she could get along the railing while still chained to it. For her effort she discovered she had about six inches of leeway in any direction. Six inches. _Six…_

Her back slid down against the cold metal lining of the ship and she fell into a sitting position. _Just… six…_ She drew her knees closer to her; _This… I…_

It was too much to bear. She had tried her hardest to save them- she had intimidated, lied, and buttered her way into a position where she could help them, where she was out of her bed and right at home amidst whirring computers and tech. She had done this not knowing what had happened to Tien and Yamcha while they were on their mission, and had continued to do so after seeing how wounded they were on their return. Clumps of her own hair had started to fall from her scalp when she realized that they had nearly died for her, and would die for her if she didn't figure out how they would escape in time. And, today, injustice smiled upon her; her chance to put everything together was wrenched out of her hands. Her _life_ was wrenched from her, as casually as someone would pluck a blade of grass. In light of all this, and chained to what appeared to be the first in a long line of indignities that awaited her in the future, she didn't know what was worse; to know if Tien and Yamcha were dead, or to be separated from them… forever.

Bitter tears fell, and her sobs sounded ragged in the small confines of the shuttle. She didn't want to cry- she _hated_ crying- but she was far too committed to the ugly act to stop. She was being swept away with the swell.

Bulma was like this for a time, swallowed by her hopelessness, until she heard soft footsteps echo on the edge of her hearing- soft enough for her to doubt that they were real. She wiped a tear-stained arm across her face and listened, and to her surprise, heard the footsteps grow louder. Her mind quickly turned; she stood, and summoned whatever fury she had left for her cruel imprisoner.

The footsteps grew to a peak, stopped briefly, and then she heard the person start to ascend the ramp leading into the shuttle. But she did not see a bald head- or, at least, not fully bald- but instead an older head graced with long grey hair on all sides. She made a choking sound.

Planthorr looked agitated and rushed to her side quickly. 'Do not tell me anything,' he said brusquely as he produced a key. 'I was never here.'

A _click_ and a second later, Bulma stood stunned, rubbing her freed wrist as if she had lost a hand and had suddenly regrown it. 'I… I don't…'

'No questions!' Planthorr chided her. He began to reach for the free handcuff lying on the floor, but then froze, and pulled back. 'Please, for the literal life of me,' he said, 'take that thing with you.' He then dropped the key to the ground rather abruptly. 'That, too.'

Then he turned and began to stride hurriedly out of the shuttle. 'If your friends are lucky,' he said, pausing just before the ramp, 'they'll be here soon. Be ready.'

'I- I don't understand,' Bulma said softly. 'Why are you helping me? Helping _us_?'

He half-turned to her and looked like he would say something, but nervousness rolled across his face and instead he gave her a curious smile. 'Bye,' he stated simply, and hurried down the ramp.

She stared off towards the ramp, long after he had passed from sight, and listened to his footsteps slowly recede. What had just happened was bizarre, dream-like, and she couldn't- _would not_ make sense of it. There was something to their interaction that had so deeply dissatisfied her, like the feeling of unexpectedly arriving at the abrupt end of a book, that tried to compel her to chase after him, grab him by the arm, and demand an explanation as to what just happened.

But then, with the concentrated focus of a brilliant mind, she brushed it aside and set herself upon the shuttle's cockpit. She was in a position to actually _do_ something now; she wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

Her fingers flashing down on the ship's main console, Bulma cursorily examined what must have been the navigational assist system that enabled the ship to do interstellar travel. Haltingly, she drew out her hidden notepad and inputted the Earth's coordinates to her system, and to her relief, the system seemed to accept them and locked in the planet as its destination. It was simpler than she had feared, and the relief from calculating their trip to Earth that quickly caused her to collapse back into the pilot's chair.

And then an idea struck her. She didn't know where Namek was- it didn't seem that _anyone_ in the PTO knew- but there was someone she knew who _did_ know. With a growing eagerness she turned on the ship's communication system, and calling upon her time spent traveling in Kami's ship, she pulled on some questionable knowledge…

And, when she had made as best an approximation of what could be remembered, she pressed a button on the ship's console and _yelled_.

0o0o0

'... So you've already decided who's going, then?' Retu asked broadly of everyone gathered. Chi-Chi, Launch, and Rayne were in one group, hanging back and generally disengaged from the larger conversation, while Puar and Oolong were farther back and still marveling through the window at the massive spaceship parked on the Capsule Corp. lawn. None of them looked particularly happy to be here, but for those who knew of this day beforehand, it was necessary that they should see off whoever volunteered.

From one side, situated next to Chiaotzu, Suno stepped forward. 'Us two,' she answered with a bit of swagger. 'We'll go.'

'Put me down on the record as saying I'm not a fan of this,' Launch sniped from her right, 'if we want to maximize our chances of success, I should be going alone.'

'You're the strongest person we have,' Rayne gently reminded Launch. 'which makes you needed here. And, besides, it wouldn't make any sense to send you off into space by yourself.'

'Which is my condition for going, which you all have voted down, so here we are,' Launch said quickly. She then turned her attention to Suno. 'You know you're not ready for this, right?'

Suno looked offended, but before she could say anything, Chiaotzu jumped in. ' _Together_ , I think we'll be okay,' he said. 'And, if Launch isn't going, we're really the only people who can afford to be off planet for whoever long this takes.'

Glances were thrown in Chi-Chi and Rayne's direction, and the latter's face twisted into a suspicious scowl. 'Wait… why is everyone looking at me? I don't-' She suddenly got the feeling that something that was supposed to be private was very public.

'Bulma sorta told everyone before she left, in case she wasn't back before…' Chiaotzu tapered off, then said, 'So we could throw a party for you, or something, in her stead. Uhh… sorry about that,' he added faintly.

'Oh. I- oh…' Blushing, and feeling like there were too many eyes on her at once, Rayne meekly faded into the background.

Chi-Chi coughed. 'Is the ship ready, then? If it's possible, I want to get back to Fire Mountain by tonight.'

'Ambitious, aren't we?' Launch said facetiously. 'That's a fair distance to travel in one go.'

'I'm trying to get back into training. Haven't really done much, with, well, you know…'

'You'd do better with someone to push you to get there faster.'

'Is that an offer?'

'Is that a challenge?'

They then stared at each other, each one giving the other a strange look. 'The ship's almost ready,' Retu replied to Chi-Chi's earlier question. 'Mr. Briefs should be done with the final check soon. And then you two can do your… whatever.'

'Training,' Launch corrected him. 'And, speaking of, when's the last time you've done any of that?'

Retu cocked an eyebrow at her. 'Me? You do see me leaning on my crutches, right?'

'Don't you remember?' Launch flashed him a knowing smile. 'We both studied under that old fart, Master Roshi, and he consistently moved _much_ better than someone of his age should have.'

'What are you getting at?'

'She's suggesting you can use your _ki_ to walk unassisted, without your crutches, you doofus,' Suno said impertinently.

Retu froze up at being addressed directed by her. 'Do- doofus?' he stuttered.

'I agree with the young blood on this one,' Launch cut in. 'You're being a major…' she stifled a laugh. 'doofus... '

Suno, sensing an underlying current of mockery, swung her gaze towards Launch. 'What's so funny?' she demanded.

'Just… ah…' Launch waved away the question, even as she made Suno more and more annoyed by her snickering. This interplay caught on with everyone else; soon enough, everyone present except for Suno and Retu was on the spectrum between giggling and full-out laughing. The latter looked terribly embarrassed, while the former looked increasingly enraged. ' _What is it!_?' Suno demanded once more.

In the midst of this scene, a voice, blaring from some high-up intercom in the room, yelled out: ' _Hello?! Anyone there!?'_

0o0o0

Bulma kept herself draped over the console for seconds that felt like hours, wondering whether the silence she heard was due to an inevitable misstep of her mind, or to the long delay it took for a message to ping-pong through space. Then, at last, she heard something.

'-Bulma?' a voice, thick with disbelief, crackled back.

Relief flushed through her. 'Retu!' She cried. 'It's- I can't- alright, great to hear from you, what we need to do- I can't believe this-'

'Bulma!' Retu's voice warbled. 'Slow down! What's going on? Where are you?'

'Unimportant!' She replied, manic. 'We can speak at our leisure later, but _right now_ , I need you to read out Namek's coordinates to me!'

There a brief period of silence on the other end, just long enough for Bulma to dread that the connection had been lost, but then she heard the sound of frantic shuffling and running. 'It's- hold on! It's… right here…'

She could taste victory on the tip of her tongue, and with a dramatic flourish, she hoisted her notepad and struck a ready pose to write the coordinates.

A few seconds later, a neat line of numbers and letters, unrecognizable as anything but random to the untrained eye, was scrawled in resplendent fashion across the lines of a page. 'Fantastic…' Bulma breathed.

'So, uh,' Retu pressed, 'You gonna-'

'No time! We'll be on our way to Namek soon! But I gotta work now! Say hi to my Dad and everyone else!' And, with that, she pressed a button on the console and ended the call.

It took a moment for reality, among other things, to set in. She couldn't believe it. She had made tech created by two different _friggin species_ , separated from each other by an impossibly large interstellar distance, talk to each other. She had remembered the private frequency used for the Capsule Corp. PA system, had hacked it, and patched through her voice to friends she had been dreaming of seeing again. She… she was genuinely surprised by the force of her own intellect. She couldn't remember the last time _that_ had happened.

Everything was turning out… according to plan. She could slap herself with joy. _And I might as well, when there's a high chance that everything blows up in my face, any moment now..._

It was ironic that, just at the moment when she figured she was due for another misfortune, an ominous _boom_ and _rumble_ rolled through the cockpit. And then she remembered that there were some things that were beyond the capabilities of her illustrious mind to do.

0o0o0

'Kevin Woo?'

'Eh?' The human fighter poked his head and halo up above his magazine and looked over at King Kai. At the deity's side, Piccolo and Krillin looked to be standing easily under their own weight. 'Oh? You've finished already?' He scooted up in his chair, set the magazine aside, and bounced to his feet. 'That was quick.'

' _Quick_?' Piccolo stressed. 'It took us _days_ to get to this point!'

Kevin Woo lazily stretched his arms and did an even lazier study of them. 'Huh. I didn't notice.'

'How did you not notice _days_ passing?' Krillin asked.

'How do you know days actually _passed_? Has the light level in this realm changed at all? Have you gone to sleep and felt that you got a good night's rest? Have you _slept_?'

'No,' Piccolo said, 'but I've been keeping track of time. In my… head.'

'And how confident are you about your count at this point?'

'Uhh…' Piccolo's face tightened with stubbornness. 'Well enough.'

Kevin Woo let his skeptical gaze rest on Piccolo for a second, then said: "King Kai, how long have these two been dead for exactly- but before you say it, I want to hear what our green friend here has to say.'

'We've been dead for- for two months!'

'King Kai?'

'Close,' King Kai replied with a smirk. ' _Not_. Four months is the answer you're looking for.'

'Four months?' Krillin moaned. 'That's so long! I… I'm missing out on important stuff on Earth!'

'Earth? Missing?' King Kai gave Krillin a strange look. 'Dead people aren't usually working with a timetable for when they'll return to the living... but I'll hold back my curiosity for a moment. It is time for us to begin your actual training.'

Piccolo straightened at this. 'About time,' he muttered.

King Kai threw a measured glare at Piccolo. 'I'm going to ignore that comment,' he said, 'because the training you've received so far is _very_ representative of future training methods I will employ.' King Kai lowered his head, and a foreboding shadow cast by his round shades fell across his eyes. 'If you're unhappy with my training… I'm sure they're taking on more students in Hell…'

'Uhh-' Piccolo said, cowing instantly, 'that won't be necessary, King Kai.'

'Good,' King Kai said quickly, recalling his previous lightheartedness, 'because it wouldn't do for you to quit on the verge of something truly _special_. I've decided that to best train you two, I want to give you a goal; something to aim for, that is, that will not only _shatter_ what you think the limits of power are, but also prove that this power can be bestowed on mortals and gods alike.' As he said this, he held his hands, clasped together, behind his back and assumed a relaxed pose. 'Open your _ki_ sense to this planet, to _me_ , and understand the task that lies ahead of you.'

Krillin and Piccolo nodded- this was something they could do easily, on command, as opposed to all the other tortured tasks they had done here so far- and each sat cross-legged on the glossy grass. Slowly, they loosened their hold on their own _ki_ and focused outwards; they were both startled to sense how strong they had both grown since they had died.

'Judging from the expressions on your faces,' King Kai said cheerily, 'you've both discovered the first secret about the Otherworld- Snake Way does _wonders_ for your cardio. But… pay attention, now.'

They centered their attention on King Kai, and with a simple flutter, his full power was revealed; it felt gentle, caressing, and had a wholly unfamiliar feeling to it than most mortal _ki_ Krillin and Piccolo had sensed. People typically have a flavor to how they sensed, fed by their personality and temperament- but King Kai's _ki_ felt like a universal force, perfectly balanced in startlingly smooth ways. It was like palming a ball and finding it perfectly spherical.

And, of course, it was large. Krillin reckoned that he was sensing about five "Raditzs" in a single being. It was _staggering_.

'Your strength…' Piccolo began to murmur. 'It's…'

'I know what you're about to say,' King Kai said with a grin, 'but _trust me_ , you're going to want to wait until the end.'

'The… end?'

Kevin Woo, facing away from Krillin and Piccolo, stepped over to King Kai and handed off his shades to him. When he turned to face them, there was something immediately striking about his eyes- though they were young and vibrant, there was a wisdom laid behind them that seemed to pierce whatever they were set upon. The sense of familiarity Krillin and Piccolo felt around Kevin Woo roared back to them two, three times stronger than before, though their minds struggled to keep pace with what they were seeing. Then, with a solemn lowering of his arms to his sides, Kevin Woo tensed.

King Kai backed away, and amidst a growing wind gently pushing across the planet, he said, 'I consider myself strong… one of the strongest _Kais_ of the current generation… but Kevin Woo… the _greatest_ student I've ever had the pleasure to instruct…' The wind now was growing into a tumbling pulse, whipping and lashing across their skin like a thousand little cuts. 'He surpassed me!'

Power was unveiled like a wrapped fabric, spooling out across them, over them, _through_ them as if it totally indifferent to their existence. Krillin and Piccolo struggled to keep a sense of themselves whole as this planet-shaking storm descended on them, _drowning_ them, in more power than either one of them would have thought possible for a single being to possess. Faced with such a magnitude of strength, such a wall of unmitigated force, it was all they could do to simply sit there and not be pushed away by its magnificence. Krillin did the frantic, rough math very quickly- he was being buffeted by upwards of _forty Raditzs'_ worth of strength. It was… it must have been impossible, except that it was, and even more so, _very_ possible.

And in the center of it all, standing like a shining pillar, Master Roshi- because yes, now that his full power was on display, there was no doubting that silly, steadfast, and controlled energy that dwarfed them at every turn- gazed at them and smiled an easy smile, content to let his simple black clothes flutter furiously in the wind. Then, with a simple tense of his body, the force and wind vanished, and his energy was spooled back into him.

King Kai had known about "Kevin Woo's" real identity and relationship to Krillin and Piccolo before this, of course, and so hung back in a similar entertained state to Master Roshi and watched his new pupils visually process this turn of events. They seemed to be diverging; Krillin's face grew droopy, bewildered, while Piccolo looked increasingly agitated. 'That's outrageous!' the Namekian fumed, standing up abruptly and fully extending an accusing arm and gesture towards Master Roshi. 'How! How are you that _strong!?_ '

'You know I've been here for five years, right?' Master Roshi said amicably. 'And, I hate to break it to you, but they are _far_ stronger beings than me hanging out with the other _Kais_.'

'Oh, stop that,' King Kai tutted in a way evidencing this was a conversation they had had before. 'I've seen West Kai's _peons_ , and they're nothing to you!'

'Have you seen some of West Kai's fighters? They're much stronger than me!' Master Roshi said cheerfully.

'You have techniques!' King Kaid said impatiently. 'So be quiet, and accept your greatness!'

Master Roshi gave a nervous laugh, and lacking anything to do with his arms, scratched the back of his head.

'Outrageous!' Piccolo repeated, pumping his arms up and down like his body was a water spigot. He then spun around and started to walk down one side of the planet. 'To think- to think!' He yelled as he disappeared from sight, though his grumblings never fully left them as the planet was quite small.

'I… I'm sorry…' Krillin spoke up, drawing his head up from his lap, 'but… you were Kevin Woo the entire time?

'You were never very good at seeing through my disguises,' Master Roshi said in a disappointed tone. 'None of you were, to be honest.'

'But- But- but that's not even a disguise!' Krillin complained. 'You aren't wearing a wig, or a different outfit; you're practically a different person!' Krillin looked hurt, and briefly, it appeared this feeling was directed at Master Roshi, but then he said, 'I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, Master Roshi.' He sniffled. 'I _should_ have recognized you- you, who taught me so much about how to fight, how to protect those who can't protect themselves-'

Before Krillin knew what was happening, he was drawn into a hug, and though Krillin had never known this exact caress when alive, it felt warm and reassuring and _kind_. It was what he had needed, without him knowing; he had just wanted to see Master Roshi again. 'I'm sorry... ' he said, nearly crying, 'I'm sorry- I'm sorry I let you die…'

Master Roshi let his former pupil exhaust himself and rubbed his hands in consoling circles on Krillin's back. 'It's alright. We all die one day, Krillin. _I_ couldn't have asked for a better death- I went out like a great teacher should. I fought for all the good in the world, _died_ for it, and then was avenged by my students.' An old memory, _very_ old, crossed paths with Master Roshi's train of thought, and he said, 'One day, I'll tell you about Master Mutaito, and you'll understand. But until then… _cry_.'

And Krillin did. King Kai was not used to such an emphatic display that he couldn't nudge away with humor. But at least he could be thankful that he had someone else for Krillin to throw himself on.

It took a while, but eventually Krillin's crying ran its course, and he decoupled from Master Roshi, dabbing at his eyes. 'It's nice to see you, if I haven't said so already,' he said in a quiet, appreciative voice.

'It's nice to see you, too.'

Around this time the grumblings came closer, and Piccolo re-appeared to them. King Kai hung an eyebrow high on his face. 'Are you done?' he asked dryly.

'I took exactly as much time needed to process and destroy every last ounce of my self-aggrandizing nature I had left,' Piccolo replied dryly. 'Having accepted this, we can now proceed.'

Master Roshi gave a crisp laugh, and turned: 'That's it? Just like that, you dispersed everything you were feeling? What about my big reveal? You're face-to-face with your father's would-be killer, who seems to have been _rewarded_ for his acts of resistance against King Piccolo in life. Doesn't that make you mad? _Angry_? What do you think?'

'I don't think much of it,' Piccolo said flatly. 'King Piccolo led a different life from mine, and made different mistakes. My father did beat you in the end, though even if that result was flipped, I wouldn't care. What's done is done.' Piccolo scowled at him, but it seemed to be motivated more by disagreement than malice. 'King Piccolo was his own being, as am I.'

Master Roshi seemed to be surprised by this response, for he spent a moment searching Piccolo's eyes. 'I'm happy to hear that, then,' he finally said. 'I feel a bit better about you being here, then, if I'm being frank.'

Piccolo's face then drew into a long, cocky smirk. 'I'm not absolving myself of any crimes or misdeeds, to be clear. Once I'm brought back to life, I fully intend to stake my claim over the Earth and all the weaklings who live there.' He glanced between Krillin and Master Roshi. 'I want both of you to know that.'

The two humans frowned, but Krillin said: 'That's fine by me. You've handed me another reason to give this training my all.'

'I'm sensing some anticipation,' King Kai chimed in. 'Both of you are ready to start, then?'

Krillin and Piccolo held their gaze on each other, and then they turned to King Kai at the same time and gave stout nods.

Master Roshi looked at them for a time, and watched them listen to King Kai's every word with sharpened focus, and then wandered back to his chair and magazine. _Until I'm called upon again, then..._

0o0o0

They were lucky enough to survive the first, seemingly life-ceasing blast that had divided into a hundred shards and flattened the mess hall and every soldier in it; they couldn't count on luck again. As fast as they could manage, Tien and Yamcha sprinted through the narrow, square halls of the base, more so _away_ from what they had just lived through and less _towards_ some determinate goal. They clacked shoulders against other PTO soldiers, all to differing degrees confused and worried, and the longer they ran, the more they recognized a growing panic among the people they passed. Soon enough, while distant rumblings so consistently shook the ground underneath their feet that it seemed like the entire planet was caught in an unending earthquake, the entire base was alight with frenzied activity; Tien and Yamcha saw carts filled to the brim with random things being rushed down corridors by one or two soldiers at a time, as well as others fighting and killing each other in an expression of long-running feuds.

It seemed that, once the one guarantee everyone here abided by unraveled- that their lives were protected as long as they served the cause- anarchy ruled.

After a time, Tien and Yamcha were forced to pause to catch their breath. 'This is crazy,' Yamcha said, wheezing. 'Has Vegeta lost his mind? He's slaughtering his own people!'

Tien's gaze flickered to Tien. 'In the same way we were Bez's people. You ready to run again, slower this time?'

Yamcha nodded, and they set off again. Tien took the lead.

This time they maintained a more brisk yet manageable pace, which allowed to think as they ran. After they rounded what felt like ten more hallway corners, Yamcha called on Tien to stop again. 'Do you know where you're going?' He asked pointedly.

Tien made a sour face. 'To be honest… no.'

'We're going to the pods, right? To the landing pads? We're _leaving_ , right?'

'Yeah, I think that's a good idea.'

'Well, do you know where we are in relation to there?'

'...No.'

Yamcha shook his head in frustration, and then set off. 'Follow me.'

Tien had expected things to improve then, but soon enough they were rounding corners in the same brazen fashion he had led them in minutes ago. On top of this, another thought jumped into his head. 'What about Bulma?'

Yamcha halted, and Tien heard him mutter something under his breath. 'Damn it,' he said more audibly. 'Where did she say she would be? That storage room at one of the far ends of the base?'

'I think that's right,' Tien agreed. 'Do you know how to get there?'

'... I think. C'mon- let's go.'

They set off after a pause for the third time, and in spite of Yamcha's assurances, the lack of direction Tien felt as to where they were going plagued him.

'Are you sure that you know where we're going?' He asked as they rounded another short corner. 'It feels like we're-'

Tien ran into Yamcha's back, and clunked painfully against the back of his armor. 'Hey!' he yelped, lifting his head clear above Yamcha shoulders, 'What's-'

His question died in his throat. Looming at the end of the hall, far beyond a number of other PTO soldiers who looked similarly paralyzed with fear, was a hulking, monstrous figure, one golden glowing hand outstretched in their direction like a gun. 'Back to training, then!' Nappa yelled down the corridor while letting loose a disturbing laugh. ' _Dodge this!_ ' A blast screamed from his hand, broke apart halfway to them, and showered Tien's vision with stabbing, painful, _searing_ light.

0o0o0

Nappa waited in rapt anticipation for what his work had done- the smoke took its tedious time clearing from the blast radius- but, upon seeing the full extent of his devastation, he sobered up and reminded himself of his duty. He wasn't quite done yet.

But the blast had done its job; the corridor before him was flattened for as far as he could see into the smoke. 'Come out, come out, wherever you are…' Nappa said playfully. He had made a mess of things- there enough bodies lying on the ground to make identifying the two Earthlings a chore. 'Where are- ahhh…' Through the darkened streaks of grey sliding across the air, Nappa sighted the vague outline of a body that had the vague outline of three eyes on its head. 'There you are!'

He strode over, waving the smoke away from his eyes. 'I have some bad news for you two,' Nappa drawled to whichever one he presumed was still alive- the one with the scar over one of his eyes, if he remembered correctly- as he bent down and picked up the body by the front of its armor. 'Vegeta says I have to take one of you in. As for the other one, well… old three-eyes, I think your time is up- What?'

The armor Nappa had picked up was encasing the body of an entirely unfamiliar alien with three eyes. Their skin color was far too orange, too.

'Damn dead bodies everywhere,' he swore, tossing the body back to the ground. 'You're making this harder on- Aaargh!' A leg swing came out of nowhere and slammed against Nappa's back, catching him unaware more than actually hurting him. He growled, spun, but his hand swung through empty air and tore fruitlessly through the smoke. The next second, a thin yellow beam parted the smoke and lanced into the right side of his head, turning his scouter in a shower of metal bits

None of these puny attacks could touch him- but _damn_ , were they annoying! Out of frustration, Nappa planted his feet into the broken earth. 'Come out and face me, you cowards!' He roared.

0o0o0

Just another mission. That- after Vegeta had wondered to himself for some time while his physical apparition continued to snuff out of the lives of weakling PTO soldiers, staff, and everything in between- was what this reminded him of. _Just another contract to complete_. Except this was far easier, and by extension, more boring. It was funny that the army he served in was proving less of a challenge to wipe out than most of the worlds he had purged.

With every weakling he mowed down without so much as a turn of his head, he grew more confident that he had made the right decision.

He eventually came to a wide, long corridor, and found a mass of soldiers engaged in an all-out brawl with each other, spilling blood of every color on the base's dirty walls and floors, and snapping bones and wrenching arms nearly out of their sockets. Vegeta was content to watch this for some time, entertained by the futility of the actions of weaker beings, and then with a wave of his hand, dismissed the scene from his presence.

When the dusted debris cleared, he was surprised to see someone still alive at the end of the hallway- it was a purple alien, bald, who, compared to all the other soldiers that had looked into his eyes so far, looked _defiant_. Vegeta was, in a word, interested.

'You look bold,' Vegeta said wryly.

'I know I can't kill you,' the purple alien replied, his voice unsteady from what must have been terror. Who would blame him? He had the courage to face his end like a true warrior. 'But I don't think I'm going to get out of this alive, so what the hell? I want to go down swinging.'

'Brave words,' Vegeta commented. 'But wouldn't you want to go out swinging against someone who you could actually _fight_? Because I'll be honest- you're more liable to flail around and die than do anything else against me.'

'That's exactly why I sought you out,' he said with an uneasy smile. 'I wanted to go out against the best.'

'Hah!' Vegeta barked with laughter. 'Well, who am I to reject such flattery? Come on, then- give me your best!' According to his scouter, this weakling didn't even have a power level of 2,000- what could he do to him?

The purple alien slowly nodded and bent closer to the ground, and began to emanate a soft white-yellow glow from his body. But his power level did not budge- it remained at 1,800. _Pathetic_. Vegeta was entirely amused as his would-be opponent gave a long, low growl.

Then, in a split-second, the alien's position shifted- blinked, almost- and Vegeta saw him charge at him, one luminescent hand held out before him, cradling a charge of energy. The Prince wasn't even going to bother to defend himself- he would let the fool land a hit on him, and then would step in and snap his neck.

Vegeta, arms crossed, thus let the attack hit him- it detonated painlessly across his face, doing nothing more than cause his hair to flutter some- and he promptly stepped in and swung his right arm up and around, intending to hook the alien by his neck and end his life.

But his arm hooked on nothing- he swung awkwardly through empty air, and he nearly stumbled to the ground by failing to grab onto a head to snap. With a huff, he flared his _ki_ and dismissed the aerial particulates in the air resulting from the alien's attack, and searched- and saw nothing. The alien was nowhere to be seen. Vegeta very quickly checked his scouter, and found that the power signature he had been sensing was _gone_ \- or at least far enough away to not be distinguishable from the general mass of weak soldiery running around.

Vegeta's mind whirred, and it took him a moment for him to figure out what had happened, but inevitably, he gave a frustrated shake of his head. The cretin had tricked him- he had thrown a _ki_ attack at him, made it _appear_ that he was charging, but had run off as soon as the attack had been launched.

Shocked, Vegeta rubbed the spot on his jaw where the attack had landed. 'That… bastard…'

In the next moment, after Vegeta had impaled another hapless PTO soldier with a flick of a beam from his finger, any niggling irritation he felt dissipated.

0o0o0

Tien and Yamcha hung back beyond the dark grey cloud, their _ki_ sense focused on the Saiyan brute swinging wildly through the smoke before them. It turns out that Tien's old hunch had been correct- these guys used scouters because they _couldn't sense energy_. It was such a massive, useful, but most importantly _unusual_ advantage that he didn't really know how to capitalize on it.

Yamcha seemed to be having the same thoughts he was having. 'He's lashing out wildly right now- but what can we do?' he whispered so as to not be heard. 'He's so much stronger than us…'

Thinking, Tien chewed on his lip. 'Maybe we can take him out with some sort of concentrated attack- like you took out Raditz.'

'Or maybe we can just run,' Yamcha suggested. 'Let's avoid a fight if we can.'

'Run where, though?' Tien asked. 'We don't know where we're going- we don't know how to get to Bulma- _Look out!'_

Tien was too slow to give his warning as the back of a fist crashed against Yamcha's face, causing a gush of red blood to splash down his body while he spun into a crater against the nearest wall. With wisps of smoke trailing off of his bulging muscles, Nappa emerged out into the open. A sadistic smile was carved into his face. 'Found you.'

With a yell, Tien then closed the gap between him and Nappa and unleashed a rapid series of blows- but Nappa dodged nimbly for his size, and let the occasional blow smack ineffectually into his chiseled body. He was made for war- he _was_ war incarnate. Tien tried to land a heavy kick against Nappa's chest, but the hulking Saiyan grabbed the leg with both hands, gave a sick smile, and then smashed the palm of his hand against Tien's own chest. An audible sound _cracckk_ rang out as pieces of Tien's armor whirled away and the human's body made a crater of his own with a different side of the corridor from Yamcha's.

Nappa stood there, unusually patient- or perhaps punishing- for his opponents to gather themselves. 'I always thought you two were scum,' Nappa said derisively as his two opponent succeeded in freeing themselves. 'You aren't even good enough to clean my boots!'

That riled them; Tien and Yamcha charged together, and to Nappa's surprise displayed an impressive amount of teamwork, but they were still weak- Nappa might have had to tank a few more blows than he would have liked, but they didn't come close to threatening him.

At one point, however, Tien and Yamcha arranged themselves in a line and charged him- but when Tien was about to land a blow against Nappa's guard, he faded into nothing and Yamcha charged in after the fading image, slamming a knee into the underside of Nappa's jaw. Caught off-guard, Nappa then felt a quick series of blows land against him from behind targeting his lower back.

He quickly twisted halfway around, such that his right side of his body was facing Yamcha and his left side was facing Tien, and knocked Tien's hands away at the wrists. Before Yamcha could exploit this, Nappa surged to his right and placed his full weight on Yamcha's armor, pushing the Earthling to the floor and trapping him, and with incredible finesse, the Saiyan lifted his body up by that arm and delivered a quick one-two kick to Tien's guard. The first hit broke open Tien's defenses- the second landed on Tien's unprepared left arm and wrenched his arm painfully away from his body. Disappointedly, Nappa did not hear the tell-tale sound of an arm socket dislocating.

A glow coming from below alerted him- though still trapped, Yamcha had planted his arms on Nappa's chest. 'Haaaygh!' He hollered, as a full wall of _ki_ , more forceful than painful, flung Nappa off of his captive and smacked him against the hallway's ceiling. Nappa landed back to the ground on both feet a few seconds later, but in that time Yamcha had rolled away and risen to one knee. 'You know, you don't fight half as smart as Raditz.' The Earthling spat. 'You're all dumb strength-'

Nappa viciously surged forward and planted a foot on Yamcha's half-risen body, slamming him back to the floor and cutting off his speech. 'You only speak when I want you to!' he yelled, feeling for the first time in this fight that he was losing his temper- which wouldn't do, because there were stipulations he had to abide by-

Curiously, Nappa heard the sound of something puncturing metal from behind him. When he turned, he saw Tien retrieving a hand from a hole in the wall to his right- natural as opposed to artificial light was now bathing the hallway- and was splaying both hands in front of his face.

'SOLAR FLARE!' Tien yelled, causing a bright flash of light to momentarily consume the space.

Scoffing, Nappa quickly turned back around, eyes wide open, and caught Yamcha's fist squarely in his hand. 'I've seen this trick before, Cyclops!' he taunted over his shoulder. Suddenly, Nappa felt a ring of arms clamp around his neck and attempt to restrain him. 'Haha!' The saiyan ably shifted his weight and flung Tien's body above and forward like a swinging weight. 'I'm starting to enjoy this!'

Though Nappa had intended to hit the Earthling in front of him with his friend's helpless body, Yamcha moved quick enough and stepped forward, missing Tien's flailing form. Before Nappa knew what was happening, the hand in his palm started to shake, and dark blue aura started to erupt around Yamcha's body, and the Earthling before him swung another punch that Nappa caught, albeit with more effort he had used previously. Yamcha's strength seemed to increase in tandem with the swirling azure colors raging around him.

'WOLF FANG FIST!' As soon as the words left Yamcha's mouth, the force pressing against Nappa doubled, forcing the old Saiyan to slam his feet to the ground and call upon a larger reserve of power. He wasn't surprised- he was impressed! These Earthlings had a penchant for giving a good battle!

The force, of course, wasn't enough to overwhelm Nappa, however. The blue light around the Earthling flickered and burned, but when pressed against an unmoving object such as him, it could do nothing but sputter and die.

Yamcha huffed, locked arm-to-arm with Nappa, and felt the Saiyan brute slowly edge out the last remains of Yamcha's temporary boost of power. He felt Tien struggle to his feet behind him, knowing that he would be too slow to prevent Nappa from savaging him-

A shuddering vibration unexpectedly seized Nappa, causing the Saiyan to choke and momentarily lessen the strength of his opposing force.

This was all the scarred fighter had needed- with stunning speed, his blue-lit form dislodged itself from Nappa's grip and knocked each arm to either side, and raised one hand over his head and jumped. Nappa was still stunned when Yamcha's mid-air form smashed a claw hand tipped with blue talons of _ki_ against Nappa's head from above, snapping the Saiyan's head down and ramming it into his own chest. Yamcha then unleashed a hailstorm of blows, visibly impacting Nappa's body in the gut, abdomen, arms, and chest, driving him back, giving his opponent no chance to recover his senses. He finished with a two-handed clenched fist, his blue outline reaching a peaking intensity and streaking with his attacks, as he threw his full weight behind it and swung it into Nappa's gut, launching the Saiyan clear across the corridor and smashing him into the far wall nearly fifty feet away.

It was only when the Saiyan had passed the farthest juncture between this corridor and an intersecting one did Yamcha see the cause of Nappa's momentary lapse- standing resolutely with one smoking hand outstretched towards them, Bez gave them a wary look.

'You're looking for your friend, right?' the purple alien said hurriedly, lowering his arm in the same measure. 'She was taken to one of the shuttles. I know the way.'

There really wasn't any time for Tien and Yamcha to object- Nappa's stirring at the far end of the hall indicated that they couldn't stay here any longer. When Bez rushed past them, they followed.

0o0o0

Bulma had listened to the storm of destruction, had _put_ her mind out there, imagining every single awful thing that could be happening to Tien and Yamcha upon the clap of every explosion, even as she prepared the ship for launch. There was the selfish part of her, the part that had first set off in search for as silly a legend as Dragonballs and their ability to conjure for her a perfect boyfriend, that whispered in her ear to go. She was presented with her first opportunity to escape this hell- given to her immediately after her ultimate fate in space as something to be herded, a resource, was revealed to her. All she had to do was abandon her friends, who, most likely, were already dead. She was going to Namek to restore the Earth's dragonballs, after all- if they were dead, she could bring them back, even if they-

And that was why the thought got no further than that. For although she could imagine her actions as being ultimately optimal, she would never forgive herself is she left without Tien and Yamcha. She was too old, and more importantly, too afraid to do that.

Thus, while her hands flew across the ship's controls, her mind and ears were directed outside of the cockpit to the ramp, listening for any sound that might indicate to her who was coming.

She lived through a thousand nightmares; too many times she thought she heard the heavy walk of Nappa, or the small, controlled steps of Vegeta. But the worst nightmare came when she heard three pairs of footsteps, conjuring the image of a bloodthirsty gang of PTO soldiers, angry and ready to imprison her, or worse-

Turning with horrible dread, she looked through the doorway to the cockpit- but it was them. Tien and Yamcha and a purple alien all rushed up the ramp, breathless, injured, but alive, and staring at her with an incredible mix of relief and concern. She had not thought it possible for a human face to display two wholly contradictory emotions at once.

This entire time she had been working on blind, irrational hope; but she had been right to do so. They had found her, somehow. Without wasting a moment- not even to greet them- she raised the ramp and lifted the shuttle off of the landing pad. They were spaceborne soon after.

0o0o0

The scene was silent, quiet, and Vegeta took his time examining every bit of it. Annihilation was peaceful.

He rose from a crouch and let the dust slip past his gloved fingers. There was something oddly beautiful to how matter could be reduced to ashes- it required a perfect application of power to reduce something to only its basest, most simple form through destruction, but not to go so far to eradicate the thing entirely. It was the mark of a being supremely possessed of its power, and not beholden to any restraints or arbitrary limitations. So if Vegeta so desired to turn living beings into ash, he would do it.

He heard Nappa approach, his heavy, well-trodden footsteps long a presence in Vegeta's mind, before he spoke. 'They escaped, Vegeta,' Nappa informed him.

Vegeta nodded and turned to Nappa with a critical eye. 'You look wounded,' he noted.

'They got one good hit on me,' Nappa growled. 'I'm not too proud to admit it.'

'Be sure to not let it happen again.'

Nappa was coyed, and said nothing more. Lifting his gaze from his companion, Vegeta turned again to the dust set in a pile before him, crouched down and ran his hand through it once more, and then stood and dispersed it by stomping a heavy boot through it. 'We were right to trust the woman, it seems,' he said, revolving to fully face Nappa. 'I am, admittedly, impressed that she was able to pilot the ship off the planet.'

'The Earthlings are an impressive bunch,' Nappa ventured, 'or at least this particular group. I can understand why they gave Raditz trouble, now.'

Vegeta halted in his examination of the base- it was nearly leveled now, though not quite- and slowly set his gaze on Nappa. 'You don't _really_ mean that, Nappa, do you?'

The larger Saiyan was silent for a time. 'Impressive scum are still scum.'

While Vegeta was left to consider this- he knew there was more to what Nappa was saying, though he suspected it was just dumb aggression being dressed up to please him- the sound of someone approaching over the blasted ground surrounding them, presented to them as frantic _clunks_ on the seared, pack dirt, reached his ears.

He turned to face the direction the sound came from, and waited.

0o0o0

Planthorr was huffing, his old body weak and weary from the rare exercise running entailed, but there was nothing to be done- he had a schedule to keep to. He spun around a corner, edged around a deserted cart, ignored a string of dead bodies lying on the ground, flung himself around another corner, and then broke into open ground, undoubtedly flattened by an impossibly strong blast of energy, that was featureless in the worst possible way. Planthorr had never had the experience of traveling to a recently purged planet, but he imagined this to be much like what he would have seen there.

Running taxed him, weakened him, but still, he forced himself up a small hill in front of him, rushing as fast as his old flesh and bones could take him. He was moving so fast, and had dedicated such a large amount of his cognition to maintaining his pace, that he very nearly collided into Prince Vegeta; but perhaps, his mind decided, "collide" is the wrong word to use here. He was more akin to a meteorite striking a planet- one side was bothered, the other, annihilated.

Nappa was hanging at his Prince's side like a chained dog, and sneered at the lowly doctor.

Trembling, Planthorr wasted no time in producing a square device and handing it to Prince Vegeta. 'Here it is,' he said quickly, still out of breath. 'Interface this with any console and it'll run a program that'll track their progress and, when they land, inform you of that planet's interstellar coordinates.'

Vegeta held the device and idly examined it. 'And you said this would be untraceable? That no-one would know that I had used this with a console and subsequently walked away?'

'Completely untraceable,' Planthorr assured Vegeta. 'Whoever doesn't have this device won't know where they're going, period. All the other identifying marks were removed from the ship over the past week.'

For a time, Vegeta continued to examine the device, giving Planthorr the horrible suspicion that he was living through the last moments of his life- but then Vegeta pocketed the square object and palmed a device of his own into Planthorr's clammy hands. 'You've done well for yourself, doctor.' He said with an unidentifiable quality- _was it admiration, or simple recognition?_ 'I rarely say this to those not of my own kind- but you have my thanks.'

Numbly, Planthorr nodded, though he made sure to make those nods deep and reverent. He stood without saying anything, but then realized that this was probably his cue to leave, and so he began to back away-

'I killed many people today,' Vegeta said, staring down Planthorr. 'I want you to know that you were not one of them.'

The doctor couldn't look at Vegeta- he was afraid of too much, of the Saiyan, of himself, and could only nod with his thoughts somewhere far away from where he was currently. 'Thank you, Prince Vegeta. You are… benevolent.'

'Good. You have your galactic credits and your pod is just at the base of this hill. Now go.'

Planthorr receded without a sound, and Vegeta and Nappa spent their time in silence, listening to the doctor's slightly less frantic footsteps fade away.

After Vegeta heard the sound of Planthorr's pod lift and shoot off into the sky from behind him, he addressed Nappa: 'You made sure to destroy all the other ships, correct?'

'It was the first thing I did after chaining the Earthling woman,' he answered. 'The only ships left on this blasted rock are the two I stowed away for ourselves in the gorge.'

'Good,' Vegeta said somewhat distantly, his eyes centered on some of the wildfires now spreading across the remains of the base. 'This has gone better than I expected. I would have thought rebelling against the only authority I had ever prostrated to would have been hard, but this-' he swept his hand over the horizon- 'this does not deserve our loyalty. _Frieza_ would not deserve our loyalty if he was not stronger than us. To exist in this galaxy is a constant struggle, and I see now that this struggle has blinded me. _Frieza_ had blinded me.'

Silence then reigned among them, and during this, Nappa was curious about what was going on in the Prince's mind. As Vegeta grew older, there was more that Nappa could not understand of Vegeta's behavior, which is not to say that he did not know him; he simply existed on a plane separate from Nappa. As it should be- he is, and very likely would be, the last leader of the Saiyans before they exited existence forever.

'Today felt good, did it not, Nappa?'

'It did,' Nappa agreed.

'I hope that many more days like this await us in the future.' Vegeta sighed. 'Until then…'

'And now?...'

'We have a few more hours until Cui lands,' Vegeta told Nappa. 'My scouter informs me that there are a few more people out there, hiding or dying-' he turned to Nappa '-would you like to do the honors?'

At the suggestion, a broad smile broke out across Nappa's face, and with the grandeur of a champion called upon to fight for his lord, he strode out to the center of the hill. 'I think you'll like this one, Vegeta. I've improved this move since that swamp world we went to.'

'The one with the weaponized vegetation that tried to entrap us?'

'The very same.' And then, with an incremental flick of a finger, the entire landscape exploded.

0o0o0

In the end, there was nothing left of the base except for the landing pads- they were, in the grand design of most outposts, situated on the far ends of the site, and Nappa had had the good sense to exclude most of them. It would be easier for them to meet Cui where they would land, and control the narrative from the very beginning.

When the ship inevitably streaked through the sky, Vegeta and Nappa, wearing armor self-inflicted with battle damage, flew over to the landing site. It was, coincidentally, one of the best-situated landing pads the base had had- it overlooked some of this planet's most striking vistas on one side, and on the other, overlooked the rest of the base from a small hill.

So when the hatch to Cui's ship opened and that smug sycophant stepped proudly out of his ship, Vegeta was present and savored the look of utter shock plastered across the alien's stupid violet face. Just as he had planned, Cui's attention was gripped by the barely visible remains of the base.

'What- What happened?' Cui blubbered.

'We were attacked by a fearsome force, who left once destroying this base,' Vegeta quickly said to Cui. We… couldn't stop them,' he said faux-ashamed, making a show of his and Nappa's heavily damaged armor. 'But we were able to place a tracker on their ship. We know where they're going.'

Cui, who to Vegeta had always looked like a fish, looked even more like one whenever they made an absurd expression of surprise. 'How?' they asked, baffled. 'Who were they?'

For a stretch of time- a long one- Vegeta had his eyes locked with Nappa, each one reflecting on the other. Then, Vegeta turned back to Cui and said, 'They were… rogue Saiyans…'

* * *

A/N: That's the end of _Outlanders_ , then! The Namek saga is on its way in a substantially different form! But jeez- this is gonna be super fun. Cannot wait for things to rocket into high-gear! A lot of people are gonna get some badass moments after the more character driven action (I guess?) of last arc. Expect a lot of "throw-down-ing" to occur in the near future.

Also reviews! Give me reviews! I love reviews! Wowie!

One last thing. I usually put review responses at the bottom of the next chapter, but if people want me to give responses via PM for those with accounts, I can do that too. Just tell me yes/no to the idea in a review.

power levels

Master Roshi: 40,000

Vegeta: 18,000

Nappa: 4,000

Tien: 1,800

Yamcha: 2,000

Bez: 1,700

 **Reviews:**

 **Luke:** Things did indeed move quickly. Poor lads at FP083.

 **LWexe:** Stuff happened. Like, a lot. Cheers.

 **Anonymous:** Thank you for your enthusiasm! Thank you for reading that long! Holey moley! I've got a lot of cool ideas coming up, but what else is new ;^)


	52. The Fleeing and Forsaken

Namek

Chapter 52: The Fleeing and Forsaken

* * *

The adrenaline needed time to wear off- they were far too exuberant, jubilant, _nervous_ to consider speaking, which would imply they would live longer than the new few minutes. Eventually, however, after their ship had remained undisturbed within interstellar space for some time, and Bulma had received no messages directed towards the ship, they all gave a collective sigh of relief. They had actually done it. They had _escaped_.

Bulma was glued to the pilot's seat for most of this, but when she heard the ship pulse and hiss into an automated destination for Namek, she swung her chair around ready to cheer.

She expected happy faces to be among her passengers; but Tien and Yamcha, while looking less frantic from before, hadn't lifted their heavy gazes from their purple companion, who gave them a neutral look in return. Bulma also _felt_ something else; she wasn't wanted in whatever conversation was about to occur. Which was fine with her; frankly, she didn't have the emotional energy left for people she didn't care about and conflicts she wasn't intimately involved in. Besides; she had to get back in touch with everyone she had hung up on on Earth.

So with a simple press of a button, the door to the cockpit slid shut.

0o0o0

No sooner had the door closed did an awful silence descend on the back-end of the shuttle. Tien and Yamcha weren't going to willingly say anything to the person who had tried to murder them in cold, calculating blood- so it was Bez who acted first.

'Do you mind if I get comfortable?' He asked calmly.

An eyebrow raised itself on Tien's face. 'In what way?' he questioned.

'I hate this armor,' Bez remarked, patting his chest plate. 'Even though it's supposed to be "universal", it was always too big for my torso. So…' He began to strip himself of his plated armor- though he did not touch his black jumpsuit underneath- and as he sat and began to pull off his boots, Tien and Yamcha got the first full glimpse of their would-be murderer. On top of being purple-skinned and bald, it was apparent now that Bez was lithe and tall, reminding Tien a little of his childhood hero Mercenary Tao, and his face was angular but smooth, like a well-worked slab of stone. In all other regards, he struck Tien and Yamcha as very humanoid.

When his armor was gathered together in a pile at his feet, Bez focused his attention back on them. 'Considering our past history,' he began tentatively, 'I'm going to assume that neither of you particularly care about me, or even worse, suspect me of some ulterior motive in helping you and your friend escape. So for the sake of ensuring I survive this- hopefully brief- period of time we seem likely to spend in each other's company, I'm going to be perfectly honest with the two of you. Alright?'

The physical uncomfortableness that Tien and Yamcha felt around Bez didn't change in the slightest, though Tien's gaze shifted to an incrementally more considerate one. 'Go ahead,' he said.

Bez nodded. 'After I woke up in the rejuvenation tank, I realized that I had been spared, and even more bizarrely, had been _brought back_ to base to be healed. At first, I didn't know what to make of this. The last time that-' Bez gave a pained expression. 'It had been a very long time since anyone else had done anything _good_ for me. I was cleaved in half- one side of me wanted to keep my distance from you two, because I couldn't understand why or what you two had done, and one side of me wanted to _hurt_ you.'

A long pause filled the room. 'I've never considered myself prideful,' Bez admitted, 'but there was something… something that enraged me about what had happened. Sure, I lived, but I also knew that the two allies I had always fought alongside, Yaz and Reso, the only other people I knew who had escaped my homeworld alive, were no longer at my side, and were dead. I knew _you two_ had killed them but had spared me. And I didn't know what to make of that. So I was stuck between thankfulness and rage. I followed you two around, and I found out you two had another human friend at base. And today, when I set out after her, not knowing what I'd do to her if I found myself alone with her, I saw Nappa take her and chain her to this shuttle.'

'A lot of thoughts went through my mind then,' Bez said, his voice as distant as the ruins of a base they were quickly moving farther away from. 'And, still, I didn't know what I would have done if the Saiyans hadn't started to rip through the base soon after. But at that moment, my survival instincts kicked in, and I began to search for a ship to leave with- but everything else that could fly except the shuttle your friend was chained in was either gone, missing, or destroyed.'

'And then I made the choice that, if I found you two, I would escape with you and your friend. And, to be honest, I don't know why I didn't just leave on the shuttle by forcing your friend to pilot me off the planet.' Bez seemed like he has something more to say, but he simply sighed.

'So that's the long and short of it. I knew where your friend was, and I figured the chance of you two killing me after already having spared me once were low, so I threw my lot in with you. That's it. I don't expect to be with you two very long, nor do I expect you two to like me for what I did. It would be best for all of us if you could drop me off at the first planet we come across that's connected to the interstellar travel routes. I'd be fine with that; that's all I ask.'

The room was motionless for some time after that, as it was clear that Bez's audience needed a moment to process what he had said. Then, Tien stood, followed soon after by Yamcha. 'We're going to talk about what you told us with our friend,' Tien informed Bez. 'And then we'll decide what to do with you.'

Bez, hanging his head, gave a weak nod.

0o0o0

It took Tien and Yamcha some time for them to catch-up Bulma on everything Bez had said- they needed to say a bit more about what had happened on their mission than they had revealed previously for her to understand fully- and at the end of their explanation, she leaned back in the pilot's chair, her eyes glued to Yamcha. 'You… killed two of Bez's race, Yamcha? Two people who had survived a genocide?'

Her gaze pierced him- it was so raw, searching, that he could barely contain his own shame. It had been one thing to explain this to Tien and shrug off someone who could be cold, distant- but Bulma was never anything but personable and direct, and even if she hadn't wanted to make her own profound disappointment clear, it was written plainly across her face. The last few months had been too much- since Krillin's death, and all the horrible things that had transpired since- and at that moment, something cracked in Yamcha.

From a sitting position, Yamcha brought his head into his hands, like an old statue holding up a weight far too heavy to hold forever, and for the first time Tien saw the scarred human cry, exhaling in soft, ragged sobs and struggling to keep the tears from spilling out from his hands. It was ugly, bitter, and suddenly, Tien realized how horrible a friend he had been to Yamcha when _this_ was what had been lurking underneath his troubled and uncooperative exterior.

There wasn't much Tien or Bulma could do but throw their arms around him and, like two ropes anchoring a boat to a dock, hold him close to solid ground.

0o0o0

Some time later, when Yamcha had spent himself and wandered mutely back to the back- thankfully, there was another room in the shuttle that he could go in that didn't have Bez in it- Bulma sat back in the pilot's chair, with Tien leaning wearily against a side wall of the cockpit.

Seemingly reading Tien's mind, Bulma spoke up: 'Do you trust him? Bez, that is.'

'No,' Tien said bluntly, 'but we're stronger than him. And I doubt he would try to sabotage the ship he's currently on.

'And there's no chance he betrays us?'

'He hates the PTO as much as us. Not a chance.'

'Then I don't see the harm in keeping him.' Bulma said, before wrinkling her nose and continuing, 'actually, we shouldn't even let him go.'

Tien gave her a look. 'What?'

Swiveling in her chair, Bulma turned to him. 'We're in a race against time and the Saiyans now, Tien. It's likely that Vegeta and Nappa are either following us to Namek, or are on their way to Earth. We can't stop at a planet to drop off Bez- we'd waste time we can't afford to lose.'

'Bulma,' Tien said severely, 'bringing Bez to Namek, where he can learn about the Dragonballs and possibly ruin our plan, is a _horrible_ idea.'

'Didn't you say that you and Yamcha are stronger than him? That you could easily take him on and defeat him?'

Tien made a face. 'We both know how Yamcha is right now-'

'I'm the pilot,' Bulma interrupted him, stating it as a fact. 'So I'm telling you right now- I'm not stopping this ship to drop him off. If I understand the basic specifications of this shuttle and intergalactic coordinates as well as I think I do, we should arrive at Namek in about a week,' Bulma told him, though there was an undercurrent of uncertainty that lined her statement, as if she didn't expect things to go as well as she described it. 'So can you handle Bez for a week? And then… maybe the Namekians will help keep an eye on him. Be hopeful.'

Tien had his doubts, and reflected to himself that being optimistic had never gotten him anywhere in the past, but for Bulma's sake, he remained silent.

0o0o0

Nappa had staked out a desolate part of the ship, near the hanger for small, single-person pods, and was beginning to grow bored when the sound of footsteps echoing farther into the ship reached him. He listened closely to the sound of the person's gait, and after a handful of seconds stood at attention for the approaching figure. Soon after this, Vegeta rounded the corner. Nappa immediately laid his arm diagonally across his chest. 'My Prince.'

'At ease, Nappa,' Vegeta said. 'You are prepared to leave, correct?'

'I am.'

'Good. Now that Frieza has the tracker in his hands, he has accepted my report and has granted us permission to go. The sooner we are off this ship, the better.' Vegeta then walked past Nappa and gestured for him to follow.

Nappa hesitated, however, and quickly asked, 'But if we can't track them… how are we going after them, then?'

Vegeta halted, and turned to look at Nappa over his shoulder. 'After our failure at FP083, Frieza has forbidden us from pursuing them. He had elected to take the matter into his own control.' A small smile graced the Prince's face. 'He can't have unknown _Saiyans_ rampaging through the galaxy. You see, as much as Frieza would claim otherwise, he is easily manipulated; he exposes his hatred and fear of us with his every breath, and would do anything to ensure that there are not more of us running around the galaxy untended to. And so he has proven himself a fool; he will focus his attention on our former associates, and leave us undisturbed once more.'

Nappa smiled at this, though it faded after a moment. 'Then we're going… to the planet?' He tried to be ambiguous, aware that they were still on Frieza's ship.

Surprisingly, Vegeta seemed to consider this question, and after some time he fully faced Nappa. 'Do you remember that Saiyan we took into our group years ago, Nappa? The one with the dark skin?'

Nappa's eyes flickered, and he seemed to be accessing a memory long unused. 'The one who died,' he said. 'The one who died in training? Hah!' He bellowed a deep laugh. 'That one?'

'That one, yes,' Vegeta said, his eyes evidencing a mind deep in thought. 'Frieza said something strange to me during our meeting. He was making Zarbon recite all past sightings, real or claimed, of unregistered Saiyans within PTO space. One such sighting involved a dark-skinned man crash-landing on a PTO fringe outpost in the South Quadrant six years ago. I had known of this event since that time, and at first discounted it as a hoax, but Zarbon, unknowingly, revealed additional info to me about this man. He had a _tail_.'

Nappa's amusement now morphed into scorn. 'Zarbon lies. I saw that Saiyan die myself. He was obliterated when he was caught between two blasts.' Nappa grunted, and then said emphatically, 'He's dead.'

'But this sighting in the South Quadrant occurred _after_ his apparent death,' Vegeta said in a cool voice. 'And, if I remember correctly, didn't you report that the pod he had traveled in was missing at mission's end?'

'I thought it was destroyed…' Nappa said, his jaw unnaturally loose. 'Do you think-'

Vegeta abruptly held up a finger to his lips, and glanced over the other Saiyan's shoulders. A roaming technician made eye contact with the Prince and was spooked back in the direction they had come in. 'Not here; not now,' Vegeta said again after they were alone again. 'You know the main North-South galactic route along the PTO military bases?'

Nappa nodded, and Vegeta went on, 'We'll talk of this more at the first stop. But know that I want to investigate this matter further.'

'So this is a detour?' Nappa said with a hint of frustration. 'I was ready to punish those vermin for everything they put us through.'

'Everything in good time, Nappa,' Vegeta assured him. He checked again that no-one was around, and then said, 'Their planet isn't going anywhere, nor is it known as something to note by anyone except us; they might suffer the occasional low-level soldier willing to travel to the edge of the galaxy, but no-one strong enough to utterly devastate them will be drawn to as lowly a contract as their planet entails. And while we could go there now, I would rather wait until I am sure every pest is in the nest, so to speak, to ensure that their destruction is **wholesale**. We shall give them time to return home, heal, and grow complacent, while we gather our strength. And when the time comes to rain down fire and death from the skies, and pit our full might against their own, we shall exact the price for their insolence and **slaughter them** without remorse. Does this suit you, Nappa?'

'It does, Vegeta.'

'Good,' Vegeta finished. 'Now then- we leave.'

0o0o0

Zarbon had maintained his role as Frieza's right hand only by paying close attention to his master's every cough, inhale, and twitch, and it is for this reason that he prayed Vegeta would stride out of his Lord's chamber before the entire ship was destroyed with a flare of a nostril. When the doors hissed closed behind the Saiyan, Zarbon turned to address his master, but Frieza spoke first: 'I cannot believe this!' he raged, though Zarbon knew that the true extent of his master's irateness could not be contained within the confines of their current system, and was thankful for Frieza's restraint. 'Saiyans running amok, destroying my bases and making a mockery of my army, across _my_ Empire? Did I not take _explicit_ steps nearly twenty years ago to prevent such a thing from happening!? _Zarbon!'_

The teal-skinned alien snapped to attention, pushing his chest out and pulling his head towards the ceiling. 'Yes, Lord?'

Frieza, seated in his enclosed hovering chair, looked about ready to crawl out of it and rip Zarbon limb-from-limb. 'Surely you must have more information about this that you did not share in the presence of that _buffoon_ Vegeta! Because, otherwise, I do not understand how you have served at my side _for so long!_ '

Zarbon swallowed, and said, 'My Lord, we both know that some Saiyans slipped through our grasp when Planet Vegeta was destroyed. Additionally, to this day there are unaccounted pods dispersed across the galaxy. The chances of any Saiyans living that we don't know of are, quite frankly, high-'

A sudden increase in the temperature of the room silenced Zarbon, and it only took a split-second of searching to determine what was the cause; hovering over the tip of one vertically extended finger, an incredibly small orb of _ki_ danced next to Frieza, and was so heavily laden with energy that the hovering chair Frieza sat in had incrementally tipped down on the same side of the held attack. 'I don't care for _excuses_ , Zarbon,' Frieza said in a horribly sharp voice. 'I care for _results_. And the fact that you did not foresee this attack happening bodes _badly_ for you. Am I understood?'

Zarbon kneeled and plastered his gaze to the room's metal floor. 'Perfectly, Lord Frieza.' He did not dare glance up at Frieza to gauge his master's mood, and so he was frozen in terror for a time while the soft glow of the orb remained within the room. Eventually the glow faded, however, and Zarbon felt the room's temperature return to a more normal level. 'I am not _mad_ at you Zarbon,' Frieza said in an oddly familiar voice. 'I am merely disappointed.' Zarbon looked up at Frieza then, and saw that the Emperor had let a neutralness of expression reign again on his face. 'I know you can do better- you _have_ done better in the past. And, in light of this, I would like to put this ugly mistake behind you.'

There was pause which Zarbon interpreted as his cue to speak, and so he said, 'What do you have in mind, my Lord? In terms of putting this behind me, that is.'

'I'm glad you asked, Zarbon,' Frieza said in an oddly ceremonial way. 'As you're of no doubt _aware_ , a gaggle of rogue Saiyans is frolicking across my domain without receiving an inch of resistance. Vegeta has been so kind as to give us a means of following them to their destination, which allows us to plan out the consequences for their brazen attack. Or, to be more accurate, _you_ are to plan out the consequences,' he said, pointing at Zarbon. 'I want you to assemble the strongest force possible from our available resources and lead the charge against them yourself. I want them to _suffer_ for their transgressions. And, once you have taught them how _painful_ it is to violate my authority, I want them delivered to me alive so that I may _enact_ their final punishment myself. Do I make myself clear?'

'Yes, my Lord- though, do you mean every available-'

'Every. Available. Resource,' Frieza said in a dark voice. 'You are given my authority to pull any and all troops you deem fit for this mission. As you well know, Saiyans are an unmediated blight on the galaxy without a superior force to reign them in. These rogue Saiyans will decimate everything we've worked to accomplish if not eliminated with brute, overwhelming force. I don't even care if you pull soldiers far above your power level,' Frieza said with a dismissive wave of his hand. 'I want them to be defeated and subdued, even if you have to deploy soldiers ten times their own strength. I want _no-one_ to escape what is owed of them.

'...You've given me a lot to think on, Lord Frieza,' Zarbon said after a moment, his mind furious with thought.

'You have time to think,' Frieza said, 'they still seem to be a ways away from their destination; but the moment their ship lands, I want you to be en route, if not already in transit, to where they are. You have _that_ long to prepare.'

Zarbon briskly stood. 'Then I shall not waste another second. Thank you for entrusting this task to me, Lord Frieza. I will not fail you.' He bowed, and then turned to go out the same doors Vegeta had left by.

Frieza watched Zarbon go, his eyes scrutinizing his form for any sort of tremor or shake, but seeing none, he rotated his chair to face the black expanse of space, soaked in the void, and smiled.

0o0o0

The connection with Bulma cut out abruptly and seemed to snap everyone at Capsule Corp. out of a daze; even Puar and Oolong had been caught by this spell and were amazed to find out how much time had passed since they had entered it- the voice of an old friend had a way of capturing your attention, though.

Launch beat her chest proudly. 'Bulma… she's such a crazy bastard,' she said warmly. 'No other person in the galaxy could have just done what she just did.'

'She was a bit braggy about it,' Rayne commented.

'But it's still impressive,' Chi-Chi said.

'True.'

No-one really knew what to do for some time- they hadn't expected Bulma to message them from across space and tell them: _Hey, we don't really need help, you can stay at home!_ And quite a few of them had expected to be tumbling through space by now.

When Suno and Chiaotzu realized they weren't going on some dramatic rescue mission- Suno was more wedded to this characterization than Chiaotzu- they moved over to Launch, said a few words, and then told everyone they were going to go back to training. Rayne, Chi-Chi, Puar, and Oolong decided to leave together soon after, saying that they had a lot to catch up on (and a certain kid to meet). So it was Retu, left alone in a room that was far too big for one person, who was surprised when a door swung open and Mr. Briefs hurried in.

'I heard everything from the ship,' he said quickly, wiping a tear from his cheek. 'I'm overjoyed that my baby girl is still okay… I should have never doubted her in the first place. I… wait,' he said, looking around, 'where did everyone go?'

'They left once Bulma said they didn't need any help in the form of a space mission- for the foreseeable future, at least.'

'Oh. A shame,' Mr. Briefs murmured. 'I had thrown in a number of cool features into the ship that I had wanted to show to everyone.'

Retu looked at him funny. 'Did you change the ship's design since the last time I looked at the schematics?'

'Well, after we agreed to move back the launch date, I had more time to tinker with the ship…' Mr. Briefs scratched his neck. 'I may have invented a really helpful training aid…'

Retu pursued his lips. 'Really?...'

0o0o0

Korin, with his staff firmly held in his right hand, gazed over the edge of the Lookout. He still had some difficulty tapping into this place's passive omnipotence- he wasn't The Guardian, after all- but his experience serving in his tower was proving to be marginally transferable; it had taken time and effort, but he had set his sight upon Capsule Corp., had held it there for a brief time, and learned of what had just occurred from afar. It was, if he was being honest, pretty nifty.

'So they aren't going, after all…' Korin mused to himself. He slowly opened his eyes, readjusting his senses to where his body currently stood, and took a moment to gaze out at the blue expanse surrounding the Lookout in every direction. If he were to continue with being honest, he would have to admit that Kami's view was much better than his own.

'Yajirobe,' Korin said, turning to face away from the edge. 'I have some good news!'

The samurai was balanced expertly on one leg and had a water can in each hand. From each, water dripped down on the rows of plants to his left and right. 'Yeah?' He responded.

'They're not going to Namek,' Korin informed him while drawing closer. 'Looks like you won't have to be pressed back into training after all-'

'Well, that's good-'

'-although I highly recommend it.'

An awkward silence descended on them, as each was reluctant to acknowledge what the other had said, but Korin surrendered and said: 'That's my opinion. You're your own person, of course.'

'Damn right,' Yajirobe said soon before he tipped to one side very quickly, flicked the watering can over his head in an arc, and caught it with the free fingers of his other hand.

The cat gave a soft smile. 'You're getting quite good at gardening,' Korin remarked.

'I'm hungry. I _have_ to be good at gardening.'

0o0o0

To be alone in Hell was to suffer. It had not taken long for Kakarot to learn this, as the confusing, twisting, _bedeviling_ landscape led him in circles real and imagined, threw him into conflicts old and new, and aimed to drain him of any will to persist. To be alone in hell was to be spent, exhausted all the time, with nothing to reflect on except the past actions that had landed him here- which were numerous and irredeemably stained with regret.

But to have someone else at your side… it insulated Kakarot from the heavy energy that sought to sink him with every step he took. He was grateful to have a companion; he was grateful that it was his father.

'Tell me about the girl again,' Bardock said, squatting down on the cliff edge to Kakarot's left. Kakarot's father, ignoring the battle armor that resembled that of Raditz's, was the spitting image of himself, albeit with a few more scars on his face and cheeks. When Kakarot had died, he was both surprised and disappointed that the clothes he was given in Hell were the same brown rags he had died in.

They both faced, and had faced a flat wasteland for some time. Neither could specify anything further. 'What was her name?'

'Chi-Chi,' Kakarot answered quietly. His eyes relentlessly swept the ground stretching out beyond them for miles. 'She… began to understand me.'

'She was a fighter, yeah?'

'She was. She… is. I hope.'

'Well, she's not here,' Bardock pointed out. 'So she's either alive or in a better place than us.'

'Mmm.' Kakarot's attention was firmly fixed forward.

Bardock half-turned to Kakarot in his squat, twisting on his ankles and heels, then snapped back to his previous position. 'You know, I never found your mother here,' he said in a low chuckle that carried his words off the edge of the cliff. 'Makes me think she's in a better place than us. Which is how it should be; she was always the better person of the two of us.'

'So you saw her die?'

'Not _necessarily_ \- but I saw enough.'

'Mmm.'

It was a daily struggle for Kakarot to remember that there was a world beyond their unending watch; that there was a planet called Earth moving on without him, where his son continued to grow and Chi-Chi did her best to raise him. That was gnawing- there were things that were happening, had happened, that he cared about immensely, and the only knowledge he could glean in this present time and place was gathered from endlessly watching a flat, unending wasteland. There were answers he should have known beyond a doubt- and yet his present circumstances denied what he knew to be true, because he had done the deed himself-

Kakarot's scanning of the wasteland reached a peek, and then in disgust, he swung his gaze away. 'I don't understand. Raditz should _be here_.'

Bardock gave a grunt; he didn't intend for it to really say anything, and accordingly, it didn't seem to mean anything to his son.

'He should be here…' Kakarot repeated from worry. 'I killed him… he should be _here_.' He turned to Bardock, distraught. 'Are you sure everyone new enters around this area?'

'Kakarot,' Bardock said in a stern voice, 'I've been dead for as long as you were _alive_. Trust me when I saw this; I know far more than I want to about this realm. If Raditz died, he would have arrived here first.'

'So, then, he didn't die? But- I _know_ -'

'Son,' Bardock said, bouncing up off his heels to stand. 'We see funny things in death. When I died, I thought I saw my mother- your grandmother- welcoming me back into her arms, even though the last time I had seen her, I was storming out as she flung every curse imaginable my way for mating with your mother- which was a very _controversial_ choice-' There was something very comforting and familiar in the way Bardock spoke to Kakarot, but at the same time, it was infuriating- it just spoke to everything Kakarot had missed out while growing up that led to the twisted life he had led. He didn't want to be angry with his father, to blame him for his life in a way he would never express, but these feelings rang true to him.

'...And who knows? Perhaps the humans weren't as strong as you thought they were. Raditz might have won, after all. We saw the bald one here, after all- he wasn't strong enough to survive.'

'That's because I _killed_ him,' Kakarot said in a low voice. 'Just like I killed Raditz.' Emphatically, and without making much of an effort to disguise the anger he felt, Kakarot turned to his father. 'He should be _here_.'

Bardock had run out of things to say, and lacking anything better to do, he did something very Saiyan and kept his gaze steady towards his son. Kakarot's obstinance seemed to run aground on this and break; he crossed his arms and resumed his watch of the wasteland after a few tensed moments. 'Is this all we can do?' Kakarot said in a small, hopeless voice. 'Scrutinize a colorless horizon for the rest of eternity? Is that all?'

'We'll do this for however long Raditz needs to join us here,' Bardock stated plainly. 'Family is _everything_. That's why you care about Chi-Chi and your son- that is why I care for you, Raditz, and your mother.' Bardock looked Kakarot dead in the eyes. 'You and Raditz are the only things keeping me around like the old, haunting specter that I am; as long as your brother is unaccounted for, my job as a father isn't done.'

His speech affected Kakarot- his son's seriousness of expression lightened some. 'He must be alive…' Kakarot muttered. 'He lived… but… how?'

'Well, if you'd just listen to me-'

'I need to tell you something,' Kakarot cut him off, so suddenly and abruptly that the thought must have sprung into his mind just as forcefully., 'Something I didn't even tell Raditz.'

Bardock rubbed his jaw. 'Well, from what you told, Raditz grew into a real piece of work, so I'm not surprised that you didn't really confide in him, so… hit me.'

'Is it possible that Raditz arrived here and then _left_ before you noticed?'

The question caused Bardock to arch his arms backward in an apparent stretch. 'Possibly,' he answered. 'I didn't notice that you were here for a little bit, after all. Who's to say he didn't pop in and out? Though… why would that happen? It's not like people in Hell get to _leave_.'

'Well- I was thinking-'

'Ahah!' Bardock exclaimed, shooting upward. 'Maybe Raditz ran off as soon as he got there- just _flew_ to the ends of this realm looking for an exit. He could have done it- _I_ did it, after all, and if there was anything Raditz inherited from me, it was my stubbornness, though not my strength…'

Kakarot swung his head to look at Bardock, who was now bouncing around with energy he scarcely seemed to possess just seconds before, and felt a wave of astonishment wash over him. His father was so different from Raditz- he could be stoic, exuberant, even silly, while his brother had never treated him with anything better than a thinly disguised disdain. There were so different… and even though he was trapped in a foul mood, Kakarot felt his father's presence like a hand extended to help. He was, again, grateful.

'No-' Kakarot interrupted, shaking his head '- _listen_. Chi-Chi told me about something in passing once- about some set of artifacts that were so strong and powerful that they could bring the dead back to _life_.'

'Yeah?' Bardock looked at him skeptically. 'No kidding?'

'Yeah. She called them Dragonballs.'

And so Bardock listened to Kakarot and his story of a god-like green being, and fell into a deep thought.

0o0o0

The world was unlit, muted, like his ship during the long journeys he had once taken through space. No, that was exactly it; this was just like the hundreds of times he had been drugged to sleep while his pod floated through the dark void of space. He was that ship, hurtling through the blackness, a shell for something that would never be touched by the streaks of light gracing the ship's path. It almost felt like he was dead, except that he _knew_ \- even if he couldn't think or do anything else than simply experience what he currently felt- there was a living world shining all around him. He simply needed to reach out and open the hatch, and let the light spill through. He- he stretched-

And then a white pulse flowed through Raditz's veins, all at once confirming what he had suspected, what he had _known_ \- he wasn't dead. He couldn't be. It was such a warm, sunny feeling to still be alive-

'You seem much calmer this time around,' a voice said, sliding into _his world_ with all the ease of the sun shining down on a cloudless day. 'Do you feel calm?'

'I do,' Raditz spoke candidly 'I feel as if I can think-'

'In the ways I enabled you to,' the voice said acutely. 'I wanted to have a discussion. What do you know about your race?'

'My… what?' The question made his head- no, not his head, something far more essential; something hurt, even though his mind tried to search for an answer. 'I…'

'One moment.' Then there was a gasp from someone not him, and Raditz felt the answer float to the top of his head.

'The Saiyans? We are a proud race.'

Something akin to tutting crinkled Raditz's reality. 'I don't care of pride. I care about what you _are_ \- your body, your flesh, your latent abilities… I care about these things _greatly_.'

'I am… a Saiyan.'

'Yes, you've said that. What else?'

'I… am Raditz.'

A sigh pierced Raditz like light, and for the first time he began to grow scared. Sighing was not supposed to do this. He felt liable to wilt and die like a plant set out in the sun too long-

'I don't care about your name!' the voice resumed. 'You really don't know where you are, do you? I've done my job _too_ well!'

Raditz thought for a moment- thinking in some ways was hard, but immeasurably easy in others- and said: 'Where is Kakarot?'

'And who,' the voice complained, 'is that?'

'My brother.'

The light was held constant for a moment, and then Raditz felt like a platform being pushed towards the sky. 'Your brother? Tell me; did he have a tail?'

'Yes… I want to see him.'

The voice snorted. 'Well, I never found him, so we're both left wanting.'

Confusion gripped Raditz. Who was this person? And why was it so bright? 'Am I dead?'

'What does your tail _do_ , exactly?' the voice said, seemingly ignoring Raditz's question.

'Am I not dead?'

'Tell me about your tail.'

'Why?'

The light shuddered violently, and for a second Raditz thought the shell would crack and shatter. 'You talk too much! Insufferable, unhelpful speech! Curse progress; curse my old body! A few more years and you would be singing to me! I need time! Time…'

Raditz said nothing; he was much too afraid.

The light held on him, and began to pull back. 'You are pitiful,' the voice said, its tone altered. 'Within you _must be_ the strongest genome ever contained within a biological organism, and yet you fell to miserable, _weak_ humans. If you had just survived of your own accord… my word, how you would have _grown_. If your cells have told me anything, they speak _volumes_ of your potential!' The voice paused, and then Raditz felt the light wax to almost nothing. 'That is something I cannot tolerate… a horrible waste of raw resources…'

'No!' Raditz cried, now almost fully left in the dark. 'Don't… leave… please…'

'Oh?' In a perverse distortion of Raditz's wishes, the light returned quickly, _painfully_ , as it cut into every exposed part of his being. 'You've made things indescribably difficult for me,' the voice seethed, shaking Raditz with the sheer brightness belaying its tone. 'I never wanted you, with your failing body and half-living brain- I wanted _Kakarot_ , the boy who had reduced my strongest creations to nothing and forever _shamed_ my reputation as a scientist. He would have served my purposes well; he would have been the perfect avatar to bring about my revenge against those baneful human interlopers!'

Around this time, Raditz realized that he was alive, and furthermore, he realized he did not want to be.

'But I will make do with what I have… and if you do not have a tail _now_ , then I will simply have to wait, and if time seeks to thwart me, I will solve that issue, too. And then I will _solve you_.'

Then the darkness closed in around him again, and he was forced to be a shell.

0o0o0

Things were calmer now on King Kai's planet- the earlier, atypical uproar was now several hours in the past, and serenity had reclaimed the four souls who, for the moment, resided there.

And then a crimson flash of light burst into life from seemingly nowhere, shone and burned as bright as any star in the galaxy, and faded just as quickly as it appeared. Another uproar was born.

'What the hell was _that_?' Krillin asked, bewildered. King Kai's power level had shot up- shot up- well it had shot up! _Ki_ wasn't supposed to do that! _Power levels_ weren't supposed to do that!

The Namekian at Krillin's side took a much more measured approach. 'That was a technique?' He guessed.

'Indeed. Just a little something I call the Kaioken,' King Kai answered with a smile.

'He didn't invent it, by the way,' Master Roshi informed them from his nearby chair.

'Now, why did you have to go and say that!?' King Kai yelled, twisting and raising a fist at Master Roshi. 'I was going to-'

'You were going to claim credit for it,' Master Roshi said lazily. He hadn't lifted his gaze from his magazine. 'That's what you did with me, anyway.'

'I _deserve_ credit!' King Kai shot back. 'I may not have invented it, but I _perfected_ it!'

To King Kai's annoyance, Master Roshi shrugged at this last comment and thumbed forward a page. 'Jerk…' King Kai muttered under his breath as he faced his pupils again. 'Regardless, I am an unimpeachably qualified teacher of the Kaioken. Ask me any question, and I shall answer it.'

'Well, how does it work, to start?' Krillin queried.

'Good question, and a prescient one! The Kaioken enables a supercharged state of _ki_ \- for a brief period of time, a user's power is enhanced by an overwhelming energy coursing through every inch of one's body, but this energy comes at a heavy cost!' King Kai made a point of raising a foreboding finger and wagging it. 'It is derived from a ruthless and thorough drain of the _ki_ in one's surrounding environment and, furthermore, one's own _muscles_ \- the crimson color derives from the user sucking _ki_ out from the immediate space around them. That is to say, the longer one uses the Kaioken, the more damage you do to your body! And this strain only increases as you use the state's higher forms! In other words, it is a very dangerous ability!'

'You didn't look very troubled using it just now,' Piccolo observed.

'That's because I'm a _deity_ ,' King Kai said matter-of-factly. 'It doesn't have an effect on my _ki_ , or at least not the extent it would have on you two. Both of you have mortal _ki_.'

'Can we still use it, though?' Krillin asked, and shifted his gaze beyond King Kai. 'Can you still use it, Master Roshi?'

'Oh, I can use it fine,' Master Roshi replied off-handedly. 'It's just very taxing to use.'

'And dangerous!' King Kai reminded them. 'Both of you must always exercise _caution_ when considering when to use this technique! If used improperly or with the slightest bit of distraction, the extra _ki_ might prove too hard to handle and may kill you!'

Piccolo crossed his arms. 'Do you take us for children?'

'Well, no-'

'Then trust our judgment as seasoned fighters,' Piccolo said bluntly. 'We'll use it only when we absolutely need to. So can we start _learning_ , now?'

'Fine, fine,' King Kai relented, adjusting his shades. 'To teach you the basic principle of the Kaioken, I'll need to press a hand to your head and impart it to your mind… you do not object, do you?'

Piccolo looked uneasy with the request, but he sighed, and said: 'Just make it quick.'

'Wait-' Master Roshi spoke up just before King Kai's hand touched Piccolo's forehead. He set his magazine down and gave a hard glare at King Kai. 'Are you planning to teach Piccolo the Kaioken?'

'Wasn't that obvious from the beginning?'

'He's a villain- he's planning on using this to advance his own agenda,' Master Roshi pressed. 'Didn't you hear what he said earlier?'

'I'll get a feel for his true nature when I impart the lesson on him,' King Kai said, somewhat irked. 'If he's hiding any evil desire, I'll know it the moment I touch him.'

Piccolo's eyes widened. 'Wait, what-'

In the next moment, when King Kai's hand made contact with Piccolo's skin, and for a brief moment neither of them moved an inch. Then, in the next, it was over, and King Kai was retracting his hand. 'Well, that's unfortunate. I'm terribly sorry…' he addressed Piccolo, 'but I'm afraid that I cannot teach you the Kaioken. You've got a good heart otherwise, though.'

'What!?' Piccolo barked. A purple flush- either from rage or the embarrassment of his inner nature being talked about aloud- was present on his face. 'Why!?'

'It's because of your constitution, your abilities- you can use regenerative abilities, can you not?'

Piccolo's anger cooled some, and he narrowed his eyes at King Kai. '... I can, yes.'

'Someone who can use _ki_ to regenerate cannot expend _ki_ in the way the Kaioken necessitates- for the technique requires someone to _negatively_ use _ki_ to harm oneself in an attempt to power up, effectively. Regeneration is utterly different- it is what pushing is to pulling. You, Piccolo, expend _ki_ within your body to _repair_ , not harm.' King Kai saw the sour look painted on Piccolo's face, and added, 'Sorry.'

'But what about _ki_ attacks?' Piccolo asked, thinking he'd found a flaw in King Kai's argument. 'With those, I'm manipulating my own _ki_ to harm someone else.'

'Ah, but in those circumstances, the _ki_ has left your body, has it not? What would happen if you tried to launch a _ki_ attack out of your own flesh? I imagine your regeneration would make that impossible- your energy goes in the opposite direction.' King Kai briefly looked at both Piccolo and Krillin. 'I really hope you're getting some idea about the dangers of the Kaioken, because it is, in most ways, akin to launching a _ki_ attack from deep within your own body.'

To Piccolo, the explanation made sense, and despite his urge to declare that some sort of trickery was at work, he did realize that his regenerative powers were unique. Perhaps he could make them a strength- he could certainly survive more blows in combat than the human, Krillin, could.

Inwardly, Piccolo sneered. _Did I just refer to that human by his name? I'm ashamed of myself..._

While these thoughts strode through Piccolo's mind, King Kai gracefully moved over to Krillin, placed his hand onto his offered head, and rescinded it a second later.

A proud focus came into King Kai's eyes. 'You, Krillin, can learn the Kaioken.'

0o0o0

A being strode across a lifeless, barren wasteland that matched his own metaphysical state, and went unseen and unnoticed by the shadows and wraiths prowling all around him. The air in Hell was thick, and made breathing hard, even though King Piccolo somehow _knew_ that he did not need to breathe here. If he held his breath his lungs would ache, and an itch would spread across his body from head to toe, but he was too wise- _Kami_ was too wise- to not know the tricks this place could play on you. The link he felt with his "good"- he preferred "foolish"- half had been strong when he had first arrived here, but concurrent with the growth of his heir and son,

he had felt this connection waver and fade. At first he had been grateful to finally be free of such an insufferable being; but now, in the blasted landscape he now found himself in, he found his own mind a lonely companion.

There had been something… drawing him, like a beacon in the fog, across the rough and confusing landscape of this realm. He had spent so much time drawn into that first wonderful illusion- the specters of the past that rose from the dust and gave him a chance to right ancient wrongs and settle old scores; but the battles were but a mirage, and did nothing but exhaust him and torture him with enemies he could never fully defeat. And so he had turned his back on this place, on the grudges that called out for vengeance, and had focused on a distinct feeling that emanated from some long-off point. He had begun wandering a very long time ago, and like other things in this realm, he did not know if his choice to walk and the long-off destination were real.

But it was something, a goal of sorts, that could give him a reason to persist. He had seen enough specters and sufferers to differentiate the two- he saw beings far eviler than him be devoured by their demons, and wander half-wild and crazed through the scarred and twisted land, becoming better reflections of the trauma they surely committed in life by the second.

There were very few people here who did not lose their minds, and the ones who did not were either too strong for this realm to absorb, or were convinced enough of a goal to persist. King Piccolo was sure enough that he fell into the latter category.

He came to a ridge, and much to his surprise, he found it too steep to walk up. Up until this point he had seen no vertical landmarks or hard to climb fixtures in Hell- everything here was maddening traversable, confusing but not _impossible_. All experience was made to be monotonous, which made this feature of the landscape all the stranger.

King Piccolo actually found himself getting excited. It had been a long time since he had last needed to use his body for any activity other than walking. A quick examination of the ridge revealed many crags and footholds- it would be an easy climb.

As he ascended, and he felt the first true exertion in his muscles in what felt like _eons_ , the beacon washed over him anew, foretelling of his imminent arrival at it. In turn his breath quickened and he moved up the ridge even quicker.

When he had pulled himself over the ridge's edge, feeling the fake relief flood his lungs, his hearing caught something; there was another being up here breathing in calm, measured lengths. Slowing his own breathing, King Piccolo stood and wandered towards the center of the ridge until he came across- he couldn't-

The person before him was much too large, much too _familiar_ to be anything but terror-inducing. Green skin of an even darker shade than his own accentuated a simple black robe that, again, was too much like his. And to make the mimicry complete, they were seated in a meditation pose nearly identical to one he would use. This person was clearly a Namekian… but… 'Who?...'

The figure had not seemed to notice his approach, but upon King Piccolo's meek utterance, they slowly stood and fully unwound their thick, long-limbed body, and with a sick, muscled sweep of his arms, made a muted gesture towards the small space at the top of the ridge. 'You've found me at last.' the person said, in a deep voice even lower than Piccolo's. 'My _son_ … what has he done to you?'

0o0o0

They would soon disembark onto solid ground once more, but before Tien could permit himself to face the task ahead, he had to face the task before him. Pausing for a moment, he knocked.

Yamcha opened the door the next moment. Outwardly, he looked fine, though Tien would be foolish to assume that was the case. 'All ready to go?' he asked.

Yamcha gave a nod; but then something flickered in his eyes, and he said in an even voice: 'I'm sorry about everything, Tien. I haven't been as steady as you needed me to be- as Bulma needed _us_ to be- since Krillin died. I thought I was coping in the right way, that keeping a frozen face would be the best for all of us… but I see now that I was just denying my own problems. I was distant, uncommunicative… a general pain in the ass. And I'm deeply sorry for that. I want you and Bulma to know that I'm going to be… _around_ as much as I can, emotionally, so that I don't fall off the cliff-edge again. If our time on Namek is going to be anything like the events leading up to it, then we're going to need to be here for each other.' There was a glittering in the corner of one of his eyes, but Yamcha moved quickly and rubbed at it with his arm. 'I'll try to be more like you- stable. It's what I need to do.'

Tien hesitated for a moment, his eyes searching the Yamcha's expression for a single chink. 'There's something you should know, Yamcha.' He said in a steady voice. 'My decision to spare Bez- I didn't do that because I was sure it was the right choice. I was _afraid_ of killing him. The last time I had killed someone, it had been because I was a hired killer, and I had no sense of the harm that I was doing… and to be placed into that position again, even though I _knew_ I was right to kill Bez… it reminded me too much of my past.' Tien's eyes focused on Yamcha's. ' _I_ was the coward, not you. You defended us and fought by my side, and did what you thought needed to be done. I can't fault you for that.'

For a moment Tien considered whether to stop there. 'I just want you to know…' he continued. '...It's okay to not know what to do. But as long as we have each other, and we pool our strengths, we can figure out any problem that throws itself in our path.' He placed a hand onto one of Yamcha's shoulders and gave a squeeze. 'Alright?

Yamcha gave a small smile, and did the same in return. 'Alright.'

0o0o0

Bulma was first out of the shuttle, and was struck by the what she saw. The blues and greens of Namek, expressed through tall, waving grass and placid and endless lakes of water, were such a marked departure from the bleached brown and grays of FP083, that Bulma felt she had crossed into an entirely different life; one where she hadn't been forced to work as a technician for an evil space empire, and hadn't needed to enable the extinction of countless civilizations, each one with a distinct story now wiped from the fabric of the universe. But in the current life she led, the gravity of Namek was comfortable, pleasant- this planet might as well have been a paradise compared to what the galaxy had offered them so far. She took in a deep breath- it smelled of freedom.

Bulma was convinced that Namek was a beautiful world, if not idyllic, and hopefully, if its inhabitants were representative of their home even slightly, it would make the Earth a much more beautiful world, too.

* * *

A/N: I wasn't quite sure how to approach this chapter from an organic perspective. There were some different places I wanted to touch upon, though I wasn't sure how to naturally lead into them. So what you see here is my best attempt of it. Cheers.

You also may notice that I am going down the path of creative liberty for "big universe backstory-slash-events-whatever". In other words, for the events that were either very vague or inconsequential to the main story, I'm doing a revamp of them and incorporating them into a larger conception of the timeline/universe. I hadn't really planned on doing some the changes that are showing up in this chapter, but a manic day of brainstorming led me to some (hopefully) very cool ideas for the world-building.

Also, I gave a headcanon reason for why I think Piccolo wouldn't/couldn't use the Kaioken. This is more of a power scaling balance more than anything else, because it's shown that Namekians can get plenty strong without something like the Kaioken to aid them.

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** And here we are! Namek! Ta-da!

 **Perfect Carnage:** I really, really wish I could explicate exactly how I've planned that. Or how I planed the lack of that happening. You know.

 **Luke:** Thank you for the high praise! I aim to shade :^).

 **TC9078:** Ah, how could I not! TFS has done wonders for the characterization of so many characters in DBZ. So much respect for those goobers.

 **Rowan Citrian:** Thank you for the first time review! I certainly love 'em :^)

TFS does indeedy use an approximation of that line, though I was trying to go for a different use for it; while it was used in the show by Vegeta and Nappa to mock Raditz's power, for Krillin and Piccolo here, Raditz is _the_ standard for strength up until this point. He was nearly untouchable for most of their fight with him, and as such, I thought it would be the metric Krillin's mind would immediately spring to when even more daunting powers were unveiled to him.

Bez? I gave a little more description in this chapter, but to be honest, I'm not big on physical characterization- when I read a book, for example, I get a vague image of characters but usually never anything specific. Though, in this case, considering that there's another purple, bald alien running around- *cough* _Cui_ *cough*- I definitely should have described him better earlier, lol.

 **OneofTen:**

Alright, the throw-down chapters are still a ways away, but they're coming! I might have jumped the gun at the end of the previous chapter.


	53. He Who Speaks For All

Namek

Chapter 53: He Who Speaks For All

* * *

There was the sound of footsteps plodding down the ramp echoed from behind Bulma, and in the next instant Yamcha stopped at her side.

'So this is Namek, eh?' He asked. 'Looks pretty blue.'

'And green,' Bulma replied with a smile. 'Seems inviting, doesn't it?'

To her right, Yamcha gave a telling stretch of his limbs. 'Beats being on a ship, for sure.'

A lapse in the conversation took hold as they both examined the empty expanse laid out before them- and a pang gripped Bulma's heart. Before she knew what had happened, her hand had tightly clenched itself around Yamcha's upper arm. 'I don't want you to push yourself,' Bulma said sincerely, half-turning her head to him. 'Or do anything taxing, or move out of your comfort zone. Tien and I can handle things- we promise. _I_ promise.'

He gave her a sad, though bright, smile. 'So I should say nothing, do nothing, and act like I'm not here?'

'I'm asking you to let us take the lead,' she answered crisply, 'and let us plunge into the pitfalls instead. There's no need for you to expose yourself to any more risk right now- making it to Namek means that we've put most of our troubles behind us. And if you want to talk about anything at all,' she squeezed his arm, 'I'm here to listen. About the PTO, about what happened with Raditz- about anything. Okay?'

'I appreciate that, Bulma- but not now,' he replied, his face stern. 'Another time.'

Yamcha's unflinching dismissal of her gesture caught them both tongue-tied for a time- Yamcha was surprised by his own candor- but thankfully, they were joined by another person not too long after.

'Bez is staying in the shuttle,' Tien informed them once he had strolled down and ramp and his feet were on solid earth.

'That's what he wants?' Bulma inquired.

'That's what I _told_ him,' Tien said acerbically. 'Yamcha and I are of the same mind on this- he can't be trusted to know what we're doing here.'

Bulma swept her gaze to Yamcha, saw him nod in a sign of agreement, and shrugged. 'Fine,' she said. 'And you think it's a good idea for him to be left alone?'

'Once we have a good idea of what's going on,' Yamcha spoke up, 'I think I'll hang back with him.' He made a concerted effort to make eye contact with Bulma. 'Seems like the right thing to do.'

Their gazes met, and Bulma's mouth curled into a muted smile. 'I agree,' she affirmed.

With this their conversation died down again, as both Tien and Yamcha focused their attention on the immediate environment. Something became salient to them- Namek was remarkably quiet. At first Bulma found this fact comforting; there had always some level of ambient noise present at the base they had fled from which was maddening in that, no matter how hard Bulma had investigated, she could never find the source of this constant, nearly silent _buzz_. Namek was _silent_ \- and while being in an environment with less noise pollution was pleasing, the reasons for this could be… unwanted.

Bulma noticed that both Tien and Yamcha looked to be concentrating- searching, she determined. 'Please tell me they're _some_ people who still live on this planet,' she said pleadingly.

'There are,' Yamcha said in a pained voice. 'And a large group of them are coming to us as we speak.'

'Well that's good news, right?'

'There's stronger than us,' Tien told her, squinting into the distance. 'If they think we're bad news, we would be hard-pressed to defend ourselves- not to mention that we couldn't handle their numbers.'

A pinched expression seized Bulma's face. 'How many, exactly?'

She had her answer a moment later. Around a flat-topped hill, a mass of people emerged- green-skinned humanoids, one and all. They approached them at a slow jog and resembled a mob more than anything else- persons of every shade of green, age, height and weight were trodding towards them, each face a different mixture of interest, fear, and surprise. Bulma noticed that some were holding what looked to be shovels- some long, some short- and various other tools she would have expected to see lying around an alien farm or garden. Their clothes were an odd mix of garments Bulma would have expected to have seen on Piccolo, but also included lighter and more open garments that didn't seek to cover the wearer's arms or the inner part of their midsection. But their garb was familiar enough, not to mention their distinctive green antennae, for Bulma to conclude that they were Namekians. When they came within earshot, Bulma could hear a strange language, low, flowing, and punctuated by abrupt sounds, start to filter out of the crowd in various disembodied voices.

In total, there must have been at least thirty green aliens steadily marching towards them. And none of them looked particularly happy to see them.

'We're friendly,' Bulma declared loudly before they could close on them fully, stopping the group in their tracks a couple of strides away. Judging from their reaction, it seemed that they had a limited understanding of what she was saying. This was good; she could be direct, simple, and clear before things could go off the rails. 'We've only come here for your dragonballs,' she continued, feeling a bit more confident in her interspecies communication skills.

A concerned murmur immediately traveled through the crowd as if a wave of water had splashed down on them, and Bulma belatedly realized that perhaps it wasn't a good idea to lead first contact with a cloistered alien race by asking to see its most valued treasure.

Tien must have had the same thought- he pushed past Bulma and stood in front of her, even as the mood of the crowd became more suspicious and hostile. 'We are on a mission to revive one of our friends,' he said, trying in vain to launch his voice over that of the Namekians.

The crowd, if anything, grew louder, drowning out Tien's words. 'WE DO NOT MEAN- WE ARE NOT BAD-'

Then, by some unseen force, the tension in the crowd dissipated, and a second later an appeared hand, visible as a flat palm extended over the heads of the crowd, began to advance towards them. The mass parted; a stout, somewhat short, and older looking Namekian, characterized by the many deep-set wrinkles encasing his face, walked out of the crowd. He did not seem to eye them any more favorably than any of the other gathered Namekians. 'How have you come to know of our most secret treasure? Who are you people?' He asked in their own language in a careful, cautious tone. His accent was unplaceable, and yet he seemed to possess as well a grasp of the words as what Bulma presumed to be their native language.

'You all are… Namekians, right?'

Moori regarded Bulma. 'We are,' he answered deliberately. 'And how do you know that? How do you know so much about us?'

'We are from a planet called Earth,' Bulma explained slowly, stringently trying to not spook them any further. 'Up until recently, our planet was watched over by one of your kind- a Namekian called Kami. His life was linked to the dragonballs, which we used to repair our world after we struck by evil or misfortune. In a recent battle, when another Namekian called Piccolo died, because his life force was linked to Kami, the dragonballs ceased to work. In that same battle, a dear friend of ours died.'

Bulma took a second to breathe- and at that moment, she saw a more curious, perhaps more friendly audience than was present before. 'Before he died, Kami informed that us he had come from this planet, Namek, and that there were dragonballs here that could revive both our friend and himself. So that is our goal; to bring back the lives of our friends.'

By the end of Bulma's speech, the crowd had become more muted, and generally more contemplative, as her story worked its way into their heads. Moori took a moment to scan the crowd, and then spoke on their behalf. 'To the best of my knowledge, we have never had a Namekian among us named Piccolo or Kami… but the cognizance of your words shock me,' Moori said candidly. 'No one on Namek has ever come across aliens from another planet, and thus could not have transfused the galaxy with knowledge of our dragonballs, but your description of the dragonballs of your own planet is startlingly similar to how I would describe our own. Tell me: are they-'

'Orange,' Bulma answered quickly, her mind having already deduced what Moori would ask. 'And there are seven of them, and each one has a number of inlaid stars in its center.'

Something uninterpretable flashed across the eyes of the older Namekian, and then he gave what seemed to be a serious nod. 'Then there are serious grounds to your claim, after all. We have never had visitors on Namek for as long as I have been alive, but it is clear that I must discuss this matter with our race's elder, Guru. He will have some idea as to who these Namekians Kami and Piccolo are, and even if his knowledge fails in that, he will provide us with counsel as to what to do. I understand that you want to use our dragonballs?'

'Yes,' Bulma said, summoning as much humility as she could. 'To revive our friends.'

'Guru will learn of this and judge of your worthiness,' Moori said in a firm, reverent tone, 'for it is his life that anchors our dragonballs to our planet, and gives them their power. If he ultimately decides not to grant you permission to use them, then there is nothing I can do.'

An odd sense of obstruction struck Bulma- the feeling of something needlessly obstructing what she knew to be a good and well-intentioned goal. But this, she reminded herself, was just a fleeting feeling, and minding where she was, she nodded in agreement. 'I hope to convince him otherwise.'

'Good. Well then,' Moori said as he briefly surveyed the crowd of Namekians before turning back to Bulma. 'It would be amiss of me to not invite you travelers to our village while I confer with Guru.'

'By all means,' Tien spoke up, looking ready for a walk, 'lead the way.'

0o0o0

'...Dear, why did you bring so many guests?'

The Ox-King was standing limply, leaning most of his weight against a groaning tree with his right arm, and looked to be withering in the noon sun. 'I… I'm so tired…'

Chi-Chi moved past Rayne, Oolong, and Puar and came to her father's side quickly. 'Dad, what's wrong?' She asked as she took one of his arms in support. 'You look awful.'

A wheeze rumbled out of his heavy chest. 'Your son… is a handful.'

The mention of Gohan caused Chi-Chi to immediately straighten. 'Where is he?'

The Ox-King coughed, and pointed one stout finger up towards the sky. Confused, Chi-Chi, along with everyone else, cast their gazes skyward.

There was a small purple dragon, several tens of feet up in the sky, flying around like a drunken helicopter. And, unmistakably, a small figure was clung to the dragon's hide like a cowboy riding a bucking mare.

The strength of Chi-Chi's cry could have pierced concrete; she and Rayne immediately blasted into the sky, pursuing a now spooked young dragon that was frantically trying to fly away. On the ground, without the support of his daughter, he began to waver until Puar and Oolong slammed into him. 'We've got you, big guy,' Oolong said, he and Puar having shifted into a bigger human form to help support the Ox-King's weight. When they stabilized him again, they helped him to sit on the ground with his back flush against the tree.

They were fanning him- Puar was the fan while Oolong fanned- when Chi-Chi and Rayne plonked back to the ground near them with heavy _thumps_. The former held a pouting Gohan close to her chest, while the latter had what looked to be an adolescent dragon restrained in a headlock. 'Yeah?' Rayne said, goading the dragon and giving it a shake. 'You like that? This is how Gohan felt, you jerk!'

Chi-Chi watched this happen with mild disinterest; she was too busy trying to purge the fear and terror that had launched her into the sky just a few moments past. 'Gohan… you… hey,' She looked down at her son and saw him on the verge of crying. 'What's wrong?'

Gohan, tears forming like little pearls in the corners of his eyes, gestured with a chubby arm towards Rayne and the dragon. ' _Mama! Ma-_ ' and then a series of unintelligible, displeased sounds babbled out of his mouth.

'What is it, Gohan?' Chi-Chi said. 'We got you out of the scary sky- why are you sad?'

'Dear,' the Ox-King spoke up from against the base of the tree to her side, 'Gohan wasn't taken by the dragon… he was _playing_ with it…'

Chi-Chi glanced between Gohan and the dragon; it was easy to see what her father was referring to once it was pointed out. There was a clear admiration between the two, and more so, a clear anxiety about them being apart. 'Rayne,' she said, catching her friend's attention, 'bring the dragon closer to Gohan. Hold them… about a foot apart.'

To this command Rayne threw a strange look, but faced with Chi-Chi's expressionless face, Rayne loosened her grip on the dragon and approached, and like two lovers who had been separated unjustly, Gohan and the dragon reached towards each other with bright eyes.

'Oh, Gohan,' Chi-Chi said in a resigned tone as soon Gohan and the dragon nestled against each other, each one suspended in a pair of arms, 'you're going to be a difficult son, aren't you?'

0o0o0

Bulma and Tien were asked to follow the Namekians back to their village after their initial meeting- Yamcha, as agreed upon, stayed behind with Bez in the shuttle. On their walk over, they learned what at first had been hard to see; the Namekians as a people were incredibly friendly. With a considerate and measured style, they opened up to them, and at the same time, inquired about humans- their traits, traditions, their _way of life_. It was refreshingly earnest- for the first time since catapulting themselves into space, as opposed to the number of interrogations and desperate learning she had had to do, Bulma felt like she was having a true conversation with a people entirely unlike her own. Most of their questions were well-intentioned and understandable- though some were not. The Namekians were fixed on the difference of appearance between Bulma and Tien. Which was understandable, as Bulma and Tien undeniably looked different, but this line of inquiry struck Bulma as funny, because, well...

'You all look the same,' Bulma blurted out to the surrounding Namekians as soon as the thought had entered her head. 'Are you all the men?'

A shorter Namekian, who looked to be a child, swung closer to Bulma and gave her a wide look. 'Men? What's that?'

'What you all are,' Bulma said, pointing to the cumulative mass of Namekians around them. 'None of you look like women.'

'Women?'

'They don't look very gendered to me, Bulma,' Tien said from behind her. 'It's possible they don't have one, or even the concept of it.'

The child threw a similar look to Tien. 'Gender?'

Tien gestured to him, presenting the kid as evidence. 'See?'

'You know,' what looked to be a rotund middle-aged Namekian said to Bulma's left, 'you look very different from your friend.' It appeared that he had missed most of their previous conversation.

Bulma presented him an uncertain frown, and began to take a wider look of the crowd around her. 'Guess I do…' she muttered. 'Though, still… how do you make more Namekians?' She thought out loud. _Wait… how did Piccolo get born from King Piccolo, exactly? Was there a Queen Piccolo?_

Before her mind could fully flesh out what she _thought_ might have been the likeliest explanation, the middle-aged Namekian answered her: 'We're all born of the same person, our elder, Guru. He uses portions of his energy and to lay eggs, and after a standard period of gesticulation, we hatch from these.'

'...Gross.'

'So that means he's getting weaker with every Namekian he creates?' Tien asked.

The Namekian wrinkled his nose. 'Guess so. Never thought of it that way. By the way, my name is Batso, if you were wondering.'

Bulma and Tien politely told them theirs, and when they asked him as to what type of work he does, he gave them a look. 'I'm a farmer, like everyone else. We care for the planet- for its green grass and its trees to its frogs and crabs and every other thing with at least two legs. Every organism deserves a chance to live.'

'Your planet seems to be in good health,' Tien commented. 'You've done a good job of maintaining it.'

'Well, we've worked-' he froze momentarily, both verbally and physically, but then he set off again, faster than before. 'We've worked hard to get the planet back to what it is now- but it's not my place to talk about that. Speak to Moori when you get the chance.' With that, Batso moved to the edge of the group and away from them.

'They seem like a simple people,' Bulma muttered to Tien as soon as he was out of earshot.

'They strike me as more protective than anything else.'

'Hmm.'

After about half an hour had passed, Bulma and Tien arrived at what must have been the Namekians' village- houses made of what looked to be sun-bleached clay or sediment were arranged and stacked in oval capsule-like shapes, giving the place a rustic alien charm. The domiciles were little more than walls and a ceiling, with nothing to serve as doors except loose fabric hanging from the lids above the doorways. Just outside these were rows of strange vegetation, neatly tilled and watered, which occupied the space between and just beyond the houses.

As the crowd around them seamlessly dispersed, and the denizens of the village resumed their activities of either working, chatting, or playing across the fields, Bulma and Tien were struck by how intimate everything seemed to be; everyone knew each other and quite literally, had nothing to not share with others.

Bulma and Tien ultimately settled themselves onto a low, jutting rock embedded near the center of the village, and from this perch, watched the Namekians go about their business. The adult villagers farmed- it was _incredibly_ boring to see how much they farmed. The children were much more amusing to watch; they ran and buzzed around like little cubs, occasionally bumping into hard-working adults amongst the rows, eliciting warm and gentle glances in return. They would range back and forth towards Tien and Bulma, like a boat bobbing up and down in the open water, and visually, the children looked split between fear and curiosity whenever they glanced in their direction. Bulma didn't mind- Tien maybe minded a bit.

As time wore on, their eyes were also intermittently drawn to the landmark in the distance Moori and flown to- what looked to be a pillar of earth rose out miles above the landscape, towering over the village like some sort of guardian. It reminded them of Korin's tower, mightily reaching up towards the sky way back on Earth, and they felt- perhaps because they now had the opportunity- a little homesick.

After little less than an hour Moori reappeared as a blip on the horizon and steadily flew towards them. His face was taut; Bulma couldn't make much of his expression.

As he landed and began to catch his breath in preparation to speak to them, the rest of the village mutely gathered around them. 'Guru has listened to your story with grave compassion; his heart aches to rectify the harm done to you with the dragonballs- but he has a condition,' Moori clarified, before Bulma's brightening expression interceded. 'He wishes to seek the consensus of the Namekians; the village chiefs of Namek- which, including myself, number seven in total- each possess one dragonball, and Guru desires that each dragonball be granted willingly and in good faith from each village. These are the circumstances by which he will summon our dragon, Porunga, for you.'

'Where are these other village chiefs?' Bulma asked.

'Well, at their villages,' Moori said. 'We Namekians are displaced across seven villages, each one choosing and overseen by a village chief. There… are not many of us.'

'Has this not always been the case? Bulma probed, though with some tact.

'Yes,' Moori answered dourly. 'Roughly five hundred years ago, our planet was afflicted by a period of time called _The Calamity_ , which brought great suffering and devastation upon our people. Our numbers have never recovered since then- if it were not for Guru's selfless and repeated expenditure of his own life force in order to bring each and every person you see here to life, he would be the only Namekian still alive. And even then, though his spirit and wisdom may remain great, his body has paid the price; he is surely nearing the end of his life…' Moori ended on a quieting note.

'I see,' Bulma said, her face bent in a sympathetic manner. She could now easily place the eery unease that accompanied the planet's ever-present silence; there used to be many more people alive here in the past.

There was a shuffle of sound from behind her, followed by Tien stepping forward. 'If you don't mind, Bulma,' he said, 'I'll go ahead to the other villages; hopefully… well, considering that we may be on a timeline…' He trailed off.

Bulma nodded. 'That's for the best. I can't move as fast as you, so I'll stay around this village and the shuttle while you hop around.'

'Right.'

He took a moment to lay out his _ki_ sense over the full planet- while the gravity of Namek was similar to Earth, Namek seemed to be smaller- and noted six other small groupings of _ki_ scattered across the planet similar to this village. Then, with a short wave, he lifted off of the ground and blasted off in direction of the nearest grouping.

The crowd dispersed soon after that, leaving Moori and Bulma staring off in the direction Tien had left by. She turned to him. 'As a village chief, you'll have a task for us, too, right?'

He gave her a look- the same _something_ Bulma saw earlier flashed across his eyes. 'All in good time,' he said. 'We can talk about that later.' Then, after a quick glance up towards the far-off pillar of earth, he left her alone.

0o0o0

Apparently, Namek wasn't very big. Tien found himself zipping through the muted green skies without issue, moving fast enough that the ground far below him blurred in his vision, and realized that he had grown much stronger than what he imagined the limits of the human body were. It was humbling… and in some ways exciting to know that one of his own preconceived limits were discarded without him even noticing. There was a time after the final at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament that he had come to believe that he was reaching the limit of what training could do- that there wasn't much further in strength a single person could beyond what he had seen between Krillin and Piccolo- but Raditz's arrival had shattered that illusion mercilessly. His interactions with Vegeta and Nappa had stretched that disbelief even further, showcasing the true, monstrous extent

And even here on Namek, Tien sensed strength among self-proclaimed farmers that, if given a chance, would easily surpass his own.

He reflected that, when the galaxy at large wasn't scaring the ever-living crap out of him, it was proving to be a valuable teacher.

This thought brought Tien to the first grouping of people he had sensed; he descended into a smaller, similar village to the one he had left, clearly centered around a main, larger white building with pointed horns on its roof. To his surprise, there was a crowd waiting for him. They were silent as he landed and came to a stop.

Without so much as a greeting, an older looking Namekian stepped out before the ten-odd people and pulled away a bleached cloth, revealing a large orange orb, bigger than his head, with six stars inlaid inside it. Tien was inclined to call it a gigantic jewel- but then he synthesized the size of the thing with the stars inside it and realized that he was looking at a Namekian dragonball.

He must have looked confused because before he could say anything, the one holding the dragonball began to speak. 'Word travels quickly among us elders,' the older Namekian said, chuckling and gesturing to the two green antennae hanging off of his forehead. 'As quick as thoughts, one might say.'

Tien was mute as the elder approach and placed the ball into his hands, reminding him of the action of placing an offering into a stone statue's lap. He remained silent as the elder, facing him, withdrew back, not with haste or fear, but with measured, complacent strides. 'I don't understand,' he finally said, wrenching his gaze from the dragonball to the small crowd facing him. 'I was told there would be some sort of trial… why are you giving me this?'

The elder halted and cast a knowing glance in Tien's direction. 'Each elder takes stock of the person requesting this honor and decides if they are worthy… and you are that. You do not need to complete a trial or perform some other trick for me to see that. You seek to bring back those who you care about immensely; truly, there was no greater purpose for which the dragonballs were originally created for. Use our dragonballs for this task, and you will make happy guardians out of me and the other elders.'

Tien was speechless; and, soon enough, he had no one to give a speech to, as the crowd nodded agreeingly with the elder's words and began to disperse. The elder passed by him nonchalantly, as if he hadn't just given away the greatest treasure he had ever held to a total stranger… and perhaps, Tien noted, there was something both true and untrue about that thought.

0o0o0

At the end of the day- or however much time had passed, as it seemed that at any given time there was at least one sun, sometimes two or three, streaking across the skies of Namek- Tien possessed six dragonballs. There were too unwieldy to carry more than one at a time, so when his business concluded at the second village, ending in the exact same way as it did at the first, he had simply told them to keep it with them until he came back. So instead of orbs, he carried with him the verbal assent of six village elders, each one judging him to be worthy of such an awe-inspiring power without possessing any sort of knowledge of him. Each and every one of them had mentioned what they had heard and that his _ki_ was good- but Tien found that last fact hard to believe. He had committed evil acts in the past. He had, to some extent, considered repeating them recently. And he really didn't see much of a difference between who he was when he trained under Shen and who he was now. Sure, his actions had changed, and he had committed himself to treating others, especially his martial enemies and friends, with the respect and dignity they deserved- but he still had the sense that his character, having been capable of doing such evil acts in the past, could still relapse if he didn't hold himself to a strict enough standard. The part of him that had done _wrong_ was still there, waiting to be unchained, and even though he could accept this without inflicting any sort of psychic toil on himself, he did not consider himself good like his other friends. Perhaps he wasn't as misguided as Yamcha felt- but with knowledge of one's own self, a different sort of culpability came with it.

As Moori's village came back into sight, Tien released a long, drawn-out sigh. It was times like these that he really missed Chiaotzu.

On this occasion when he touched back down on the ground, there was no crowd waiting for him; the village's inhabitants were dispersed amongst the fields and houses, and the only people who paid him any head were Moori and Bulma. The former jumped up off of her rock perch in a show of restless energy. She locked eyes with Tien. 'So, then-'

'Every village I've been to agreed to help us,' Tien said flatly, quickly, knowing that she must have been half-suspicious that he was coming back empty-handed. 'When we're ready, we can collect the dragonballs and summon the dragon, if…' Tien trailed off, flicking his gaze to Moori, whose face was locked in an expressionless, thoughtful fixture.

'We're that close, then?' Bulma said, clearly shocked at what Tien had said. 'One more dragonball?'

'One more,' Tien affirmed. 'So, Moori?...'

The elder was quiet- concerningly quiet, and his gaze was affixed to some patch of dirt between them. After some time, he raised his gaze towards Tien. 'I have thought long on this, and while I do believe you all are of a pure character and have only noble intentions… I have decided that, in order to secure my own confidence in your worthiness, I request patience. Prove to me that you are willing to wait and stay here for a time, under my watchful eye, and in time I will grant you permission to use the dragonball under my care.'

Tien most likely wouldn't have felt an immediate blow- the feeling of being pushed away abruptly and agitatedly by someone you hadn't expected it from- from Moori's statement if he hadn't enjoyed the kindness and belief that had been showered on him by the other village elders. It felt jarring, and he couldn't tell whether this was because it in reality was, or whether he had expected a different response. And, in the back of his mind, he was unable to stop himself from speculating on how much time they had before a possible invasion descended on this planet. This, in particular, motivated him to push back.

'Why,' Tien replied evenly, 'exactly do you think we need to wait? You said it yourself- you think we're fit to use them.'

Moori looked uncomfortable, and remained unnaturally still. 'I do not say this without great reluctance. As I've said, I think your intentions are good... but there are other factors to consider when granting you this privilege. The other elders do not know as much as me- I alone speak to Guru, and convey his wishes in matters such as these to the rest of our race.'

'So this is Guru's choice?' Bulma asked. 'He wants us to wait?'

Moori didn't respond; his silence was deafening.

'Is this _your_ choice?' Bulma asked pointedly.

'Guru is _old_ ,' Moori said, now dragging a side of him, defensive and agitated, out into the open. 'While his wisdom is unimpeachable, he does not care enough for himself… in his advanced age, he has grown consistently iller, and now, for him, it is a struggle to simply _breathe_. That rattling, dull sound... ' Moori shook his head, as if to clear from it a closely-held memory. 'He sees no-one save me and his guardian for fear of overtaxing him- and yet, even in his near-death state, his compassion for others is undiminished. He would willingly let the dragonballs be used to help others, even at the risk of him dying… and that, I cannot allow.' Moori looked at them then, and looked on the verge of pleading. ' _Please_ , you must understand! If I could grant your wish- I would! But to do so would bring about catastrophic consequences!'

'Why wait, then?' Bulma asked, careful not to jump to any assumptions. 'If he's too sick right now…'

Moori paled- which, with a Namekian complexion, meant his face turned light green- and held his arms tight at his sides. 'I… do not know,' he admitted, 'if waiting will improve his health. It may grant him another few cherished years on this world- it may be for naught.' Then, his tone hardened, and he glanced between Bulma and Tien. 'But I cannot allow any actions to be taken that may jeopardize his only chance to recover. We must wait.'

'For how long?'

'Indefinitely.'

'Did you even tell him about us?' Tien demanded, rushing back into the conversation like a wall of water overtaking a dam. 'Because it sure sounds like you made a big show of talking to him-

'I am entrusted to keep him safe!' Moori protested, the timbre of his voice deepening. 'To keep him alive! And that includes not informing him of knowledge that he will use to indirectly kill himself!'

'And what about the other village chiefs? Do their decisions mean nothing?'

'These are _my_ terms,' Moori replied, stone-faced and unswayed. ' _I_ am a village chief- only I can allow this village's dragonball to be used in a ritual. And, at this moment, I say no.'

'That's not fair!' Tien shouted, not caring that he was making a scene in the middle of the village. 'You- you didn't even-'

Bulma suddenly found herself as an outsider looking into the conversation rather than as a participant- people were now filtering in between herself and the growing commotion between Tien and Moori, and alarmingly, she found it hard to push herself to the front, and even harder to gauge the Namekian faces around her.

In light of Tien's continuing outburst, Moori's face soured, making his wrinkled face resemble a rotting green fruit. 'You are a visitor here- an _alien_ to our people and our way of life. You have no right demanding anything of us!'

At this point, Tien wasn't one to be discouraged, especially by someone as flagrantly, insufferably- 'You don't understand!' Tien yelled. 'Everything we care about is in jeopardy; we can't afford to wait around on the _possible_ chance things improve! If we don't revive our friends soon, we're in trouble! We'll _all_ be in trouble!'

A visible shift took place on Moori's face- defensive concern was now being replaced by a greater, more severe fear. 'What are you saying?' He said in a small voice. 'Are you… what are you talking about?' He breathed, his voice choked with disbelief.

Tien was dimly aware that, silhouetted against the backdrop of a growing crowd of Namekians, this wasn't the best place to have this conversation, but he was too far in to stop now; he could see the coiling, snaking terror, slithering across Moori's face like a creeping shadow. The elder's mind was assuredly embroiled in an innumerable number of speculations as to what he had meant- so he had to say-

'I'm not threatening you!' Tien said, more forcefully than he would have liked. 'It's just… people may be after us, and may be coming here, and-'

And the immediate reaction of the crowd hushed him, hushed Moori, even as the elder looked ready to explode- and Tien felt the air around him shift.

'No- you don't understand!'

At this point Bulma had tried to approach- but the wall of Namekians with their backs to her formed an unending, impenetrable barrier and shut her out. She was, in the worst sense of the word, an observer to whatever was happening beyond the litany of angry people in front of her.

0o0o0

King Piccolo staggered back, his feet failing to find purchase on the slick, smooth rock- _where did this moisture come from?_ \- and ultimately stumbled backward and collapsed onto his hands and lower back. 'You-' he couldn't even express what he was seeing- what the sight inspired in him- of the figure in front of him. It was coming face-to-face with a maker he hadn't known existed.

The wind was fierce this high up in hell, and whipped fabric in every possible direction. 'Please, son, _stand_ ,' the darkened Namekian commanded, stepping forward and extending a hand down towards him. 'You have no reason to act this way.'

'You- you-'

'Is this how you treat your father?' Fangs glistened in the dull, tumultuous air. 'Your _creator_? _Stand, Anan!'_

That name, like the visage before him, threw King Piccolo's mind into another tumult. It spoke to something deep within him- something fractured and splintered, yet still there. The light brush of an ancient idea against a jagged and twisted mind made him recoil even further into himself.

'You don't even remember your own name?' the stranger mocked with a sick smile, evidently pleased by King Piccolo devolving into a trembling mess. 'You couldn't even protect _that_?'

 _Protect what!?_ The insides of King Piccolo's head buzzed like a thousand angry insects, one and all clambering and scraping against the sides of his skull. He had, and always had been, the better half of a being that was deluded, divided between the stronger, more _decisive_ part of himself and the weak, cloying affection he had for a world that wasn't his own. When he and Kami separated, it made King Piccolo _stronger_ , not weaker. He… thought as much. And what right did this stranger before him have to critique a person that no longer exists?

Just as King Piccolo felt himself coalescing around some sort of response, a presence lifted off of him; something he had been unaware had even been there and could not say when it had descended on him fluttered off of him like a heavy crown being lifted, and all at once he felt his mind calm and his breathing slow to match the measured breaths of the other Namekian.

'No... ' the stranger's voice no longer slid against his skin like sandpaper- it was reached him disgusted and distant. 'You are not him. You are… a rotted branch of what was once a great and mighty tree... ' His back came to face King Piccolo. 'You are nothing to me.'

King Piccolo quickly stood, latching his anger to his thoughts- 'I am King Piccolo, the rightful heir to the being I was born of! I carry his strength and ambition, and I alone have the will to use these! And you are not my father, my creator! You are a ghost!'

To King Piccolo's surprise, the Namekian turned again to face him. His face was more neutral now. 'In that, you are right. If I am not your father, I am perhaps a progenitor; I am Katas, the father of the being you were derived of.' A sneer. 'And, you are, frankly, beneath my concern now. You are just as much as, if not more than, a ghost like me.'

The earlier shock King Piccolo felt was fading and was replaced at every juncture by indignation and outrage. This was the beacon he had strode towards for however long he had been here? This ancient, pruning being? 'I know ghosts when I see them,' King Piccolo replied confidently, straightening to his full imposing height such that he was nearly as tall, if not a little shorter, than Katas. 'and you must have been dead longer than I've been alive. So you're a frightened, scared ghost, that clings to your present form from the fear you hold towards the final end- the end that awaits everyone here; passing into nothing. You've been here far longer than me- surely you've seen others fade away?'

Katas gave a curious roll of his shoulders, somehow connoting to King Piccolo that he acknowledged and accepted the truth of what he had said. 'I am scared of nothing,' Katas said in a low, almost introspective voice, 'least of all passing from the last stage of a prodigious life. But, in the final minutes of my time among the living, a great injustice was wrought on me, and so I wait here for my heirs to return to me, in whatever form they may take.'

'And I am not one?' King Piccolo growled.

'I can sense the stink on you,' Katas rumbled, 'of a being cut loose of what had made them _strong_. Though I know not how, you are now the severed half of a greater being, and someone else has stepped in to take your place. You are, as I've said before, beneath me,' he finished perfunctory.

'What if I told your heirs are never coming?' King Piccolo hissed vitriolically. 'That you'll persist here, withering into nothing, for nothing!'

Katas' gaze, dark and deep and terrible, fully fell upon him. 'And what would _you_ know about that, rotten little branch?'

'I know my son will finish my work,' King Piccolo breathed, simultaneously growing and shrinking underneath Katas' appraisal. 'He will smash that fool Kami to pieces and lay claim to his world, and rule it for centuries!'

'Son?' Katas murmured, his deep-set eyes seeming to recede even further into his skull. 'So… you… ah, of course!' Katas stepped forward, throwing a billowing dark purple cloak that had crept towards his front back over his right shoulder. ' _You_ severed the link between yourself and your other half! You did so to let your son live alongside… Kami, you said? In my absence, you two have chosen strange names…'

The shift in Katas' demeanor was jarring, even unnerving, and King Piccolo felt keenly out-of-place high atop this rock formation. He had known when first setting out that there was a chance he would come across something… revealing about himself or this realm. He had not expected this discovery to be both these things.

Katas strode even closer now, and wrapped one suffocating, muscular arm around King Piccolo's shoulders. 'Your son… he is a link between yourself and your other half. You know this, yes?'

'I do,' King Piccolo replied gruffly. 'What's your point?'

'It has just occurred to me that you have forgotten much of what you had once known,' Katas pronounced with such a predatory inflection that King Piccolo had to fight the irrational urge to run away like some sort of common prey, but he felt it as, again, irrational. Here he was confronted with something he had obsessed with during his lifetime; who he was, where he came from, and ultimately, how he would be judged against those who had come before him. His goal of conquering the Earth was only meant to place himself favorably against that forgotten and ancient past; it was him groping in the dark for something to challenge the unknown deeds that necessitated his creation.

So why did this irrationality tempt him to be anywhere but here?

There would be time for thinking later; now, in the present moment, Katas loomed before him like the veritable ancient that he was. 'You will learn what was lost,' he said, 'and in doing so, you will learn what it means to be an heir to Katas.. _._ '

0o0o0

Yamcha had stayed to his part of the shuttle for a time, content to sit and think. There came a time, however, where he couldn't think for any longer, and more importantly, couldn't ignore the faint sensation of something brushing against his consciousness, almost like the wind on a nearly windless day. Propelled by this, he left his room and moved towards the ship's exit.

Bez was sitting in that room to the side, his head angled towards the ground. For a brief moment they made eye contact, and then Yamcha resigned himself to sitting for but a few moments more.

The former PTO soldier seemed surprised at this- he cast a second glance at Yamcha seating himself opposite at him- but just as quick he purposefully chose a spot on the floor and stared at it.

Thus, Yamcha was granted a moment to collect his thoughts. He was grateful. 'I've been thinking,' he finally said, getting the slightest tilt of Bez's head up in response. 'I… want to apologize.'

Bez's head, facing the ground at an angle, gave a slight twist to one side- Yamcha approximated this to be a sign to go on. 'I blamed a lot of our troubles on you for a while, when… well, there were many different things that went wrong. You and me included. So I'm sorry.'

Bez grunted. 'You don't have to say anything for my sake- like I said before, the sooner we part, the better.'

'I'm not saying this for your sake,' Yamcha said sharply, seizing Bez's sustained attention- manifesting itself as fully fledged gazing- for the first time. 'I'm saying this for _my_ sake.'

After this they sat in silence for a bit longer, both unwilling to part from their thoughts any further until Yamcha abruptly stood. 'There's something on this planet- something wholly unique,' he stated. 'I need to find out what it is.'

Bez's expression became, to Yamcha's eyes, decidedly more confused. 'What?'

'I have to go. Lacking a better option, I trust you to not do anything while I'm gone.' And, with that, Yamcha strode past Bez, trudged down the shuttle's ramp, and blasted off into the air.

0o0o0

Bez's head was turned in the direction of the ramp for a few long minutes after that, wondering whether the human's withdrawal was some sort of trick or trap- but he heard nothing more once the tell-tale sound of wind whipping down the length of a person's clothes and smacking against the ground sounded and faded. And even then he wondered if this was part of some sort of test of whether he had enough baseness left in him to take their shuttle and abandon them here without a ship.

If they had expected him to do that, they thought too highly of him. He had nothing left to scrounge and fight for- nothing more to prostrate himself to or commit vile acts for just to possess the simple privilege of being allowed to live. No doubt his face was being plastered across this sector, his name being entered into a database and marked as dead or for death. He knew that, to any superior, as a soldier survivor of a base wipe, he would be seen as either a deserter or a traitor, and both were grounds enough to warrant his immediate execution.

So once he was dropped off at the nearest urban planet, he looked forward to drowning himself in whatever local drug they had until he couldn't look or walk straight- and, at least then, he'd see his death coming.

He became aware that his fingers were nearly clamped to the metal seat underneath him and that his heart was pounding- and he decided to stow these thoughts for another time. With a hop, he rose to stand and, seeking to burn through the rampant nervous energy running through him, began to pace back and forth across this room.

He guessed that he would have done this for twenty minutes if his foot hadn't hit something at five- something metal and thin caught against his stride. Irritated, he cast a glare downwards, and poked with the afflicted foot what looked to be… handcuffs? He hesitated to call them that, for they were laid in a discarded pile in the corner of the shuttle and looked nothing more than rubbish from where he stood- but he crouched down and, lo and behold, his first guess had been right.

Curious, he reached a hand towards them and tugged on them in order to splay them out further- but he reflexively flinched his hand back in pain, causing a small gasp to escape him. The handcuffs, which initially appeared to be nothing more than metal, were hot to the touch and multicolored. Strewn on the ground around it were dull-colored metal casings, almost as if they had been shaken or burned off. 'What?...'

Bez turned the handcuffs over- and his stomach immediately pooled into his legs. He immediately recognized the small, almost insignificant needle-like spindle of metal pointing off one end of the device; the color and undulating light that glowed from it- a transmitter, pulsing with gentle red light, blipped and beeped quietly to itself. He had seen this device before- and in the next instant, he rocked to his feet and crushed it into tiny metal splinters with the bottom of his boot.

'Dammit…' he hissed, drawing his leg back in halting lurches. 'We need- we need to leave now!… _dammit_!'

* * *

A/N: Well, that's in the books. More focus on Namek and the events there this time around.

It's probably obvious enough at this point that I don't need to say it, but for the sake of clarity, the history and society of Namek and the Namekians is, in some ways, a marked departure from canon. Stay tuned.

 **Reviews:**

 **OneofTen:** ;)

 **LWexe:** There's a whole lot more here!

 **Perfect Carnage:** Surprised to hear that, considering that I haven't seen Minus or the new Broly movie. A contract-based system just makes a lot of sense to me; and, with any sort of military operation, there's going to be a butt-load of support personnel making sure everything is tip-top behind the scenes.

Interesting theory… interesting.

 **Belsareth32:** Thank you! I can't believe you're still trucking along with me!


	54. Planetfall

Namek

Chapter 54: Planetfall

* * *

To say that Yamcha followed his senses to the strange _ki_ he felt would have been erroneous- he was _drawn_ to it, like a moth to a lit flame, and could have done nothing else until he discovered _what_ exactly was reaching out to him. All across the planet he felt Namekians, Tien here, Bulma there, even Bez back by the shuttle… but this _ki_ was so unlike everything else he'd sensed that a strange dread began to come over him. This was an alien world, after all. He really didn't know what exactly he was presently flying towards.

But even as his mind lingered over these doubts, the painted colors of blue and green continued to pass by him below, and the sense of air rolling over his skin comforted him. Just the simple act of flying was refreshing. He had spent far too long trapped either in a ship, a prison, or by other, stronger people than himself. That's really what his life had felt like ever since Raditz and galaxy had knocked on their intergalactic door- it felt like he was straining to work around the restrictions placed on him. And whatever he was doing now was not giving him that feeling.

The strange _ki_ loomed in his mind, continued to grow in size and complexity- until Yamcha sighted a jutting spire of earth rising out from the flatlands below, nearly high enough to reach his current altitude. As he drew closer, he saw an oval-shaped, capsule-white building resting neatly on the spire's top, with two protruding, rounded spikes coming out of it like horns. By now his sense of _ki_ was buzzing. Whatever was inducing this sensation was within that building.

Now, for the first time realizing how close he was to potential danger, Yamcha suppressed his _ki_ even further than he had before setting out and came to a gentle rest just before the building's front opening. Peering inside, there was an interior wall that blocked a full view of its interior and split the short path in into two at a perpendicular direction. A general gloom seemed to rise out from further within, almost tangible enough to spill out in the bright day outside. Wiping a trickle of sweat from his forehead with a wristband, Yamcha steeled himself and padded inside.

There was an immediate shift in the atmosphere once beyond the building's opening- the air became more muted, placid- and whereas before Yamcha couldn't hear anything, distinctive, rhythmic sounds now reached him, and once he poked his head out beyond the limits of the interior, he saw they originated from two indistinct humanoids at the far end of the room. It was clear that this was the only room the building contained, and that these people- presumably Namekians- were speaking in a language wholly unintelligible to him.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the lessened level of light- and then he gaped. While the closer being, clothed in a loose, flowing dark blue vest with an exposed midsection, looked very similar to all the other Namekians he'd seen, the person against the far wall-seated in a gigantic, stone-gray chair- was easily twenty feet tall _seated_. Their full height would be far too tall for the building to contain- but as Yamcha looked closer he saw the deep wrinkles and folds of skins pocketing the being's green complexion, the dark splotches of brown and red that patterned their body like clouds in an overcast sky, and he heard the rattling, weak voice of that being, as well as the slow and labored motions of a chest rising.

Was he looking at a Namekian? Was this their elder, Guru? Either way, this thing had been emitting the _ki_ he had been focused on. And now that he was nearly on top of it, he sensed an ancient, failing quality underlying this being's gentle and awe-inspiring aura. He felt sad.

The scene before him was so novel, so utterly consuming that Yamcha failed to notice when their conversation dropped away into nothing. The gigantic being didn't physically move from his chair, but suddenly Yamcha became aware of a light touch, like someone running a finger along his scalp, fall upon him from that direction. 'Come forward,' the seated being said, their words strikingly comprehensible as compared to the previous sounds that filled the room. 'You have no reason to hide.'

The more-normal sized Namekian paused briefly- he faced away from Yamcha, and so he couldn't see what, if any, thoughts were running across his face- but then spun around, his eyes locking on Yamcha as if he had just become aware of his presence. 'Stop!' he commanded, raising his arms as if ready to charge him. 'Come no further!'

A thick timbre filled the room. 'Nail, let him approach,' the seated being said in a tone that reminded Yamcha of the warmness his father used with him when he was young and excitable- of guiding words delivered in a fatherly fashion with kindness instead of sternness.

'Lord Guru-'

'He is not intruding, nor is he a menace…' Guru exhaled. 'Let him come.'

The Namekian identified as Nail hesitated, then grudgingly lowered his guard and moved slightly to the side. '...As you wish, Lord Guru.'

Yamcha cautiously came closer, his eyes still adjusting to the lack of light within the room. If Guru's size was visible from afar, his _presence_ could only be felt from up close- by the time Yamcha stopped before the elder of the Namekian race, halting just adjacent to Nail, he imagined himself as some sort of groveling subject of a great and mighty King who was liable to silence him with a simple wave of a hand.

He was, in fact, silenced- with great effort, Guru raised a haltering hand off of his left armrest and moved it piecemeal out and to the left. 'Come _closer_ ,' he urged. 'I wish to learn of you.'

This elicited a shuffling at Yamcha's side. 'My Lord-'

'Nail,' Guru said, again calling upon his patient, fatherly tone, 'I wish to know of our visitor.'

This seemed to shut Nail up- he became silent again.

The lifted hand, barely held with what looked to Guru's full strength, looked both inviting and foreboding to Yamcha- the fingers were massive, easily large enough to encompass half of his body, and if the Guru's age and condition was of any indication, the purpose for why he had done such a laborious act was not clear to Yamcha. Still- he had come this far, and despite his reservations, Guru still radiated a comforting, reassuring aura. There was a reason for why he had felt pulled here… even if that reason wasn't explicable to himself.

With blindly confident steps, Yamcha strode forward. He felt Nail's eyes burrow into his back as he stopped underneath Guru's outstretched, downward-facing hand.

The sensation from earlier returned in a stronger form- now it felt like a hundred fingers were moving slowly across his scalp, forming a perfect mesh of movement around his skin. 'Ahh… I sense great conflict, present in the past and your mind…' Guru said. 'You are… saddened.'

'Who is this person, Lord Guru?' Nail asked, audibly irritated. 'Why are they and their friends here on Namek?'

 _Friends? He knows of Tien and Bulma, then_ ,Yamcha thought, glancing back towards Nail. Perhaps the conversation he had walked in on earlier had been more personally relevant then he'd initially supposed.

'It is as Moori informed us,' Guru said after the sensation layering over Yamcha's head had lessened. 'They are noble-hearted visitors from another world, seeking to revive their friends. There are…' Guru's voice faltered briefly. '...questions that remain, but I am wholly convinced of the good aim of their intentions.'

'Moori does not know the difference between a friend and a threat…' Nail muttered underneath his breath.

'You were mistaken to mistrust your older brother in this matter, Nail,' Guru said, surprising both Nail and Yamcha that he had heard so quiet a muttering and causing them to jolt. 'He is… he will be…' but Guru faltered again, and slid into a serious of long inhales and exhales.

Yamcha heard the sound of air passing through clenched teeth behind him. 'You should leave,' Nail said brusquely. 'Your presence here is unwanted, and furthermore-'

Even after Guru's lapse, the sensation around Yamcha's head had never fully left- now it sparked back into full-throated life. 'Do not scare our guest, Nail,' Guru advised, as if from a distant and far-off place. 'I wish to… to see…'

'Lord Guru-'

'Nail…' Guru said softly, 'I sense a soul hurt and fractured. I have the power to… attempt to mold the pieces back to their original shape.' Then, for the first time since approaching the outstretched hand, Yamcha distinctly felt Guru's intangible gaze settle on him. 'Would this be acceptable to you? May I do so?'

Yamcha, somehow aware of the displeasure radiating off of Nail from the other side of the room, nonetheless answered nonverbally _yes_ , and felt a recognition of his answer resonate in Guru.

'Very well... '

He braced himself, expecting some sort of outside pressure or sensation similar to what he had felt when Guru had first examined him- but nothing could have prepared him for the rushing, overwhelming flow of _himself_.

0o0o0

He hadn't noticed when the crowd around him had turned into a mob, nor had he seen when the Namekians had begun to threateningly brandish farming tools, but now, stuck in what felt like a rapidly shrinking tournament ring, Tien recentered his attention on Moori, who held his ground directly in front of him. The villagers must have been reacting to their elder's expression- Moori, whether due to his temperament or his reaction to Tien's last comment, looked ready to attack him. 'Explain yourself,' Moori said with a look that would've killed Tien if it had been permitted to do so. 'What have you brought upon us?'

'Nothing!' Tien protested. 'We're deserters- or, more accurately, escapees of an army that we had been forced into. And there's a _small_ chance that, well, this army may follow us here! May be in the process of doing so! So I'm sorry for being impatient!' Tien said, in a tone that indicated that he really wasn't. 'But we don't know how long we have before people come for us and try to collect us, or worse!'

Moori narrowed his eyes. 'So you claim that we are under no threat? Only you and your friends?'

Tien took a look of the crowd, saw them begin to relax some, and sighed. 'Yes.'

'I see.' With a series of glances, Moori directed everyone present to loosen their grips on their impromptu weapons. 'Then I think I was right to wait,' Moori said scornfully. 'I think I was right to make _you_ wait. The fact that you would conceal this fact from us is telling- you only wish to exploit us for our dragonballs and leave us as soon as possible so to avoid the people chasing after you.'

'No- no, it's not like that,' Tien said. 'We- we just needed to get our wish and leave here as quickly as possible so that we didn't bring any harm on anyone here…'

'And if you succeeded, what if your pursuers think we helped you, and that, failing to find you, are inclined to take out their frustration on us?' Moori said cooly. 'Did you consider that?'

Gradually, a forlorn expression washed over Tien's face. 'The decisions that led us here were the best of the other bad ones available to us.'

'For you, or for us?'

Moori's words rang through Tien's being like a broken bell- and it was made painfully clear to him that the Namekian elder spoke the truth. They had never stopped to consider what danger they might be bringing onto the Namekians- they had just seen them as a means to end of reviving Krillin and Kami. They had treated them more like objects than people.

A rustle of movement went through the inner boundary of the crowd, and Bulma emerged into the center next to Tien. Judging from her remorseful expression, she must have caught the tail end of their conversation. 'I- I don't know what to say-' She managed.

Moori gestured her to be silent. 'No more words. I have come to a decision- a _final_ decision. You are to leave Namek immediately, for it is obvious that your motives and conscious have done nothing to endanger us.' His eyes flickered up to the green sky. 'Perhaps, out there, you may find something else-'

He halted mid-sentence- and his eyes seemed to focus on something far more discreet than a cloudless expanse. The sounds of feet gently touching down on the ground sounded from behind Tien, and he turned-

Yamcha- it was Yamcha, examining the gathered crowd, side-by-side with a stoic-looking Namekian. He looked inexplicably confident- no, it was more than that. He _felt_ utterly different. It wasn't just his strength- which had jumped to a previously unthinkable level, which, if Tien's handle on his _ki_ was right, was close to rivaling Vegeta's strength- but also its character. Whereas before the energy felt more contained or bound, now Yamcha's _ki_ felt like a loosened spring, bubbling and flowing effortlessly. Tien couldn't even remember the last time he had sensed so serene a _ki_.

The Namekian Yamcha had landed with wasted no time with any sort of idle examination. 'You and everyone else needs to come with me, Moori,' he said, addressing the elder. 'Guru wants to see them.' He shot a nasty glare at Tien and Bulma. 'All of them.'

0o0o0

A short time later- the Namekians as a group were able fliers one and all, as they easily made the voyage alongside Tien, Yamcha, and a carried Bulma- the sum of the village descended onto the spire Tien and Bulma had seen from a distance. They observed that this place seemed both familiar and sacred to any Namekian who wasn't Moori or the stolid warrior who they learned was called Nail. Apparently he was something of a bodyguard to Guru- which made the contemptuous glares he threw at them all the more disquieting.

But he had led them here with Guru's own blessing; it seemed that, contrary to Moori's pronouncements, their time on Namek wasn't quite at an end.

There was a single building, squat and round, that occupied the spire's top. Grudgingly, Nail entered and signaled them- all of them, including the Namekians- to follow.

Of this place Tien had sensed something off the moment they had arrived at the village, and no sooner had he entered the dimly lit, one-room building atop the spire, he sighted the source- Guru, presumably, seated in what looked like a permanent fashion, looked to be ailing. Examining him up close, there was indeed an astonishing quality to his _ki_ ; but what was more apparent to Tien was that it was on the verge of being snuffed out. He had never doubted the truth of Moori's words when he claimed that Guru was sick. But Tien had been unwilling to accept that his worst fears- that there was a real reason to deny them the dragonballs because their use might kill someone- were real. Now, standing in this festering place, he could no longer cling to that ignorance.

Which made his presence here all the stranger; had they all come to see off a dying being? All around him he saw distraught and anguished Namekian faces warp and shudder. They, too, saw what Tien saw.

A nudging at his side- Bulma. 'Look,' she said, grabbing his arm and his attention and pointing it forward. ' _Look_ at him.'

Yamcha was walking to Nail's side, though neither looked particularly happy to see each other. 'What?' Tien replied, seeing nothing special.

'Tien-' Bulma shook his arm and pushed it slightly farther to the right, '- _look!_ '

He sight followed the length of his arm and saw Guru. Guru _gesturing_ for him. Confused, Tien glanced back to Nail and Yamcha, and the latter nodded and gestured with his head to move forward.

The crowd in the hall was quiet and somber, every Namekian wrapped up in their private grief, while Tien cautiously approached. He was careful not to disturb any of the other Namekians standing near him as he moved forward. Once he was free of the crowd, a growing hush rolled over him from behind, but he ignored this and continued to walk. Guru's right hand was now precariously hovering in the air, shaking and trembling but never quite failing. When he reached Guru's right side, this thick, heavy hand came to comfortably rest on his head, conjuring in his head the image of someone laying their head down on a pillow. At the same time, a soothing rubbing sensation seemed to capture every inch of his smooth pate.

'Yes…' a rumbling voice came from above Tien- Guru's voice, then. 'You are like the other- you two are both noble and brave… yes,' Guru refocused, tightening his grip on Tien's head ever-so-slightly. 'Noble and brave…'

An immediate and astonishing rush of energy filled Tien, and for a moment he thought it was Guru's- but then its nature crystalized in his mind and he realized that it was his own. A bright, intense white aura poured from his body, smacking and bouncing off of the floor, and yet it was incredibly contained and focused, and even more perplexingly, _peaceful_. He initially thought he had never sensed _ki_ like this before, but then he placed it- he had received the exact same impression from Yamcha's _ki. So… my power?..._ He turned his _ki_ sense inwards. _It's grown massively bigger..._

Then it was over, and an astounded Tien felt Guru's hand weakly lift from his head. 'Thus... I have done the same for you…'

Guru inhaled, and even though he didn't move, Tien intuitively knew that his next sentence was directed towards the general crowd gathered. 'There two… they will save us,' Guru said, wheezing. 'We must do whatever we can to help them. They must gather the dragonballs… they will save us…' And, then, a series of violent coughs erupted from Guru, so powerful and unrestrained that the air of the room was pushed back with each and every shot. Nail wasted no time- he said something intelligible to them and the room rapidly began to clear of people. He, Moori, and a few other Namekians rushed to his side, pushing Tien out of the way, and began to speak in hushed tones and tend to him.

Not knowing what else to do- he was clearly unwanted near Guru's side- Tien moved over to Yamcha and Bulma.

'You seem to have gotten a bigger boost than me,' Yamcha said wryly.

'So it was-' Tien then gave Yamcha a look. 'What, you care?'

Yamcha smiled- and it looked incredibly natural, not forced in the slightest, and Tien started to wonder whether this was the same person he had just spent months scrounging to survive with.

Bulma must have been having the same thoughts, for she said airily, 'Is that you, Yamcha?'

'It's me,' he confirmed, letting his smile fade from his face in an easy-going fashion. 'Guru hasn't replaced me with a clone, if that's what you're worried about,' he said, laughing.

'Did he… help you?'

'Not directly, but in a way, yes. He… ' Yamcha slit his eyes, concentrating, '... made things clearer to me, I guess. My perspective is different.'

'And what is your perspective telling you?' Bulma probed.

Yamcha gave another broad smile. 'That we're on the verge of bringing Krillin back.'

On any other person his cheeriness would have been contagious- but, coming from him, it was absolutely pathogenic; before Tien and Bulma knew it, they were smiling as hard as Yamcha, each one imagining seeing Krillin again, or being home, or some combination of the two.

But they had scant time to enjoy these thoughts- Nail and Moori strode over to them soon after, looking significantly grimmer than them. 'Come with us, please,' Moori ordered of them.

0o0o0

Once they were outside- it seems that the Namekians who had exited the building had gone back to the village, for there was no-one around- Nail turned and addressed him.

'I'll say it simply,' he said in a gruff, martial manner that reminded them of Piccolo. 'Guru is failing. None of us, his children, have any authority to doubt or abridge his decisions- but his mind is muddled and twisted. I do not believe that he was thinking clearly when he chose to unlock your latent powers-'

'That's what Guru did to our _ki_?' Tien asked.

'-nor do I think he was correct to grant you unconditional permission to use our dragonballs.' Nail continued, ignoring Tien's comment. 'I don't think I actually agreed with a single thing he said earlier, if I'm being honest. We were wrong to measure his remaining time by years, or even months-' he said this more to Moori, 'he most likely has _days_.'

Nail's words sobered them. 'We're sorry,' Bulma said, speaking for all of them. 'We're sorry that he's dying.'

'There is nothing that can be done for old age,' Moori said, resigned. 'Time comes for us all, in the end. Perhaps, if the dragonballs were not linked to his power… no,' he shook his head. 'He would not want that. He would want his death to come when it should.' Moori sighed. 'There is… nothing we can do.'

'There _is_ , however,' Nail interjected, 'the question of his mental soundness. You would be doing us a great favor by forgetting everything he just said.'

'He seemed perfectly lucid when I was with him,' Yamcha countered politely. 'He seemed about the same with Tien just now.'

'You do not know him as we do,' Nail said with a barely disguised antipathy. 'We have known him far longer than you three have, and we remember the visitors to this planet that Guru promptly dismissed-' Nail paused '-not in a violent manner, but in a diplomatic one, to be clear.'

'But you said it yourself, right?' Bulma pressed like a well-trained surgeon on an open vein. 'You two have no grounds to overturn his decision once it's been made. And he _did_ grant us the right to use the dragonballs.'

'He did,' Nail conceded, 'but you, as to be expected, lack any knowledge of context- do you not remember what preceded him granting this privilege?'

'...Something about saving you?' Bulma hazarded. 'He did, admittedly, seem a little bit out of it then…'

'Guru was, again, incorrect- we do not need you three to "save" us. But he was drawing upon relevant information nonetheless.' Their blank expressions seemed to irk Nail. 'What? Do you not sense it?'

'No clue what you're talking about,' Yamcha said.

'If you two claim to be fighters, then you are bad ones,' Nail said dismissively to Tien and Yamcha. 'If you cannot stretch out your _ki_ sense beyond this planet, then I will do it for you- a plethora of strong _kis_ have just arrived within the solar system, and are poised to land on Namek any minute.'

Their faces- including Moori's- one and all hardened, their eyebrows forming haggard lines on their faces. 'The PTO? They're here?' Tien whispered.

'If this is true,' Moori interjected, searching Nail's face briefly, 'then I hope, for all our sakes,' he said gravely, looking specifically at Tien, 'that you can expound on what you told me earlier.'

0o0o0

Situated on the bridge of the ship like the true captain that he was, Zarbon peered out of the main glass panel that dominated the front section of the bridge. From end to end it ran horizontally, thick and transparent, serving as a port to view the inky black splashes of space just beyond it. And whereas this panel helped to frame the blank reaches of space dotted with stars, space itself framed the green and milky white planet that sat in the dead center of the panel. The ship was held at just the right distance away from the planet to magnify its image just enough to nearly run the panel's height- _nearly_. Slivers of black wound around the planet on its top and bottom, feeding into the larger pools of darkness to its right and left. It was exactly how Zarbon had wanted it- and, thus, it was _perfect_. This ship and its crew were undoubtedly underutilized in their last assignment ferrying whatever resource they were hauling on the edges of Frieza's empire.

As for the rest of the flotilla he had under his command, well, he'd have to reserve judgment for later. All in all, he had almost twenty ships under his command. Most were small troop transports, fit for nothing more than ferrying troops to and from battle, others were various support and logistical ships either involved in handling the fleet's communications or supplies, but there were two particular ships that he was surprised to have at his disposal- and, consequently, cared a great deal about them.

Somewhere out in space right and back relative to where he was now was the crown jewel of this fleet- an _Arcin_ class destroyer, top of its line, named after whatever long-dead engineer had drawn up the first design of it, gilded peacefully on the black expanse, guns carefully trained on the planet before them. The relative stability of the galaxy of the past few centuries, as Zarbon understood it, meant that the emphasis on research and development had shifted from ship-based weaponry and survivability to ground-based combat and personnel utility- to stronger beam blasters and armor that wouldn't immediately break apart in the field. This was more due to the PTO's modus operandi than to anything else; purging planets didn't involve glassing them from orbit such that they became unlivable. Compared to ground forces, ship-based weapons simply lacked the precision needed to prepare a world for market without causing irreparable atmospheric damage or knocking the planet a few degrees of its axis. Couple this with the fact that any planet that had the sad misfortune of being on the receiving end of the PTO's wishes typically weren't advanced enough to field a capable space fleet of their own, ships like this destroyer were rare- but still a luxury, as they offered unrivaled long-range firepower for eliminating hard targets. So far he was unsure if he would even need to call upon it, but it felt good to have at his disposal nonetheless.

The ship he currently stood on was of no less repute, was of the foremost quality and is counted among a class of vessels usually reserved for Frieza or his highly esteemed agents- those above even his own status within Frieza's empire. Beneath him, the engines thrummed lazily in an unspoken challenge to be pushed, the ship-to-ship weapons laid underneath pivoting siding clamored to be used, and the accommodations and amenities provided one with the best quality of life the galaxy could afford when conducting a campaign. It was such an unprecedented gift to have that being on such a ship without his lord was so utterly foreign to Zarbon that every time he rounded a corner he half-expected Frieza to pop out and spook him.

Perhaps this was for the best- it would do more good than harm to keep Frieza, and specifically, his wants and desires, at the forefront of his mind. Once the frantic preparation for this expedition had been made, he had had time to decide upon what would be the most effectual approach- or, more accurately, what response would be most likely to please Frieza. Thus, he stood like a statue facing the horizontal panel, gazing at the green and white circle in the far-off distance and willfully ignorant of the quiet chatter passing back and forth between the officers around him.

He had a great deal of information at his disposal- soon to grow even larger- to parse through. He knew the tracker placed upon the renegade Saiyans' ship had stopped transmitting just a few hours before, and in that time, his technicians hadn't detected any ships launching from the planet's surface. Whoever these renegades are, he knew they were still on the planet. If Zarbon chose to attack, he would most likely have the element of surprise, even if the tracker had been destroyed due to being found; a tracker told them nothing as to how many soldiers would attack, or when this attack would occur, or from which angles it would come from- all it told them was, in some way, shape or form, an attack was coming. Zarbon was actually glad that the transmitter had been discovered. Stewing, fretting people usually made paltry enemies.

If he had the luxury of time, he would have held the forces under his command in orbit indefinitely and let the renegades come to him- but, sadly, he was conducting this operation on the behalf of someone else. And Zarbon was aware that Frieza did not care for the lives of his common soldiery- as foolish and arrogant as that was- and, accordingly, he had to adjust his preferred plan. It did not matter that his force hadn't fully congregated, that it wasn't yet at full strength; Frieza would expect an immediate and overwhelming assault to be launched as soon as any pieces were in the position to do so. Within the hour, troops under Zarbon's command would descend to the planet's surface. In total, they would scarcely spend two hours in this system before being sent to fight.

While Zarbon reflected on this fact- it struck him as both sad and brutally efficient- he became aware of a hissing, sliding sound. Soon after, a pink, bulbous alien came up to his side. 'The readings are in from the sensor ships,' Dodoria addressed him, his large, spiked arms hanging out and held loosely at his sides. 'Cursory scans of the planet revealed a very small native population. Numbering anywhere between 50 to 200 lifeforms, judging from the pictures of their settlements. Levels of technological development are substantially lower than the civilization of a typical contract planet.'

For the first time in hours, Zarbon moved his physical gaze from the panel and directed it towards another living being. 'How low?'

Dodoria gave a wide, smug smile. 'They're farmers, one and all.'

Zarbon looked at him for a time, then returned his gaze to and out of the panel. 'How strong is the average inhabitant?'

'Readings a are a bit flaky in that regard. We've caught readings ranging from 500 to 4,000 or 5,000.'

'That low?' Zarbon said, his voice belying some skepticism.

'Don't trust me?' Dodoria chuckled.

'I am… doubtful of those readings,' Zarbon admitted, furrowing his brow. 'I've studied Vegeta's dossier extensively and the last reading on his file clocked in at around 15,000. That would mean that, at the bare minimum, for someone to evade him as they did, their strength would have to be upwards of 16,000, maybe 17,000.' He paused. 'Obviously, whatever that number may be, it is outside of the range you've just given me.'

'And?'

'I'm not sure,' Zarbon murmured, 'whether to doubt Vegeta's word or our sensors.'

'We know there's some sort of civilization down there,' Dodoria rumbled, casting his gaze towards the green-white sphere facing them. 'Could be those Saiyans are hiding with them.'

'And that would affect the reliability of our scouters?'

'You know as well as I do ship-based sensors aren't that accurate from this far out,' Dodoria said, unhurried. 'We won't be able to many any final judgments until we get on the ground.'

'Hmm.' For a moment they both stood there, side-by-side, Zarbon on the left, Dodoria on the right, framed from the front by their impending mission. Aquitaine contrasted by pink- a tall, lean build complemented by bulging, sinewy skin and muscles. They were, Zarbon reflected, as odd a pair of hands as any galactic overlord could ask for.

'Dodoria, I want you to lead the first assault,' Zarbon finally said, turning to his fellow enforcer. 'While you're on the ground, keep an open line with your company officers and with _me_. Your first and _only_ task is to locate the renegades. Do not engage with the natives unless threatened. If possible, enlist their help.' He dictated.

'And my second will be?...'

'Take Cui.'

'Will do. What'll you be doing in the meantime?'

'I will be giving the first of many reports to Lord Frieza,' Zarbon explained, his face an expressionless mask, 'as are my responsibilities.' His mouth was oddly strained. 'Is there anything you wish for me to pass on?'

'Not looking forward to it, are you?' Dodoria asked, grinning.

Zarbon looked over at Dodoria again, and sighed. 'I've never understood your relationship with Lord Frieza. He never seems to expect anything from you.'

'What he says, I do. It's as simple as that.'

'But surely you have thoughts of your own? Feelings that things could be different, or better, if he Frieza would simply be more open-minded?' Zarbon then glanced around the room and saw a number of faces turned to them. 'This conversation does not leave this room under the penalty of _death_ , just to be clear,' he quickly added. Several heads nodded vigorously in response.

Dodoria gave another one of his dull-looking smiles. 'Let me tell you the most valuable piece of advice I've ever been given. You're going to live a hell of a lot longer by playing dumb. Frieza thinks I'm a big, stupid oaf, not suited for anything but smashing heads in. And you know what? I enjoy that. Pays the bills and gives me some pride to boot. And I _do_ enjoy smashing heads in.'

Their conversation, if anything, reminded Zarbon why he disliked Dodoria- he was a tool, he _knew_ that he was a tool, and was happy to be so for as long as he could. If this dragged for on any longer, he'd have an outburst to rival his master. 'You have your orders,' Zarbon said. 'Go.'

Flashing him an oafish grin one last time, Dodoria even gave a little dip of his head, spun around, and bounced out of the room. Zarbon held his breath for a moment before releasing it in a steady, tensed hiss.

Dodoria was something else, too- a fool. Zarbon knew his story as well as his own- they had both first learned of the fickleness and cruelty of the universe by Frieza's own hand. And that pink thug was deluded if he thought treading water would keep them at his side forever.

In front of him, the planet, his soon-to-be pedestal where he'd stake his worth, hung in space like a painting mounted on a black wall. If all went well, it would be here that he would buy another five years. Ten, if he was lucky.

0o0o0

All sensation became a blur to Piccolo. He could access the fiercest level of concentration when sounds, light, and touch became irrelevant, even nonexistent, as his, body, spirit, and soul slipped into a meditative state. In this arrangement he could freely, _briefly_ , ponder the external events around him. The intermittent flashing of red light continued unabated to his right before he swept it from his purview. Somewhere to his left, he heard Master Roshi, the metaphorical bar which he stretched to reach, leafing through a never-inexhaustible supply of magazines. _Damn human- he should have run out of reading material eons ago. He stinks of magic._

The revelation that his damned rival, Krillin- _rival? Is that the right word? No, he's an enemy, a flimsy stumbling block, nothing more-_ would learn a technique that he could not had at first enraged him. It seemed too unlikely to be true- that his own lineage, his _essence_ would prevent him from learning such a powerful technique. But time spent searching the inner contents of his soul revealed this to be fact; his regenerative essence was too deeply intertwined with how he manipulated his _ki_ to perform this technique as King Kai taught it to Krillin.

Piccolo had also been quick to realize as well that King Kai was one of many teachers of many different styles, and just because this one did not know how to make this technique compatible with his body, it did not mean that it was _impossible_ for Piccolo to learn it. It was just a matter of patience, time, and experimentation...

Regardless, he reflected, this developing divide between himself and Krillin only made his own strengths all the more prominent. His regeneration enabled him to train like no other being in the galaxy, allowed him to push himself for longer and harder than his human counterpart. Even now he felt a clear divide start to emerge in his and Krillin's strength- if he ignored his damn technique, that is.

 _Grr…_ Frustration was not productive to meditation- he had learned that well enough in the long years spent brooding between his hollow victory at the World Martial Arts Tournament and Raditz's arrival. With a careful, steadied breath, Piccolo brushed aside the feeling, drawing up the walls around the center of his mind. Methodically, he turned his attention to his body.

He felt a familiar ache pulse through his muscles, the ripened fruit of a day ( _or whatever the analog was in a nightless realm_ ) spent training, though while in the meditative state this ache did not _occur_ to him; rather, he called upon it to present itself, much like a librarian examining a single book before carefully indexing it in a bookshelf. Caressings of his mind came and went, each garnering the briefest of looks from Piccolo before being methodically cataloged and sorted.

It was in moments like these that he always received the clearest sense of himself- who he was when the roar of the outside world was reduced to whisper and he was free to reflect unhindered. He would always wonder what he had come from. Lacking any knowledge about his origins, his father had tried to construct something to pass onto to Piccolo-but King Piccolo's death had ended whatever plans or dreams he had. Piccolo had never identified with his father and his desires, and yet out of loyalty he had tried to finish his work… and he died. When he woke in Otherworld, and saw that frowning, wrinkled fool Kami at his side with a halo above his head, Piccolo had accepted that he had done what he could; his life was spent.

But the impending prospect of being revived had changed things. If he found himself back on Earth, he could consider himself free of his father's legacy and all the burdens it entailed. He had already given one life for it, after all; why give a second? And if he was being perfectly honest- and, in this state, he was- he himself never cared that much about conquering the Earth.

He would never admit this, of course, but within his mental sanctuary, he palmed this thought and passed it along nonetheless.

His thoughts and sensations came slower now, each one coming up against the walls of his chamber and rubbing gently against it- once judged, each one was guided away. The procession grew lazy...

 _Duh dum_. Something thrummed in the distance, causing Piccolo to sweep his mental gaze in the sound's direction...

And then something impinged.

0o0o0

King Kai, basked in a thick red glow, beamed. 'You've got it!' he exclaimed, running his gaze excitedly over Krillin's crimson-outlined form. 'Getting the base form was the hardest part- now, accessing the higher levels should be a cinch!'

Similarly enthused, Krillin examined his hands and forearms, studying the traces of flame-like crescents that bounced and licked off his body like water lapping a beach. In the next second, the light disappeared, Krillin took a series of pained breaths, but through this his proud smile never lifted from his face. 'I… actually got it,' he said, expressing his own disbelief. I didn't think it was possible, to be honest…'

'Now,' King Kai said in a playfully chiding voice, 'why would you have thought that? You're studying under the greatest teacher in the North Galaxy.'

Krillin shot King Kai a confused look. 'North?'

'Remember my official title? North Kai?' King Kai prodded. 'There's a reason for it- I watch over the north quadrant of the galaxy.'

If anything, Krillin's confusion deepened. 'Watch for what?'

King Kai frowned. 'What, do you think my only job is to train you two goofs? I'm a watcher, first and foremost-'

'HAAAAAGH!' Piccolo suddenly and loudly screamed from just a few feet away, rushing out of his sitting position and summoning around him a white, raging aura. He stretched to his full height, slapping wind across everyone else present in heavy, coiled waves, and then as quickly as it began, his aura flickered out and he nearly collapsed, just barely keeping himself on his feet.

'Uhh…' King Kai adjusted his tinted, round glasses, which has moved slightly out of place from Piccolo's flare of _ki_. 'What was that?'

Piccolo continued to pant and seemed to shrink in on himself. 'I… I don't know,' he said, sounding uncharacteristically confused. 'For a moment I felt something… almost tapping against my consciousness.' Piccolo then raised his gaze from the ground and looked at King Kai- his eyes were grave and fearful. 'That's never happened to me before in meditation.'

'So you lost your focus?...' King Kai said, throwing out a guess.

'No-' Piccolo answered sternly. 'It was more than that. It was almost like… someone reached out to me, and tried to _get inside my head_.'

A silence fell on them- and was broken up as quickly by the sound of a magazine being shuttered and put aside. 'What's this?' Master Roshi said, surging to his feet and stretching. 'I didn't quite catch everything of what was just said, but that last sentence sounded _ominous_.'

Krillin wasn't quite sure how to judge this situation- it was weird, and moreover distracting, because he wanted to get back to learning the Kaioken as quickly as possible. But a glance over at King Kai shut up anything he would have said; his teacher now looked incredibly pinched, as if the concerned kneading of the muscles in his face had crumpled his entire body.

'I concur,' King Kai said, folding his hands behind his back and walking over to Piccolo. 'What you just said was _extremely_ ominous.'

Piccolo brought his hands to his face and began to rub his temples. 'I… I think it was nothing. It's gone now- whatever it was, it must have been a freak accident. It's not a problem,' he said hastily, his voice straining to return to a normal cadence.

'Actually, it's a bigger issue than you know,' King Kai swiftly retorted. 'I have an intimate and omniscient awareness of every single flicker of energy that so much as _floats_ across this planet. And, whatever just happened to you, I didn't sense a bit of it.' King Kai appeared to think for a moment before snapping his fingers crisply. 'Come here,' he commanded of Piccolo, motioning him closer with one hand. 'I want to do what I did before.'

A wary expression rose on Piccolo's face. 'I didn't enjoy it the first time- I'd rather not-'

'People on my planet aren't allowed to have outbursts without explanations,' King Kai said imperiously. 'Come _here_.'

Piccolo looked conflicted, but eventually he conceded, and under the curious gazes of Krillin and Master Roshi, he strode over to King Kai and stuck out his head, proffering it to King Kai. Without missing a beat King Kai extended his hands and placed them on Piccolo's head like he had done when they had first arrived. After a time, while there was no sudden explosion of activity, King Kai withdrew his hands. He was sporting as grave an expression as any one of them had seen. 'That's… incredibly concerning.'

'Well?' Piccolo asked evenly, straightening his neck.

'It was faint- but I picked up on some lingering energy floating around in your mind. Somehow, I didn't sense this when it first affected you…' King Kai muttered, folding his hands underneath the crooks of his arms. 'This is very strange…'

'Yeah? So where'd it come from?'

'It felt like energy from _hell_ ,' King Kai said bluntly. 'But… that's impossible. This and that realm are separated by the highest order of magic and spiritual energy- _nothing_ should be able to cross this barrier… but, then again, it should have been impossible for something to reach this planet without me being aware of it. So, I guess a lot of impossible things are happening today…'

Nearby, Krillin shuddered- he remembered vividly how distressing being in hell had been, and he had hoped that he would be done with it after leaving. From what King Kai was saying, that didn't seem to be the case.

'Someone… in hell?' Piccolo pieced together. His mind was whirring. _Father?_ Suddenly, his meditative thoughts felt much less private.

King Kai nodded. 'The only possible conclusion I can think of is that a very strong magic user is sneaking their energy into this realm, and is trying to inflict you with some sort of… something. Impossible to tell anything of its motive or effect other than, manifestly, it was very unpleasant.' And then King Kai's face lightened abruptly and lifted his gaze in Piccolo's direction. 'But, lucky for you, there's a means to clear away this mystery.'

Piccolo frowned- and noticed that King Kai's gaze actually went through and around him. Master Roshi, the gaze's intended target, walked past Piccolo soon after presented himself like a soldier to King Kai. He didn't seem to be disturbed by the previous pronouncements- his face was set in an expressionless cut. 'That bad, huh?'

'What?' Krillin asked, glancing back and forth between King Kai and Master Roshi. 'What's going on?'

'Find whoever did this and do your job,' King Kai said to Master Roshi.

'Same process as before?' Master Roshi asked. 'Rough 'em up until they can't stand?'

King Kai nodded. 'The very same.' He then turned to Krillin and Piccolo. 'Master Roshi is about to do his job around here- here being the Otherworld, that is. For we've taken him on as something akin to an enforcer. Whenever there are troublemakers in hell, we send him down there to bust some heads,' King Kai finished, smiling devilishly.

'Wanna know a fun fact?' Master Roshi joined in while stretching his arms in large, round circles, and ruffling his slick black hair. 'If you want to speed up the time it takes for a soul to be absorbed into hell, you beat 'em up!' He said proudly, ramming a fist into his other hand.

Listlessly, Piccolo and Krillin stared back at him. 'Really?' Krillin asked.

'Yes!' Master Roshi cheered, jumping into the sky and blasting off and away from the planet. He was moving incredibly fast- he pierced the distant fluffy yellow clouds below in a matter of seconds. Krillin and Piccolo were equally stupified by how quickly he had done so.

'I had no idea…' Krillin mumbled, unmoved from peering down at the yellow clouds.

'Why would you?' King Kai said. 'We never told you.'

Piccolo held his gaze below for a moment longer, and then turned to King Kai. 'Question.' he said, glancing at King Kai. 'Master Roshi said that beating up souls speeds up how fast they're absorbed by hell. If that's the case, why isn't he always down there "busting heads"?'

'Well, for one thing, there's no need- usually the realm does that well enough on its own. But, if I'm being honest,' King Kai said off-handedly, 'there are some beings in Hell Master Roshi couldn't even touch- it's a good thing those people are dead, because they would be causing a lot of harm if they were still alive!'

It was an odd thing to tell two students who had both, to varying degrees, come to regard Master Roshi as a god, but they shrugged, and moreover, felt glad that they were up here at King Kai's planet and not down below.

0o0o0

'Nothing?' Moori repeated, his eyes desperate for any morsel of information. 'You can tell us _nothing_?'

Bulma shook her head remorsefully, as did Yamcha. 'We weren't exactly with them for a long time,' Tien elaborated. 'And the time we did spend with them, we spent at a single outpost. We aren't exactly aware of their capabilities.'

Nail snorted. 'You Earthlings are truly pathetic. And we're to believe that you were able to defend your planet from one of these PTO soldiers?'

'We know that they don't like us and that they're here now,' Tien said flatly. 'That's enough for us to work off of.'

'How?' Nail questioned. 'You have no idea of what they're planning, of what strategy they will employ. What could you possibly know?'

'We know that we need to leave as soon as possible. So, to that effect, we're going to make our wish and leave,' Tien said willfully, staring down Nail.

Nail stared back for a time, but then he glanced away and scoffed. 'Fine. You have Guru's permission, that much is clear- but don't expect any help from us. You'll have to collect the dragonballs on your own.'

'And you aren't worried that the PTO won't gun for you while they're coming after us?' Yamcha said. 'What your people get in the way when they attack us?'

'We'll deal with that if we have to, and I doubt we will, 'Nail replied coldly. 'But I've studied the strength of these visitors- and we can handle them if need be. Up until that point, however, we will remain neutral.' He glanced at Moori out of the corner of his eyes. 'On this, I and Moori are of the same mind.'

'There's nothing you can do?' Bulma said, focusing her gaze on Moori, who she sensed was the more amenable of the two in this conversation. 'We've described the PTO to you- you know how vile and depraved they are! They'll attack you no matter what you do!'

Moori looked torn- he kept glancing back-and-forth between Nail and them. 'I cannot offer the help of our people at this time. This "PTO" as you call them has no reason to attack us. We have done nothing to antagonize or harm them- as long as we do not help you. Facing the prospect of Guru's imminent death, I cannot bring any more hardship onto my people,' Moori said solemnly. 'I am sorry, but you are on your own.'

'A decision I agree with, for a change,' Nail added scornfully. 'The faster you three leave Namek, the better.'

By this point, Tien, Yamcha, and Bulma were undeniably frustrated. 'So what if Guru dies?' Yamcha asked, barely concealing his fury. 'If the dragonballs cease to exist, what then?'

Nail gave them a slow, considerate look. 'I'd recommend you move _very_ quickly.'

A minute later, after Nail and Moori had withdrawn back into the building, Bulma broke up their group argument and pushed Yamcha and Tien nearly off their feet.

'I don't care who carries me!' Bulma shrieked, beating a fist against both Tien and Yamcha's chests. 'Just make up your mind so we can start collecting the dragonballs! We _literally_ have no time!'

The two human fighters exchanged a wary, nervous. Eventually, Tien shrugged, gestured to Bulma, and then with her consent scooped her up in his arms and charged into the sky. Yamcha followed a second after.

0o0o0

The coward in Bez had wanted to flee the planet with the shuttle, consequences be damned, the moment he realized that the arrival of a PTO force raining down destruction on the planet was imminent. The _bigger_ coward in him, though, rationalized that it was incredibly likely that the PTO had already set up a functional blockade of this planet- and, lo and behold, there was. The shuttle had a cruddy sensor dish- but not _that_ cruddy that it couldn't pick up on twenty-odd ships parked in orbit around the planet.

Which left him with a horrible choice- a choice he was all too familiar making. But he discovered he had an even bigger third coward in him; he wanted to delay making that choice as long as possible.

So, keeping the engines as cool as possible, Bez nimbly directed the ship into the sky. He searched for a handful of minutes before finding a relatively narrow gorge- something of a rarity on this planet- where he could neatly hide the ship from any sort of long-range sensors.

Then, with the ship tucked away, Bez had time to think- and as much as he didn't care for what his other deserters thought of him, he really couldn't afford to alienate them _and_ the PTO. All that'd get him would be a painful suicide.

Within the hour, he grabbed a spare scouter from the ship's cockpit, jogged down the ramp, and set off.

0o0o0

They flew through the air at twice, three times as fast than their usual speed, Tien and Yamcha both milling out every ounce of energy possible to move them faster. They, thus, were pushing themselves and their burgeoned powers to the best of their abilities. But they had never flown this fast before, and as a result, the air was fighting them.

Cradled in Tien's arms, Bulma tried her best to shield her face from the savage, cutting wind. 'I don't remember the wind hurting this much last time!' She yelled, her voice barely carrying over the howling.

'Well, we were a lot weaker a few hours ago!' Tien yelled back.

'Because of that latent power whatsit Nail talked about?'

'Yes- but we should be about ten minutes away from the nearest village, Tien informed them, his words mixing with the whipping, droning sound of wind rushing past them. 'Just a bit longer-'

A lancing sensation roared through Tien's mind- in an instant, he dropped Bulma from his arms. Before she could even begin to scream in terror, Tien's form just above her was slammed away by a white-booted kick to his chin, rocketing him off into the horizon.

Yamcha was caught half-extended in the air, forced to halt his forward momentum abruptly, and rolled in the air. He saw two things; a dropping, flailing Bulma, was steadily accelerating into an uncontrolled free-fall to the distant ground below them- and, a purple alien, one leg fully lengthened, the other cocked, turned their head to him, showcasing their rounded head and the two ear-like openings that rested on the sides of their forehead. They looked eminently pleased.

'And where exactly are you three running off to, _huh_?'

* * *

A/N: Next chapter is going to have a lot of battling. Prepare ya self.

And here's something different: **What fics am I reading right now?**... because, usually, their style shows up in the latest chapter I write. So:

 **Hermit** by Lionheart261

You know that sense of anticipation you get in your gut for a fic when you get an interesting idea, a strong opening, and a talented author all in the same place? This is that.

 **Rhyme & Reason **by TC9078

C'mon dude, I know you're out there- give me that sweet, sweet conclusion to the tournament! Lock yourself in a cabin like G. R. R. Martin and slay the beast!

 **The Catalyst** by Drakthul

I first read this story a long, _long_ time ago, so recently I decided to re-read it from the beginning. Aside from some grammatical quibbling in the story's early going, I really don't have any meaningful commentary to add to a story with over 1,000 reviews. It's really good. Check it out.

 **The Undying Fire** by Boogum

My true inspiration for clear, cogent writing and unambiguously cool OC material. Also the one fanfic I read outside of the DBZ purview to keep me in the know about the different writing styles of other fandoms and communities.

 **Reviews:**

 **TrentBttl:** Thank you for the lovely review! The stakes are assuredly getting higher on Namek.

 **SomeCallItKye:** Tien really isn't much of a diplomat. C'mon Bulma, isolate that boy!

I tried to channel in Moori the vibe of "grown-up adult who is overly protective of an ailing/failing parent in a kid-like way". And as for the wishes, well, keep an eye out...

 **LWexe:** Ah… Yamcha is a wayward soul. Sometimes his gut leads him right, sometimes not.

 **Anonymous:** Thank you! Definitely the 100k words from 300k to 400k were the hardest yet, but that just makes it all the more rewarding!

1 million words would be a lot… but that's definitely a possible future for this fic. It really depends if my long-term writing style trends toward brevity or verbosity.

Thank you! No character should be boring or one-dimensional- if they are, make sure to tell me! As for Bez… well, we'll see. As for Rayne and Chi-Chi… people will have, or have had, their chances to shine. Ugh, I want to splurge what I have planned so bad…

Sure looks like Katas is evil considering he's in hell, huh! I wonder... ;).


	55. Carnage

Namek

Chapter 55: Carnage

* * *

They had seen him approach from afar; even from a distance, Dodoria saw green-shaped lines turn towards him and his men and widen, then give a wobble and turn back to their farming. He couldn't remember the last time people had reacted to him like that- had viewed him with complete ignorance. Since ascending to the lofty position of one of Frieza's prized elites, he almost never led assaults himself, and in the rare times that he did, they were against an enemy that expected his arrival from a long way out- not that it did them any good. If he was being brought out to finish a job, it'd get finished.

So it felt odd to land unopposed, flanked to his left and right by the ten soldiers in his squad, while these green humanoids tilled the land peacefully. Them farming was charming in a "not gonna last" kind of way.

Dodoria's gaze flicked back and forth among the small village until an older looking alien dropped their gripped shovel, wiped the dirt from their hands to their flowing, vest-like clothes, and approached. 'How goes it?' He asked, giving them a welcoming but wary look. His gaze kept landing on the various beam blasters affixed to the arms of Dodoria's troops. 'Are you with the others?'

A wide smile rolled across Dodoria's face. Were they _really_ going to make it this easy for them? 'We are,' Dodoria lied, performing an easygoing nod, 'but we lost 'em not too long ago. If you would be so kind, we'd _love_ to know what direction they left by.'

'Well, we don't know where the other two are,' the green alien said, his face scrunching up in concentration, 'but if I had to guess, I'd say they're staying around Moori's village- somewhere around thataways,' he said, pointing off into the western distance, 'judging by the direction the man left by.'

'Three, eh?' Dodoria said, and admittedly, said lazily, for if he was paying any attention at all to the conversation and not busy sizing up the other fifteen or so green natives, he would have given a much more thought-out response.

'Well, you should know, right?' the green alien replied, looking a bit confused. 'You know them.'

'Of course,' Dodoria said, tapping the side of his scouter idly.

The Namekian elder paused, wiped his clean hands across his clothes out of habit, and then said, 'You know, you don't look much like them. The one who came here, at least,' he said, his eyes tracing the segmented, white and brown armor Dodoria and his troops wore. 'You look… more…'

'Military, right?' His smile grew cocky. 'You're right on that- we're soldiers, one and all.'

By this time, Dodoria could feel his soldiers behind him start to grow twitchy- he couldn't tell what exactly what they were doing besides standing in place and waiting for his command, but judging from how the alien in front of him started to squirm, they must have been casting around some predatory looks.

Slowly, he raised his arm and started to unclasp the scouter from the side of his head. No doubt Zarbon had recorded their conversation and already relayed the elder's helpful directions to the most appropriate squad to his west. So there was no reason to include him in what would happen next. With a _click_ , he switched the scouter off, and heard his men behind him start to do the same.

'Boss,' a soldier behind him said in a scratchy voice, 'can we have at 'em?'

'Do you need rest?' the elder said, who in spite of his frightened appearance, didn't seem to understand what was about to happen. 'We have a few dwellings that we can spare for the afternoon… if you all aren't opposed to cramming together, that is.'

Dodoria simply looked at the elder and smiled softly. To get to this desolate, far-off planet, he and everyone else had busted their asses to prepare and arrive here in a timely fashion. His squad, like all the other grumpy squads consumed with combing the planet, needed to let off some steam. And, truth be told, he always had a soft spot in his heart for the wellbeing of his troops under him. It wasn't too long ago that he was just like them, serving under some snotty, irascible officer...

The elder must have finally read what was readily present in Dodoria's eyes- in all the eyes of militarized, armed soldiers facing him- for he fell to his knees, hands desperately clasped together before him. 'Please! We mean-'

But his words came too late- by the time his knees hit the ground, his head rolled alongside them.

0o0o0

Yamcha stared at the purple alien for but a second- he knew he _really_ couldn't afford to waste any time with Bulma plummeting to the ground below- but he permitted himself a brief question before he put his plan into motion. 'Yeah? And who's asking?'

The purple alien gave him a cocky smirk. 'Cui, and the PTO, _renegade_ ,' they replied cockily. Rapidly, Cui straightened, extending their right arm towards Yamcha. 'Your betters want a word with you!' A violent purple ball of _ki_ then flashed into life in their hand and launched itself at Yamcha.

The human grinned- and the ball passed through his afterimage harmlessly. In the next moment, he crashed into Cui's body from below, slamming one kick, and pulling back another-

And Cui growled, grabbing the second strike and, with a heavy heave, spun around in the air and flung Yamcha towards the ground. They were about to fly off in pursuit- but an immediate burst of _ki_ from Yamcha, accelerating the human's downward motion, startled him, and promptly, Cui knew he had played into the human's hands perfectly.

They were cursing even before Tien plowed back into the fight, slamming a double-fist down on their head and launching them downward after Yamcha like a cannonball.

0o0o0

 _Come on…_ Bulma's falling, flailing form appeared as a dot, then became a line, as Yamcha pushed his _ki_ to its limit. _Come on… Come on!_ She spun, twisted through the air, forcing him to nudge and adjust his horizontal position to him, all the while the solid earth below them grew more distinct by the second. _Come…_ He could her now- she locked eyes with him. _COME ON!_

Their hands, Yamcha's right, Bulma's left, clasped together, and with as much finesse as Yamcha could spare on Bulma's behalf, he pumped his _ki_ outwards and down, briefly yanking their grip taught before springing her towards him. Bulma squealed in pain but their combined velocity slowed down massively, and in the next moment she was safely held in his arms as his feet hit the ground, rocking the earth below them and spurting dirt up into the air. With a quick flare of _ki_ , Yamcha cleared the air around them.

He examined her. Bulma looked injured- and, indeed, her left arm looked mangled or broken from Yamcha's maneuver- but it was a small price to pay for stopping a surely fatal fall. But he couldn't spare any more time beyond making sure she would live; moving quickly, he sprinted over to the other side of a nearby outcrop of rock and lowered her to the ground. With a squeeze of her unhurt arm, he seized her attention through the pain. 'Stay hidden,' he cautioned her. 'Stay here. I'll be back soon.'

With that, he left her, sprinted around the outcrop, and shielded his eyes. Waves of dirt peppered him from a massive impact centered at where they had been just a few moments ago.

0o0o0

Once he sighted the alien's body crash into the ground below him, digging their body several feet into the soft, loamy earth, Tien veered off from his purely vertical descent and moved across the blue-grass plains. They had been caught over a doughnut-shaped island, with an outcrop of rock on one end and a moderately sized lake of water at its center. He had sensed Yamcha scurry back and forth in the span of a few seconds, and now he saw him standing protectively before the outcrop, gaze set on where the alien had crashed into the ground.

Without a word, he dropped to Yamcha's side and nodded to him. No words needed to be said- this would be a rough fight.

' _Tien?'_

Tien blinked. That was in his head. He suppressed his surprise. _'That you, Yamcha?'_

His friend's body stood motionless at his side. _'It is,'_ the voice in Tien's head replied. _'We're in trouble here, aren't we?_ '

At this, Tien couldn't help but smile. _'Nothing we haven't dealt with before,'_ he said telepathically, sounding to himself more confident than he actually felt. _'The gap between us and this guy is definitely smaller than it was between us and Raditz way back when.'_

 _'The guy's name is Cui, by the way.'_

 _'That so? Good to know.'_

 _'You got a plan?'_

Before Tien could reply, waves of wind lashed out and buffeted them, blowing away the smoke and dust hanging over the area. Cui, looking severely annoyed but uninjured, revealed themselves and started to stride towards them.

'You recovered faster than I thought you would, three eyes!' Cui boasted, making a show of stretching their arms and legs as they moved forward. 'How'd you pull off a trick like that, hmm? Especially when-' Cui froze, and Tien and Yamcha saw Cui's attention jump up to the green and square-ish panel of glass laid over his left eye- a scouter. 'Your power levels…' Cui murmured. 'They jumped. They're higher now.'

Yamcha and Tien exchanged a surprised glance. So they weren't actually flying at top power before, after all- which meant there was a chance they haven't reached the limit of their newfound powers.

' _So let's find out, then!'_

The island was suddenly filled with rapturous wind- trees billowed and splintered, whole mats of grass were ripped from the ground and flung into the air, and at the center of it all, two white pillars of aura beat relentlessly across the land, forcing Cui to halt and call upon their own dark purple area to anchor themselves. The purple alien smirked. Their auras were the only color difference between them in their appearance- Tien and Yamcha, lacking a change of their Earth clothes for months now, were dressed very similarly to Cui.

'So you two can hide your power levels, huh?' Cui yelled over the din. 'Another thing to beat out of you when you're lying helpless at my feet!'

0o0o0

With easy grace, Master Roshi plunged through the yellow clouds separating Otherworld and Hell and shot out the bottom into a darker and muskier domain. He slowed; from this high up he would be in the best position to snuff out what was going on down here. _Now… where was that strange ki KIng Kai was talking about?..._

Performing the job he currently held- and he really didn't know what to call it, because apparently this job didn't exist until he and Baba had tag-teamed Yemma and essentially forced him to create it for him- often involved a mix of sleuthing and fighting. Hell was, according to how King Kai told it, purposefully designed to muddle and confuse the energies of any person within it, and did so sort by weakening the spiritual and bodily containers of its denizens- he understood it by imagining the doomed residents as balloons filled with water and hell as a thin needle. Because of this, _ki_ continually leaks out of wicked, evil people and makes sensing anything clearly a mess. While he didn't need to worry about the realm affecting him this way- he had gotten the magic treatment, as he understood it- it still made parsing through the energies down here nearly impossible. Though not having to worry about holding in his own _ki_ compared to those he was searching fordid make the second part of his job much easier.

But to fight someone, he had to find them first, and so far, he only had one concrete lead available to him. Whoever tried to mess with Piccolo must have retained an appalling level of _ki_ control when they materialized in Hell; it's the only way to explain how they had been able to push energy across the barrier to King Kai's world. So that meant that whoever he was looking for was one of the monstrously strong ones. Not great- and even more annoying, these types usually hung out at the edges of Hell and as far away from each other as possible.

 _King Kai, that cheat… this is going to take forever…_ Idly, while he tried to spread out his _ki_ sense as far as it would go, Master Roshi examined the landscape below him.

A small, yellow blast of energy, nothing more than a simple drop of _ki_ , suddenly screamed up to him. He pulled himself to the side, tracing the blast zoom past him and move further up into the pink abyss, and then appraised the landscape below him in an altogether better mood than he had held just a few moments earlier. He had resigned himself to hours of monotony; the sole, lone figure hovering off the ground, far enough down and away from him to be barely more than a smudge, promised something else.

The figure didn't flee as Master Roshi descended to meet him, nor did they move to attack him further, which made it clear that the first blast they had sent up was just meant to catch his attention. Which was odd- who among the damned would want to talk to _him_? His first guess, and who he thought it was judging by the figure's initial appearance was Kakarot- but it soon became clear that this person, who looked like Kakarot and had a tail to boot, was too old and scarred to be him. But Master Roshi was sure that this Saiyan hadn't recognized him- so, again, what exactly was he doing down here?

'So you're the great and mighty Master Roshi,' the figure said as a statement, as if he was prefacing a drawn-out conversation.

Master Roshi frowned. _Alright, so he does recognize me._ 'I am. And who are you, exactly? I'm afraid I'm not as familiar with you as you are with me.'

'I think you know my son- Kakarot,' Bardock said, grinning and running his hands through his hair 'You see it?'

'I can see the resemblance,' Master Roshi commented wryly.

'And, compared to his son, how does the great and mighty Bardock stack up?'

'Well.'

'I like you,' Bardock said, smiling. 'I like- you know what? You're forgiven. Look at us,' he gestured, sweeping his arms over their jagged, twisting surroundings in a broad, showy gesture. 'We're both past the point of fighting. We should be fading into dust, or- or whatever. So no fighting, yeah?'

Utterly confused, Master Roshi tilted his head to one side. '...Okay? So, then why exactly-'

'Oh, but I want to fight you, though.' Bardock said, straightening. 'Alright?'

'-What?'

Stars flooded into Master Roshi's vision as his body careened backward from a heavy blow to his forehead. Nearly blind from the pain, Master Roshi felt a faint change in the air around his body before spinning and catching a double-handed fist gunning for his back. Bardock struggled to get out of his grip and cursed. 'Act surprised, damn you!'

'I'll try!' Now only partially blind, Master Roshi flooded his body with _ki_ and shifted his trajectory up and to the right, curving away from the ground and into the sky. Bardock lost all pretense of control and began to flag through the air behind him like a cheap banner. Then, accompanied by the briefest, fleetest flicker of red, Master Roshi came to a full stop, appeared behind Bardock, and dove kicked into his body from behind, sending him tumbling across the pink-grey sky. Master Roshi gave a hearty _huff_ of air and curiously watched his opponent catch themselves just before crashing into the ground. Bardock then began to rush back, two pink balls of _ki_ glowing in their hands.

Master Roshi appeared in his flight path and batted the two balls from Bardock's grip with a high kick. They sailed away and sputtered harmlessly into the sky.

Bardock glumly followed their forlorn course, and then reluctantly looked at Master Roshi. 'You're stronger than I thought you'd be.'

'Didn't anyone tell you not to pick on people who are stronger than you?'

'Oh, please,' Bardock laughed bitterly, the tone of his voice lowering. 'I've had plenty of experience _not_ doing that.' He looked over Master Roshi once more, then shook his head. 'Too bad. I was looking forward to getting some more fun out of this.'

Bardock's voice tipped off Master Roshi before the swing came- with a quick dodge, he swerved to his right, narrowly avoiding a claw-strike aimed at his gut. His right arm came up next, blocking a forearm smash, and the blows started to blend together, merging into one unending procession. Bardock's strikes embodied what Master Roshi thought Kakarot's always lacked- technique and fluidity. Master Roshi was continually forced to pass up a chance to counter-attack so that he could block strike after successive strike aimed at him. Bardock had the training of a conqueror, and even more so that of a warrior, as his mid-air positioning continually slid around Master Roshi like an insufferable, unreachable hoop.

The breakthrough came- Bardock flipped and vaulted himself over Master Roshi, and cocking his leg back, he smashed his heel against Master Roshi's jaw. The blow sent the human spiraling down to the ground- for a time. With another flush of his _ki_ , he halted his momentum, rubbed the blood trickling out of one corner of his mouth with his thumb, and turned back to Bardock. It was a good hit- he hoped his eyes conveyed the respect he felt in that moment.

'You look better with my blows blooming on your face,' Bardock said haughtily. 'You still think you can hang with me?'

Master Roshi would have liked to parry back- would have _loved_ to, actually, because he was being offered something he had always wanted on Earth; a consequence-free fight- but he had other matters to attend to. And taxing his body by fighting a long, drawn-out battle with a long-dead Saiyan was not one of them. It was a shame; under better circumstances, he would have indulged his natural curiosity a bit further.

A crimson aura, bright and violent, erupted into existence around him. _As it is, though..._

He rushed forward, appearing behind Bardock without the faintest recognition or reaction from the now far-too-weak opponent, and delivered the lightest possible punch to the square center of his back. Red lashed against Bardock's skin, and like a meteor, the Saiyan rocketed away from and impacted the ground below.

Relaxing his aura quickly, Master Roshi watched rock chunks rain down around him for a time before picking a direction and departing.

0o0o0

He had, in accord with his father's wishes, hidden underneath a massive crag of rock during the short length of the battle. With pride, he had watched his father go toe to toe with the _one_ \- he growled to himself- the one who had interceded between himself and that human, Krillin, who could have answered his questions about Raditz. And then he saw his father be summarily dismissed into the black Earth not too far from Kakarot. The human had observed this- observed his father not rise again to fight him- and then left. Kakarot felt like a coward.

Dark miasma trailed off and up from the crater, and Kakarot rushed forward, stumbling over strewn rock and blackened dirt to reach his father. His mind was angry, frustrated, and this slowed him- but he had survived worst mental states, and after having watched his father tank that last, terrible blow- when he had seen his father's chest _bend_ out- he was even more worried that something horrible had happened. He had grown used to having his father, as annoying as he was, to lean on here- losing that now might be the end of him.

The edge of the crater couldn't come soon enough; panting, Kakarot surged over its lip and skidded down its sides. When he reached the center, he fell to his knees and rushed to place his arms over his half-buried father- but a strong, muscled arm smacked his hands away before he could, and in the next instant, Bardock sat up, dirt staining his clothes and resting atop his shoulders, head, and legs. 'That hurt,' he said, frowning and rubbing his legs.

Kakarot simply stared at Bardock, then said, 'How are you still… well, I guess "alive" is the wrong word to use here…'

'I get your meaning,' Bardock said, holding his gaze away at the sky. 'that was a pretty strong blow- nothing too bad, though.' He sighed, then shook the dirt off of him and stood. 'About as bad as what he had done to recover earlier, which wasn't _that_ far beyond me.'

'Then why did you stop fighting?' Kakarot asked.

Bardock gave Kakarot a strange look. 'Well, first off, the deal wasn't to fight him- it was to distract him.' He looked sheepish for a moment. 'I'll admit that… I got a little too excited to fight him. But I'm not going to _die_ a second time to keep my end of the deal up.'

'But I thought you said-'

'I could have matched what I saw,' Bardock continued, 'but… yeah, I'm pretty sure he was holding back a _lot_.' He frowned, shook his head, and stood, shaking the loose dirt off of him in the process. 'I did what I could; we held our part of the bargain as best we could. We gave them time. Now, it's their turn…'

0o0o0

Bulma was never one to hide or shy away from danger in any way, shape, or form; even now, shielded from the storm of wind and dirt passing and breaking on the flat, rectangular rock outcrop that separated her from the battle, her imagination stretched to fill in the gaps between what she could hear. Every auditory impact that boomed through the air made her think of Tien or Yamcha being hit and savaged; every plume of water and dust that wrapped around the outcrop's outline painted a scene of chaotic, uncontained destruction. She couldn't bear to be this close and _not_ watch every bruising detail. Slowly, surely, she crept sideways and poked her head out to glimpse inwards towards the island's center.

For all her courage, she saw nothing. In past battles where she had watched with awe and terror, she could always expect a glimpse of what was going on every thirty seconds or so or have her stronger friends keep her informed. But this fight- this fight was far, _far_ beyond her. Tien, Yamcha, and the PTO soldier were moving so fast that she couldn't even see their _blurs_. She heard sounds, loud and frightful (for she could not pinpoint exactly where they were coming from) wash over her like an indifferent, cutting wind, and dizzying her with their sheer strength. Colors warped through the air, obscuring the shaded green sky as far out as she could see. Patterns eluded her- she couldn't wrangle anything out of the sensory chaos bombarding her.

Cursing, she moved out into the open even further, trying to take a wider view of the island. There had to be some clue she could latch onto-

'You don't look like you belong here.'

The voice, laced with such a repulsive, innate quality to it that it made Bulma want to gag, froze her, and haltingly, she twisted her head to look behind her. Five soldiers, clothed in white and brown armor with wide beige shoulder pads and white boots and gloves, appraised her from not twenty feet away. How could she have been so careless? They could have landed on top of her head and she would have been too distracted by the battle to notice... _Not good..._

'I'm visiting,' she brazenly lied, her mind racing to create a believable story. 'I was taking a walk,' she clarified, 'and I-'

'No,' the soldier in the front, a faded bronze humanoid with long, black hair, said, 'you weren't.' Bulma recognized him as the previous speaker. She also recognized that every soldier was armed similarly to the other PTO thugs she saw back on FP083- each one had a white beam blaster affixed to one of their arms. 'Gotta say- I've been around the galaxy's bruisers a long time, and even though I haven't seen a Saiyan for damn near twenty years, I can't say that I've _ever_ seen one with _blue_ hair before.'

Bulma's eyes briefly narrowed before springing open; he was talking about her. 'I don't know what you're talking about,' she said, feeling hopelessly defenseless. Yamcha had told her to hide- why didn't she _hide_?

'You did it again- you're lying,' the soldier said. 'Why?' he asked, startlingly earnest. 'Just makes your pretty face shrink up and _shiver_.'

She shivered then, unintentionally conforming to his cheerless words, and wrapped her arms around her. In spite of her layers of clothing and the distance between her and them, she felt horribly naked.

The lead soldier gave her a smug, predator smirk- the face of someone who frequently lacked power but serendipitously now found it dropped into his lap. The first two steps he took towards her were, in defiance of the storm of blows raging near them, deliberate and measured and caused her to flinch back a step in response. But his next two steps were wild, uncoordinated, his eyes rolled in his head, and once his body was halfway to the ground, Bulma _barely_ make out a purple shape hovering behind him, looming-

The four other soldiers saw their leader start to fall, and turned away from her. 'Who?-'

A quick succession of blows, four in total, landed around her, far too fast for her to see. The last blow, however, did not resonate as loudly and cleanly as the previous three- and Bulma saw that one soldier was still standing, holding back a thin purple elbow just inches from his face. Just inches away, attached, to the elbow, was Bez.

Their eyes met for the briefest of moments- one eye covered by a glass-green scouter- and his expression was unreadable to her. But the soldier must have picked up on the exchange instantly- the familiarity between them- for he twisted away one arm, the one which his blaster rested threateningly on, and pointed it at Bulma. 'Screw you!' he yelled, before the rest of his words were drowned out by the loud, high-pitched sound of a beam of energy firing towards her.

She saw the end of her life then, as boring and innocent looking as a yellow chunk of space rapidly moving towards her. Time should have slowed down or grounded to a halt to give her time- time to do _something_. But, if anything, time went by quicker and the blast rushed towards her faster than it should have. Without a single thought to hold, she felt heat and light started to kiss her.

Before it hit, her eyes blinked back to Bez in a wild grasp to convey one last thing. But he was gone- no, he wasn't where he was supposed to be. A purple flicker appeared before her, soaking up the encroaching heat like a sponge, and a gentle grunt and shove backward from the object shielding her brushed up against her front. The purple body in front of her slumped, like a tree about to fall, but she blinked again and she was alone, and the soldier with the arm outstretched towards her lowered his arm in alarm and started to scan his surroundings. 'He- where did he-'

The purple blur reappeared, slightly to Bulma's front and right, a moment later, one arm raised. A blast of purple energy then quickly ripped across the space from the blur. Evidently, the soldier hadn't been prepared- he hadn't even lifted his arms in a feeble attempt to defend himself- and was lanced straight through the chest by the blast. In another second, his body came to rest, motionless, on the green, wavy grass.

Half-turned to her, Bez panted, his chest visibly rising and falling with what looked incredible effort. When he faced her, Bulma saw what he had sacrificed to save her- a massive hole was drilled into his upper right chest, bereft of whatever armor or jumpsuit had previously existed there. Bez's blood, sticky and sickly pink, coursed down the right side of his chest.

He spent another minute foolishly standing, and then collapsed to the ground.

Bulma frantically ran over and crouched down next to him. She divested herself of a technician jacket she had discovered on the shuttle during their trip, ripped it into long ribbons, and stuffed it into the wound, and forced as much of her own weight down onto the fabric.

'Damn you…' she cursed under her breath, uncaring whether Bez was lucid enough to hear her. 'You said you didn't care for us... ' Her fingers clutched the bloody ribbons, full of futility and frustration. 'Why did you do this?...'

0o0o0

The air _whooshed_ above Yamcha, and spinning, he smashed his right forearm against a boot. Painful shivers ran up his spine and wrenched his body backward. He feebly blocked another purple fist from digging into his gut, and aching, a final blow slipped past his guard and smashed down on his right shoulder, knocking him to the ground. Ably, Yamcha planted his left hand and pushed off of it, righting himself a moment later in time to catch a charging elbow strike- but the blow's image faded, and Yamcha felt a blinding pain erupt in his back a moment later. Clutching his sides, he fell, then rolled, and came to rest on his right side.

Intolerably smug, Cui eyed him from where Yamcha had just stood. 'Friend?' They mocked called, before crouching down and narrowly avoiding a sweeping kick intended to smash their head into their own shoulder. Turning, Cui didn't anticipate a follow-up kick rebounding off of their ribcage, forcing their feet to drag back through the dirt. Growling, Cui grabbed a punch aimed for his right shoulder and pulled Tien in. They landed a series of heavy, crushing punches to Tien's own ribcage, before Yamcha rushed in behind them, twisted perpendicular to the ground, and swung both of his feet into Cui's left side. Rocketing back into a roll, Cui moved away from them with the force of the blow and came to a stop in a crouching position. They brushed their dirtied, brown-streaked armor and stood. 'Haha… haha…' they chuckled to themselves.

Yamcha panted, and felt Tien do the same next to him. Cui was damaged and was clearly weakened by Tien and Yamcha's efforts- but they were weakening at a faster rate than him and were quickly discovering what their newfound limits were. Cui was a relentless close-quarters fighter. They offered no chances for Tien and Yamcha to hang back and charge a _ki_ attack- something they might have a chance of seriously hurting the alien with. At the rate this was going, they weren't going to win this.

Tien must have been having the same thoughts as him- his voice spilled into Tien's mind just as soon as he'd reached this conclusion.

' _We need to end this fight soon,'_ Tien telepathically cautioned. ' _... Sorry. You probably already noticed that, right?'_

' _I did,'_ Yamcha replied, irked. ' _What are your ideas?_ '

A purple blur appeared before them at that moment- Yamcha felt a heavy boot whip across his body in a diagonal, streaking from his face to left hip, and was smashed backward across the island. He crashed into the solitary rock outcrop with his back, which was shredded by the jagged, hard rock.

' _C'mon!'_ Yamcha heard Tien's ragged voice scream into his consciousness. ' _There has to be something we can do to buy some time!'_ Yamcha blearily saw Tien vault and land a good hit on Cui's head- but the alien shrugged it off with minimal effort and punished Tien for his airborne theatrics by flying above him and slapping him to the ground. The human fighter bounced once and rolled away, and was on his feet in moments to block another strike.

Struggling to free himself- and seeing glimpses of Tien being savaged in the distance by a relentless, physical onslaught from Cui, Yamcha wracked his brain. He had heard a lot of gossip among the lower level PTO grunts about the elites like Cui- it seemed like there was a never-ending merry-go-round where the higher-up soldiers continually fell in and out of Frieza's good graces. He remembered Cui's name being thrown around, that they were one of the more grating elites in how they treated the lower level soldiers, that they hated-

Yamcha's eyes, previously trapped in a painful haze, flew open, and staggering free of the outcrop, Yamcha cupped a hand to his mouth. 'HEY CUI!' He yelled, loud enough to reach them on the far end of the island. 'VEGETA'S COMING UP BEHIND YOU!'

It was like they had been trained like a dog- Cui immediately straightened and tensed, and spun around towards the wider ocean surrounding the island. 'Where!?' They babbled. 'Where is that Saiyan?! I knew he was here- I knew he had betrayed Frieza, that he was nothing more than a sniveling, traitorous, monkey!'

Tien had nearly toppled over from the last blow, which had come close to shattering his knee into pieces. But Cui's abrupt outburst gave him a precious moment to think- and prepare. He glanced over to Yamcha, saw him hold one of his hands with the other, glowing, and rammed a knee into Cui's back, knocking the alien to the ground. Instead of pursuing, however, Tien immediately jumped back, avoiding a retaliatory punch- as the words _'Time! Get me time!'_ rang through his head. He hopped back again and avoided a lightning-quick jab from piercing his gut, spun, and finally failed to avoid a blow from Cui reaching him. With a pained gasp, he felt his bones in his forearms nearly buckle from a centered, heavy punch.

Behind the outstretched fist, Cui was fuming. 'I'll _kill_ you both, and then I'll find Vegeta, that coward!' They screamed, slamming another agonizing punch into Tien's guard. 'He'll tell me everything I need to know, once I rip off his tail and make him pay for every prick comment he's ever made!'

A strong, staggered kick slammed through Tien's guard, knocking the breathless human flat onto their back. He could soak up no more- he felt the bones in his arms fracture in too many places. Another blow, receiving or giving, and he was sure they'd break.

And yet, despite this, he smiled. Cui, who was stepping into his view above him, probably didn't even see his expression- a ball of white-hot energy slammed into the alien's back and carried him above and over the lake in the center of the island.

0o0o0

Yamcha, sweating profusely and bleeding badly, nonetheless kept the grip on his left arm on his right steady. With a series of rapid hand movements from his right hand, a sphere of _ki_ flung through the air around Cui, bouncing and slamming into the alien from every direction like a volleyball.

 _Hmm… like a volleyball… but that would be an extremely silly name for an attack._

'HYAAAGH!' Yamcha yelled out, directing the ball to zoom around to Cui's back and start crashing into him from below. With a snarl the alien began to flail his limbs in an attempt to grab the ball- but the attack was moving too fast now, and zipping around the purple alien like mad. One, two, three, four, five times the attack slammed into Cui's gut, knocking the wind out of him, and then with a flick of his fingers, the ball hooked to the right and ducked up, and slammed Cui down from behind.

The inevitable tipping point came- physically shaking with rage, Cui spun around, and just before the ball smacked into him once more, he threw out his arms and released a short-range wave of dark purple _ki,_ sweeping up the ball in its flow and pushing it up higher into the sky. The purple storm snagged and tangled with itself, wrapping itself around Yamcha's attack, and before he could free it, the whole mess of _ki_ exploded. The ground below Yamcha shook as the air around him shuddered and a massive shockwave rang out from above, flattening the grass around him. He wobbled, half from exhaustion and half from the link to his attack being severed.

High up in the sky, Cui grinned satisfactorily- for a time. As his attention was drawn back to the pest that had just treated him like a sack of foodstuff, a gentle wave of air brushed down on the top of his head.

They wrenched their head up towards the sky, and far above, saw Tien hovering in the air. His hands framed a three-sided, 2-D shape.

Then, the words: 'TRI-BEAM, HAH!'

A massive triangle of golden, bristling energy shoved down from above, easily encompassing Cui's frightened form and entrapping him. The energy, indifferent to him, then shot down to the ground and into the lake in the center of the island. A massive pillar of water erupted into the air and then splashed apart into a mess of mist as the tri-beam came to a rest against the lake's bed and exploded.

0o0o0

Visibly slouching in mid-air, Tien touched down next to Yamcha. His ally looked grim. 'You think that killed him?' Yamcha asked, in a tone that gave away his true thoughts.

'We're not sticking around long enough to find out,' Tien said. 'Where'd you leave Bulma?'

A handful of seconds later, they called upon all the energy they had left to balance Bulma and a near-dead body between them, and burdened by their own lack of energy, they flew off.

0o0o0

With a prod of his foot, Dodoria edged the round, orange sphere to the left and right, back-and-forth. The two stars hidden deep within it, slightly obscured by whatever glassy material separated them from the sphere's exterior, taunted him with their embeddedness. With a growl, he kicked it away.

This village had nothing. Its inhabitants were what he thought they were- dumb, poor farmers. After scouring the village- _more like a mess of dingy huts_ \- he even doubted that last fact. While he saw various tools lying around in the fields or the houses, some dropped from when the residents smartened up to what was happening, Dodoria found no food stowed away. It didn't make sense- what kind of farming community didn't have some kind of storehouse? What were they even growing!?

Now, angry and _hungry_ , he had to think of a lie to tell Zarbon- because he _couldn't_ bribe him with something from his nonexistent spoils. They had slaughtered an entire village and all they had to show for it was a big and dumb orange ball. He felt that he would have been less angry if he had found nothing- but to find one pretty-but-worthless thing just emphasized what a waste of time this way. He should have reined his troops in- this had to be the poorest settlement on the planet, and he had the back luck of picking this one to plunder. He was sure Cui's or the others' squads had found much better loot to carry back at mission's end. _Damn bastards._

He made up his mind that instant- his gaze centered on the orange sphere. He wanted to break it.

'Soldier,' Dodoria said, grabbing a nearby, ice-white soldier who was about to vaporize a green, purple-blooded corpse. The rest of his squad was out of sight, milling around the exterior of the village and putting on the finishing touches on their work. 'Hold this in place,' he gestured to the sphere, 'and don't move unless I tell you to.'

The soldier gave him a weird look, but shrugged. 'Alright, sir…'

Dodoria backed up while the soldier crouched down and held the ball against the ground from above and the side with his hands. With one quick stride, Dodoria slammed the side of his foot against the ball.

Nothing happened- and the soldier, screaming his head off, promptly collapsed backward onto the ground in pain. His hands were twisted unnaturally and swollen- the force of the kick had traveled from the ball and into his hands, breaking them. In agony, the soldier began to yell and roll across the ground.

Dodoria looked at him, then back at the ball. 'Huh.' He crouched down closer to it- and saw that he had, indeed cracked it. A sick kind of satisfaction grew in him. All around him, former homes burned and collapsed, and tilled fields were turned into burnt carapaces by his men. _One more hit, and it's like this village never existed..._

'Sir- my hands! My-'

The soldier abruptly cut out, and curious, Dodoria stood and looked over. A Namekian, plain-clothed and as dumb looking as the rest of them, had his foot clamped down on what remained of the soldier's throat. It was then that Dodoria realized that he could only hear the sound of licking fire from his surroundings. It was dead quiet otherwise.

'So you killed my men, huh?' Dodoria surmised and jeered in the same measure. 'Not very impressive. Some of them died at the start to the happy souls who lived here- but that didn't change the outcome, now did it?'

The Namekian said nothing and continued to stare at him, and yet there was something distant and impersonal to this- like his mind was occupied with another matter far away. Still, Dodoria could see green fingers clenching and unclenching with anger. It was clear that this one intended to fight him.

'Fine,' Dodoria laughed. 'Your funeral- _AAACK!'_

In the space of a second, the green figure had disappeared and reappeared- halfway inside him. As purple blood- not dissimilar from Nail's own, which frothed and churned in his veins- gushed out of Dodoria's chest and down Nail's arm, forming into a steady stream of droplets that parted at the elbow and splattered onto the green grass at their feet, Nail leaned his head closer to Dodoria's face, regarded the fading light exit the pink's alien eyes, and whispered: 'May you be judged fairly.'

In response, Dodoria retched blood, patterning the left side of Nail's body.

Nail held his pose- both propped against and plunged within Dodoria- for a few seconds more, and then his words came to pass. One last breath graced his glistening skin and he let Dodoria's deadened body collapse to the ground in a ruined heap. One more ounce of his attention was spared for this misshapen, bloodthirsty sump, and then, amidst the wreckage and smoke, he grabbed the dragonball with one arm and sought out what remained of his kin.

* * *

A/N: A quick note on Tien and Yamcha's power levels at this point- compared to Gohan and Krillin, they've run through _two_ elements I consider very important for training and improving someone's power in DBZ. First, they've been either training or fighting consistently since Raditz's arrival on the Earth five or so in-story months ago, so in terms of training they haven't had as much as they would have leading up to Vegeta and Nappa's arrival in canon. But, to counteract and overcome this deficit, they've sensed a variety of stronger power levels since Raditz's attack that have induced them to train or fight harder than they would have otherwise- and, more importantly, they were aware of these higher power levels for a _longer_ period of time than Krillin and Gohan were in canon. Krillin and Gohan had a month between sensing a fighter as strong as Vegeta and receiving their power boosts from Guru- here, Tien and Yamcha had something closer to four or three months. Thus, because they were aware of a vastly stronger power than their own for a longer period of time, they pushed themselves in training a bit more/ for longer than Krillin and Gohan in canon.

and some

power levels:

Cui: 18,000

Tien: 16,000

Yamcha: 15,000

Bez: 2,400

Dodoria: 22,000

Nail: :')... won't be that different from canon, just wanna fine-tune the number a bit more.

Alright! Onto **reviews:**

 **LWexe:** Oooohohhhhhh! Very excited to do stuff with Gohan! His time is coming, for sure!

 **Titanfire999:** May this chapter rock and roll you.


	56. The Spoils of War

Namek

Chapter 56: The Spoils of War

* * *

There was a rush of movement, sounded by a flurry of feet smacking against rough and smooth stone. Deep within the cave, it was totally dark except for one spot; adjacent to the snake-like passage that ran from outside into the formation's gut, the faintest slivers of light bounced and died within the cave.

It was there where Bulma hobbled out of the passage into the cave's recesses, and peering further into the unwelcoming, darkened extent of the chamber, she spun. 'Just a bit further!' she yelled, audibly wracked with tension.

More sounds, and a moment later Tien and Yamcha emerged into the gloom next to her, holding Bez's limp body between them. With care and directed by Bulma's gestures, they moved over to one of the walls of the cave and gently laid him down. They then set out to remove his armor- which was difficult, as the blood has been flowing from the large wound in his chest for a while now and was drying like plaster between his skin and his outer armor. As carefully and quickly as they could manage, they pried the pieces away and left him clothed in nothing more than his black jumpsuit.

This was Bulma's cue to act- but when she fell to her knees before his body, her own hands smeared with crusty pink blood, she hung her head towards her lap. 'I… I don't know what to do,' she admitted, her left arm twisted, hanging painfully at her side, while her right arm rested ineffectively on Bez's barely moving chest. 'I don't know what to _do_.'

Behind her she heard the noises of shifting- she glanced behind her and saw that both Tien and Yamcha had collapsed onto their backs and butts, propped against the opposite walls. 'What are we supposed to do?' She repeated, pleading.

She got no response, and when she glanced behind her again, she adjusted her initial assessment- Yamcha had placed his arms vertically behind him, propping his body away from the wall, and winced with every slight tremble of his back. Tien was probing his chest for anything broken, and his face alternated between different clenched and gritted expressions. 'I don't know,' the latter finally muttered harshly, his voice laced with a fraction of the pain he felt.

'Can't we move him somewhere?' Bulma suggested. 'Maybe bring him to the Namekians?'

'He'll die,' Yamcha said quietly. 'It's a miracle that he survived the trip here.'

'And they wouldn't help us,' Tien piled on. 'Those cold-hearted bastards made that clear enough.'

Tien's words thrummed against the walls of the cave, and in its wake, a pause settled. Through the gloom, Bulma could see that her companions were vaguely distracted.

'You feel it too, right?' Yamcha asked, inclining his head towards Tien.

Tien coughed. 'I couldn't sense it clearly before- but this planet is crawling with PTO now,' he said. 'I don't think anyone beyond Cui noticed us running here, but if we leave and try and run to the Namekians, no doubt we'd be intercepted by some of them.' Tien then turned away, purposefully looking into the dark gloom of the cave. 'And there's no way we could fend off even their weakest soldiers in our current conditions. We're stuck.'

'So what,' Bulma said, upset, 'we stay here and wait? Wait for Bez to die?'

'You know that's not what we're saying, Bulma,' Yamcha said in a consoling tone. 'We would never _choose_ that.'

'How can you two be so morbid? Give up so easily?' Bulma asked, and she noted that her voice was expressing her frustration through accusations instead of pleas. 'Until he dies there must be something we can do!'

'Bulma, it's a miracle that we're even here,' Tien said, his voice reverberating off of the cave's walls. 'If that fight had dragged on any longer, Yamcha and I would be lying dead underneath that alien's boot or _worse_. At the very least, we're… _us_ … are safe.'

'And Bez would have died either way,' Bulma said bitterly.

Yamcha gasped and sucked in a lungful of air. 'But we're still here. Which means we can still get the dragonballs and fix this- we could _revive_ him if we make it through this.'

Bulma went quiet for a time, and briefly, Yamcha felt that he had gotten through to her. But then he spied her moving even closer to Bez's broken body. 'Is that supposed to make me feel better?' she whispered. 'Because it doesn't. It feels like my heart is being eaten by my stomach.' She whipped her head around to them. 'He saved me, you know,' she said, weakly rubbing her good arm against her tear-laded cheeks. 'There were other soldiers who were- who were- I don't know _what_ they were going to do to me. But Bez stepped in and killed them, and then threw himself in front of a blast meant for me. So you could say that I owe him; I owe it to him to not let him bleed out while I do nothing.'

The silence that followed was deafening.

'I wish you hadn't told us that,' Yamcha said finally, sounding more hurt by what she had told them than the sum total of every blow Cui had bashed into his body.

'Well, now you know,' Bulma snapped. 'So, then-'

She stopped abruptly. Tien and Yamcha glanced over to her and saw, even in the gloom, that her eyes were wide and she was sitting up straight. After another second, she rushed to her feet. 'Someone's here,' she said in the quietest whisper she could manage. 'I can hear someone moving in the passage.'

Alerted, Tien and Yamcha clumsily got to their feet and began to rush over to the passage's opening- but someone stepped out of it before they could reach it. Their gazes, aimed at someone around their height, missed their intended target. A Namekian, half their height and resembling a human child, stared up at them and extended a hand. 'Hi,' he said. 'My name is Dende.'

Yamcha and Tien stood perplexed for a moment, but then Yamcha bent over, gripped Dende's hand, and shook the little kid with enough residual adrenaline to slightly wobble the green antenna sticking out of his forehead. 'Hi… Dende,' he said.

'What are you doing here?' Tien asked.

'I was sent by my village's elder, Moori, to find you all' Dende explained. His eyes then flitted over to Bulma and the shadowed shape she was watching over. Without saying anything, he brushed past them and strode over to her.

'What are you?-' Bulma began, but a reassuring smile and a gentle hand wave placated her and maneuvered her away from Bez. Dende extended his small green hands over Bez's near-still body, closed his eyes, and began to hum. In the next moment, round green waves of aura rolled out from his palms and lapped against Bez's grievous chest wound. Amazingly, the pink blood stained his chest began to wipe away from existence, replaced by new and healthy looking purple flesh. In a matter of seconds the wound disappeared entirely, leaving behind the hole in Bez's black jumpsuit as the only indicator that he had been on death's door.

Then it was over and Dende sat back, folding his hands in his lap. 'He was heavily injured, so it will take him some time to regain consciousness,' he said.

'What did you _do_?' Tien managed, standing over Dende's shoulder alongside Yamcha like the helpless onlookers that they were.

'I healed him.' Dende took a moment to look at Bulma and Tien and Yamcha. 'I see that the rest of you are injured as well,' he said calmly, placidly, as serene as the life-giving energy he had just effortlessly placed inside Bez. 'I will do my best to heal you all now- but please, once I am done, we must return to my people as quickly as possible.'

'Why?' Yamcha spoke up. 'I don't understand- why were you sent after us in the first place?'

'Things have changed,' Dende said ominously, frowning. 'You shall see as much when you return.'

0o0o0

The lake in the center of the island remained level and calm for minutes after its disturbance, even while droplets of water still descended from the massive, unnatural cloud of mist that now occupied the sky above it. Bit-by-bit, however, a rumbling started to disturb its restive state, until suddenly two hands burst out from beneath the waterline and gripped the land at the water's edge. These two white-gloved hands struggled for a moment to find something to grip, but once they clasped onto a jutting rock embedded in the ground that tapered into a thick slab of white, they clenched and pulled. Cui, desperately sucking in air, pulled themselves up to their torso out of the water and onto land. They halted briefly, felt their lungs burn from their sweet, needed embrace with the world, and then did one last pull and hauled their legs out. Like a dead fish they rolled over onto their back next to the lake, sopping wet, and panted.

'Damn it…' they hissed. Their right hand, which had previously been fingering the manifold of new cracks and chips in their armor, now snaked up to their head and groped an empty space over their left eye. Failing to grasp anything, they emphatically flopped the arm back down.

0o0o0

His hands gripped the side of the holographic table hard enough to rip it out from the floor. It was only through the conscious and continual exercise of his will did Zarbon not.

Under his watchful gaze, things had gone well- according to plan- at first. Ships had descended to the planet in unison and landed without issue, spilling out soldiers in blue-green clumps that slowly encircled the yellow circles marking native settlements on the table's projected map. While he hadn't commanded any unneeded confrontation, he had made sure that there would be no holes in his net. If the renegades were hidden among the natives, they would either be found immediately or forced out into the open. He had been under the impression that his plan was foolproof.

He was wrong. When he returned from his debriefing with Frieza which, by custom, took place in the ship's sparse and lonely residential quarters reserved for the commanding officer, he discovered that chaos raged amongst his army. A score of his troops were either out of place or gone from the map- which meant, effectively, that their scouters weren't reporting to him, and they were either damaged or destroyed along with their owners. Sensor readings had decreased across the board- his men and the natives were killing each other. And, most insufferably at all, he was taking losses- losing soldiers- against weak natives that he shouldn't be capable of doing so. There were here to find a group of renegade Saiyans. Why had a full-blown war broken out?

It was evident that, either due to his laziness or his incompetence, Dodoria had let things slip out of his control. At the next possible occasion Zarbon was liable to kill him, if only to force to a more competent officer into his place.

But Dodoria was, like about a third of his army, missing in action, too. His scouter's signal had disappeared along with every other lifeform reading from the settlement where he had been sent to. What the hell was he supposed to make of that? Both his soldiers _and_ the natives are gone? _Did they kill each other in totality!?_

He had made a mess- no, _his soldiers_ had made a mess. He had hoped that superior numbers would have overcome their initial lack of information, but it was now obvious that his disregard for gathering any intelligence of his own had cost him dearly. The entire chain of command, due to Cui being MIA as well, was broken, and the petty squad leaders, while holding their own, were about as useful as a blade without a handle. Things- something needed to be done-

'Call them back,' Zarbon said abruptly, causing a number of heads on the bridge to turn to him. In front of him, the green-white planet, which before had been properly and excruciatingly framed by the blackness of space beyond, now tauntingly hung just beyond his reach. He momentarily saw his own dead body, mangled and blotched, hung in the planet's place by a sadistically satisfied hand-

The immediate lack of a response to his command, perpetuated by the slack-jawed expressions of his officers, infuriated Zarbon. 'Need I do it myself!?' He snarled. ' _Call them back!_ '

That final push jostled the bridge into motion, and soon enough, he heard his order be relayed down to his surviving forces on the planet. With a grimace, he swung his head and flipped his ponytail over his shoulder and down his back. Its binding nearly came undone from that simple, aggravated gesture.

He hadn't wanted to wait… but, now, he would be forced to.

0o0o0

Chi-Chi cupped the hot, steaming mug of tea in her hands, brought it to her mouth, and took a deep inhale. 'Thanks,' she said, audibly relaxing. 'I needed this.'

Nearby, reclined on a different couch in much the same pose as Chi-Chi, Rayne accepted a cup of tea of her own from Puar. The shapeshifter, guised as a human man, did a curt bow before turning and handing the last drink in her hand to the Ox-King situated on the third and last couch in the room.

The living room they were in was one of the last untouched and furnished ones left in the entire Fire Mountain castle. The damage done by Garlic Jr's brief tenure as world dominator a few months back was still be repaired by the odd repairmen from the village at the mountain's base. Even now, as they blew on their hot tea, one could hear a pair of footsteps prowl past the room in the adjacent hallway every few minutes or so. But this room was one of the nicer ones even before the Black Water Mist's destructive arrival- the castle's grey and brown palette was well complemented by the stone-red and dark brown colors that adhered to the furniture and the walls.

Having finished distributing her tea, Puar plunked down on the couch next to Chi-Chi and stretched. 'You've been under a lot of stress,' she replied to Chi-Chi's comment. 'It's my pleasure.'

Chi-Chi _hmmed_ and took a tentative, calm sip of her tea.

'Do you feel better, Mr… Ox? Mr. Ox, is it?' Rayne asked.

The Ox-King chuckled and gave a hearty nod. 'Ox-King or Mr. Ox- it doesn't matter to me. And I do. The sun was a real killer today.' He adjusted his sitting position on the couch- which was twice as big as all the other pieces of furniture in the room- and elicited a mighty groan from the stitching and wood beneath him. 'Though I shouldn't be so quick to discount your little rascal, Chi-Chi. All that running around that he and that dragon did really wore me out…'

'Mmm.' Chi-Chi took another sip of her tea, then leaned forward and placed the cup of tea on a low table in front of her. 'Tell me, dad- how strong do you think Gohan is?'

The Ox-King glanced at her. 'Strong? Pretty strong, I'd guess.'

'You think he's stronger than you?'

He frowned, then shrugged. 'Sure, maybe. Well, actually, you should know, right? You were always better at _ki_ sensing than me. You take after your mother in that regard.'

'True.' Chi-Chi briefly looked over at Rayne, who seemed to be enjoying her tea, and Puar, who was continuing her stretches. 'Dad- isn't it crazy that he might be stronger than you? At not even _two_ years old?'

'It is. He's a strong tyke.'

'And how strong do you think he'll be when he's your age?'

The Ox-King scratched his big, bushy beard. 'Are you saying what I think you're saying, dear?' he asked. 'Because, you know, I was in favor of training him from the very beginning.'

'I know,' Chi-Chi said in a meek manner. 'I wasn't sure before… but, after everything's that happened, that's _happening_ , nothing feels as sure as it once did. I think there was a time when living amongst enemies didn't make me scared because I thought we could overcome them if need be. But, even in those situations where we eventually came out on top… we lost some people in the process. Our victory against Raditz was no sure thing. Bulma, Tien, and Yamcha's journey to Namek was no sure thing.' She kneaded the space between her eyes with two fingers. 'We need to be better prepared for what the future might bring than we have been in the past. And that includes preparing Gohan.'

'Just to put in my two cents,' Rayne spoke up, 'I agree with that sentiment.'

'I do too, dear,' the Ox-King chimed in.

Chi-Chi looked at them, then picked up her cup of tea and downed the entire thing in one go. 'Did you guys know that Gohan saved my life against Raditz?'

They balked at her. Rayne whistled. 'Really?'

'Dear,' the Ox-King said carefully, 'you do mean that- if what you told me about that Saiyan was true- that would make Gohan _very_ strong.'

'Yup.'

Puar finished stretching and stood. 'You sound like you have a special kid, Chi-Chi.'

She smiled proudly. 'I do.'

0o0o0

In a room just down the hall, Oolong stepped back from the open window. As soon as he did this, a small purple dragon, no more than a fledgling, clambered through the window and padded over to Gohan's crib. Gohan clutched his hands towards the dragon in anticipation, and when the dragon crawled into his crib, he ably floated onto the dragon's back and began to coo and cheer as he was gently bucked up and down like a bull rider.

Oolong quietly crept back over to the window, closed it, and settled his back onto the windowsill. No-one had to know… 'It's just our little secret, right you two?'

They didn't respond- they barely even noticed that he was still in the room.

'Just adorable…'

0o0o0

They had seen the land surrounding Guru's hall be swarmed by Namekians before- but the scene before Tien, Yamcha, and Bulma as they were led closer by their Namekian guide Dende was, despite initial appearances, utterly different. There was nothing left of the sanctified atmosphere that had enveloped the spire just a few hours ago. Despondent crying and despair had taken its place, as every Namekian present, pressed against each other either from terror or reassurance, together created such an overwhelming wave of misery that the humans struggled to not join in with them. Bez, at this point, was awake in Tien's arms, and was similarly affected.

'This has become our port in the storm,' Dende said. 'while the rest of our planet floats on a sea of fire.'

Bulma looked at Tien and Yamcha. None of them said anything.

For his age, Dende held both himself and them together well once they touched down into the crowd. The Namekians noticeably quieted as they passed through the crowd and made their way to the hall. Icy stares began to fall upon them. When they reached the entrance of the hall, two Namekians who looked to have been farmers just a few hours before snarled and stepped into their paths. But Dende assuaged them, speaking to them in the same jagged and fluid speech that Bulma, Tien, and Yamcha had heard when they had first arrived, and soon enough, they were inside.

Guru's hall had lost none of its depressing qualities. It was dark and gloomy inside, and reflected the four Namekians gathered around Guru well. Nail was immediately recognizable by his martial posture and the small distance he maintained from the others. It took Tien longer to recognize the three others as Moori and two of the village elders he had met earlier in the day. He… he imagined that the kind faces from the four other Namekian elders from his memory would look anything but if he ever stumbled on them again. _Such a heavy toll..._

The present elders seemed to recognize him in turn. They both drew Moori's attention from a quiet conversation with Guru and forced him to face them. His face seemed to have aged ten years in the course of a day. 'The harbingers from Earth still live and have returned to us,' he said mirthlessly. His eyes moved to their Namekian guide. 'You are brave, Dende, and you have my thanks.'

Dende nodded- exaggerated yet firm. It was the nod of a child trying to hold it together for the adults; it broke Bulma's heart.

'What happened?' Yamcha asked, though he had already begun to piece together an answer to his question.

Moori fully turned to them. In the process, he removed his hands from Guru's right arm. 'What happened was that you were right, of course,' he said caustically. 'This PTO did not discriminate a race of peaceful caretakers from their prey. Within minutes of entering our villages, they began to slaughter us. None were spared.' His gaze painfully lingered on them. 'Not even the children.'

 _So..._

'Two villages were utterly destroyed, two more were decimated, and three escaped with _only_ a few dead. At the beginning of today, our people numbered close to 100. Now, less than half are huddled refugees atop this spire. That was the price taken from us to _temporarily_ repel these monsters.' Moori made a disgusted face at them. 'And everything on this spire is the extent of the devastation you have brought upon us.'

'Is that why everyone outside looked ready to murder us?' Tien asked. 'You know that we never meant for this to happen-'

'You are dressed the same as the invaders,' Moori said severely. 'Our people have suffered greatly at the hands of people who look like you. If you are kind, you will forgive their hostility.'

'We can do better than that,' Yamcha said, assuming a determined nature with his posture and voice. 'The PTO are no friends of ours- if we pool our strength, there's no doubt in my mind that we can defeat them.'

Moori looked at Yamcha for a moment, then slowly moved his gaze towards Nail to his right. The warrior stared at Moori before addressing them. 'You three are fighters,' he said in a detached manner- but his hands twitched every so often. 'I don't care what hand you had in creating this mess. If you can help me protect our people, I will gladly accept your help. Though… we will have to discuss this later.' Nail abruptly looked back to Moori. 'There is a more pressing matter that we must deal with first.'

Moori had turned back to Guru, and they could see now that he was doing something strange. In a ritual-like manner, the Namekian elder stroked and clasped his hands with Guru's right arm and hand over and over again. Guru himself seemed distant, though his lips seemed to be reciting an inaudible, never-ending line of speech.

'The unprovoked and sudden attack on our people has done irreparable damage to Guru's health,' Moori said flatly. 'Within the hour he will die. So we are now preparing for his passing.'

'Wait,' Bulma spoke up, alarmed, 'that means- the dragonballs! If Guru dies, the dragonballs become inert!'

'The dragonballs are not unique to Guru,' Moori reassured her. 'They are unique to the Namekians, and if all goes well, I will become their new guardian. But, until then…'

'We ask that you leave,' Nail said gruffly.

0o0o0

Tien, Yamcha, Bulma, and Bez were shunted from the hall with so much of an explanation of what was going to happen or how long they had to wait. Gathered outside, what was left of the Namekian race huddled atop the spire and, for all intents and purposes, seemed to despise them. So they thought it best to go somewhere else. Thus, a few minutes later, they landed amidst what had been Moori's village. It was now chillingly deserted.

They took turns idly examining the empty homes and intermittent signs of battle scattered around. A broken shovel. A half-crushed scouter. A shoe.

Bulma, collapsing onto the very same rock from which she had watched this village exist peacefully not too long ago, felt like she was going to throw up. 'What have we done to this planet? These people?' She said in a strained voice. 'All this destruction?... We're monsters…'

'The PTO would have done this to any planet,' Yamcha said morosely. 'They would have done this to _this_ planet _without_ us leading them here if given enough time. To them, Namek is just another planet… another contract.'

Bulma shook her head; she didn't want to be consoled. She _wanted_ to feel bad. 'We don't deserve to be forgiven. How are we supposed to make this better when we've already done so much harm?' She asked.

Yamcha moved over to Bulma and sat on the rock with her. 'We can't change the past, Bulma… we can't change what we did. But agonizing over a past decision is just going to make it harder for us to repent for it in the future. At this moment, we have to help the Namekians in whatever way we can. I think… even after we get our wish, we have to stay and fight with them until their planet is safe.' Yamcha briefly looked at Tien, who nodded. 'It's the right thing to do.'

They looked at each other for a moment, and then Bulma took Yamcha in her arms and hugged him.

Tien watched this, then turned to examine the other person with them. Bez was standing near the edge of the village's center- away from the rest of them. Feeling an odd sympathy for him, Tien approached.

'You don't have to stew by yourself, you know,' he said.

Bez glanced at him, then looked away again. 'It's like I said before. We're stuck together until you drop me off somewhere.'

'If you say so.'

A grunt. 'It sounds like the natives are having a hard time of things right now.'

'They are. The PTO is ruthless. We both know that.'

'And what's this about "dragonballs?" What that guy said?'

'That's what we're here for.'

'Ah. So that's why we're still here.'

'And why our ship is still on the planet, yes. Why you're not somewhere else.'

'You know, I could take it and leave you three right now if I wanted to.'

'Yeah? What's stopping you?'

'A planetary blockade, for one,' Bez said, laughing bitterly.

'That's it?'

Bez looked at Tien, bit his lower lip, and shook his head.

Tien palmed his next words in his mind for some time before he expressed them. 'Thank you for what you've done,' he eventually said. 'For saving Bulma earlier, and doing the same for us back at FP083. We owe you our lives twice over.'

' _Hmph_. Keeping her alive served me, just the same as FP083,' Bez said, brushing off Tien's words. 'I can't have you and your friend breaking apart because she died. I need you two to get me off this planet alive.'

Tien stared at him and repressed an urge to scoff. 'Alright.' He began to walk away- but then he halted, and looked over his shoulder at Bez. 'One last thing- a word of advice. Identifying with your past deeds does nothing but poison your own mind. Move beyond them.' With that, he strode away.

The next few hours they spent idle, and idling, without saying much to each other. They were, to some degree, paranoid- but Tien and Yamcha felt the clump of powers orbiting the planet remain still for some time, and eventually, they began to let down their guard. Bulma looked the most out of the place out of all of them- with nothing to tinker with and no task to set herself on, her gaze was restless, and she took to pacing the edge of the village. Tien, Yamcha, and even Bez intermittently watched her.

When the moment came it took them by surprise- Guru's ki vanished in such a quick manner that Tien and Yamcha initially doubted that it had even happened. But they weren't given time to reflect, or speculate, on what their appropriate response should have been to the passing of an eminently great being who they had known for a little less than a day. Not too long after, they sighted four figures armed with seven orange dots slowly flying towards them.

0o0o0

Nail landed first in a manner that indicated that they should step back more. They obliged. In the next moment, Guru, flanked by the two elders from earlier, flew down to the center of the deserted village and gingerly placed the dragonballs down. Tien noticed that Bulma and Yamcha were surprised at, well-

'They're so _big_ ,' Bulma whispered into Yamcha's ear. 'Each one is bigger than my head.'

'Bigger than even mine,' he replied.

'Eh- what?' Bulma swung her hardening gaze at him. 'Did you just imply your head is bigger than mine?'

'Err… no?'

Bulma glared at him, then rolled her eyes. 'So you still have a habit of making ignoramus comments, huh? Why couldn't have Guru cured that, too?'

Yamcha, made horribly uncomfortable by a mindless comment he really should have thought through before he said it, gave her a nervous smile and scratched the back of his neck. 'Hah… haha...'

For his part, Tien ignored their side-conversation and stepped forward, putting himself at the front and closest to the Namekians. Behind them, he could sense Bez coming over.

He didn't really care about this development. He was surer than not that the former PTO soldier could be trusted. Himself and Yamcha were also stronger than the purple alien if he suddenly decided to make a mad grab for… for, the... _uhh..._

 _Hmm… what would Bez want for a wish? My gut wants to say "immortality"... but he doesn't fit that villain archetype at all. I wonder..._

His mind wandered… and, sizing up Moori idly, he suddenly became aware of a massive change. An entirely different aura now wrapped itself around the Namekian elder. Whereas before he seemed grave and concerned, a calm had descended on his demeanor- though he was still visibly nervous. He touched each dragonball meticulously, as if both trying to calm them and himself, before turning to them. His mouth had formed a deep crease in his face. 'I am still coming to grips with this awesome responsibility… so I appreciate your patience.'

'The dragonballs?' Yamcha asked.

'Far more than that,' Nail said stiffly. 'Moori has inherited the memories and knowledge of Guru in totality. He now holds over five hundred years of history as seen by Guru… and however much Guru inherited from those who came before him.'

Moori weakly nodded. 'Indeed. It is… disorienting… to be burdened with so much knowledge in so short a time.' he said, clutching his forehead. 'There are matters of all sorts that now distract me… but I am acutely aware that an army still hangs around Namek like a noose. Time is of the essence.' He took a deep breath- evidently to calm himself- and then said: 'Before we summon the dragon, I wish to know- how many wishes do you require?'

'We need to revive two people,' Bulma said, 'our friends, as well a city's worth of people. So we'll use one wish to bring them all back. Then, hopefully, you can use the second wish for your people's safety.'

Nail narrowed his eyes at them; a murmur passed between the two elders behind Moori. 'What do you mean, one wish?' Moori asked.

Bulma frowned, then said slowly: 'Well, one wish can bring back an unlimited amount of people if we phrase the request right. So we only need the one.'

'Ah. I see.' Moori tightened his face and frowned. 'I am sorry that you have to learn of this now, on the threshold- but our dragon, Porunga, does not work like how you described. He cannot bring more than one person back to life at a time. I am afraid that your set of dragonballs is, in some capacities, better than ours.'

'A strange occurrence,' Nail commented.

Bulma, Tien, and Yamcha all collectively slumped. 'Really?' Bulma said, her voice thick with disbelief. 'And we only have two wishes?'

Moori paused. 'If Guru were still alive, Porunga would grant you three… but I was not as successful in asserting my power over him as Guru had done. I am afraid that, just as it was with your dragon, you will have two wishes, but each wish will only be able to bring back a single person.'

Bulma, downcast, rapidly reconsidered their options. 'So then… we won't be able to bring back everyone we need to with your dragon, Porunga,' she sought to clarify. 'We could revive our friends, but no-one else- right?'

'That is correct,' Moori confirmed.

Bulma thought a bit more. 'It's only important that we revive Kami,' She decided. 'Once he's alive again, we'll have our own dragonballs again, and we'll be able to revive our other friend and undo all the damage done to our planet through them. So, at a bare minimum, we need only one wish.'

'And that leaves you and your people a wish of your own,' Yamcha said encouragingly. 'You could use it to disarm or destroy the army threatening this planet.'

More murmurs came from the elders behind Moori. The two elders eyed them- and, unlike before, they actually stepped forward. 'We have discussed this matter extensively,' one said. 'Never before have we ever sought to use the dragonballs to ward off potential harm- we have only used them to correct grievous damage done in the past. Using the dragonballs' power to affect or prevent future harm is a more daunting task for our dragon, Porunga. Ultimately, we are skeptical that the dragonballs, acting through Moori's power, can do anything to enemies as strong as the ones we currently face.'

'It is as Tsuno says,' Moori agreed. 'They are limitations to the scope of Porunga's power. It is unlikely we could wish that every soldier that currently threatens us did not exist, for example, or that we could arrange a calamity that would eradicate them that would not also threaten us.'

'I don't understand…' Tien murmured. 'If the dragon can _revive_ people, couldn't it kill people, too?'

The other elder now spoke. 'Magic is complicated… it is extremely useful for withstanding general or widespread forces, or plucking souls from another realm in the case of resurrection- but in cases where one individual or power fights against it, or if the magic is attacked in a very specific and localized manner, the burden comes unto the guarantor of the magic to defend the spell. And then it is a test of the strength for the possessor of the dragonballs. And Moori does not surpass those who threaten us.'

'Leera is right as well.' Moori said solemnly. 'And even if I was powerful enough to effect the death of our enemies, I could only do so one at a time. Thus, with one wish, I could _hypothetically_ kill one person.'

'So there's nothing you can do with your own wish?' Yamcha questioned. 'What about some sort of trickery? Maybe make every soldier think the job is done and send them home?'

'A short-term solution as you've described may be effectual… but is assuredly the riskiest.'

'Which is to say?'

'The dragonballs may grant us _permanent_ solutions without any risk,' Moori clarified, 'but that is not the case for short-term ones. Any wish that would completely ensure the safety of our people must be done when we are not under immediate danger… otherwise, we will invite further invasions of our planet when we are most vulnerable- when we cannot use the dragonballs to defend ourselves. Once used, we will have to wait some time before they can be used again.'

Bulma thought on this, then nodded. 'I see. So making a wish to provide a short-term solution will leave you defenseless to future attacks while the dragonballs aren't usable.'

'Precisely. We plan on holding onto our second wish until this crisis has passed.'

Bulma, Yamcha, and Tien collectively jumped. 'Wait-' Bulma said, furrowing her face, 'I thought- aren't we about to get our wish?'

'We cannot stop you from receiving what has been granted to you by Guru,' Moori said. 'That is why we brought the dragonballs here. But we hope that, upon hearing our plight, you'll choose to delay your use of them until this invasion has been repulsed.'

'Unless,' Nail spoke up, 'you could think of a way how you could use both wishes to help us.' He glanced over to Yamcha and Tien. 'Something that would help you fight alongside me in the next attack.'

The look and posture of the Namekian conveyed how helpful he thought they would be in a fight. He wasn't necessarily wrong- Yamcha and Tien could vaguely sense that Nail was, even after receiving their boosts, far stronger than them. Although… _if anyone else could help it could be..._

'Would Krillin be any use here?' Tien asked, turning to Yamcha and Bulma and forming a huddle.

'We can't revive him _and_ bring him to Namek,' Bulma said. 'We only have two wishes, and we need to use at least one wish to bring back Kami.'

'Is this Kami a fighter?' Bez asked, walking up from behind and interjecting himself into their conversation. 'If so, he could be of use here in breaking this siege.'

'He isn't,' Tien replied. 'Though… wait…' His eyes swept over to Yamcha. 'Do you think Piccolo could be of some help?'

'Wait- you'd bring Piccolo here?' Bulma asked, paling. 'Don't you remember what he did at the 24th World Tournament?'

'I don't think we have any other options,' Tien asserted. 'I mean, we could bring back someone who's on Earth, but realistically, I don't think it's possible that anyone there is close to where Yamcha and I are.'

'And Piccolo is?' Yamcha said, doubtful.

'Don't you think it's possible that he's gotten stronger since then?'

'I wouldn't know,' Yamcha said curtly. 'That certainly wasn't my experience of the afterlife; I wasn't training.'

'But what if Piccolo's in hell?'

'... if that's true, you'd still be okay with him being brought here?...'

'He's also a Namekian,' Tien pressed. 'Could be there's an advantage he could gain here, on _Namek_ , that would help us in a fight.'

'You sound overly optimistic.'

'You sound needlessly pessimistic.'

'Break it up, you two,' Bulma said, stepping in between them. 'How about this- we revive Kami-slash-Piccolo and then bring Piccolo here so that we can get our dragonballs back _now_ instead of later. That way, we can split Shenron's wishes down the road; we use one for ourselves, and give one to the Namekians… just in case things get bad here later on. It's important that we revive Kami as soon as possible.'

'Your logic is sound,' Nail said, calling over from behind their huddle.

They swung back to the Namekians. 'You heard us?'

'Namekians have good hearing,' Moori informed them, gently probing one of his pointed green ears. 'The terms of your trade are acceptable. We will give you two wishes now, and we will use one of your dragon's wishes at a later point.' He extended a hand. 'Deal?'

Nail and the two other elders flinched. 'Moori, have you thought this through?' Tsuno asked, coming around to Moori's side. 'This will leave us defenseless until they have gathered their own dragonballs. It is risky!'

'I understand this,' Moori replied coolly.

'Then you would not accept their terms,' he pushed.

Moori didn't deign to look at Tsuno- he kept his hand extended towards Bulma. 'I admit that I have other reasons for agreeing to this. Guru's memories have made me curious… I want to meet one of these Earth Namekians. But that information is my privilege and burden as Grand Elder of the Namekian people; it is not to be revealed to you or anyone else except when I deem it _necessary_ ,' he finished firmly. 'So, I repeat; deal?'

Bulma ignored the shocked faces of the elders- even Nail seemed surprised by Moori's newfound willfulness- and examined Moori's hand. She took a moment to mentally go over the details of the offer, then sprung forward and seized it. 'Deal.'

Immediately upon her utterance and her shake of the Grand Elder's hand, Nail and two other elders bowed and started to withdraw from the center of the deserted village, while Moori turned his back to them and began to approach the collected dragonballs. Bulma, Tien, Yamcha, and Bez quickly followed the example set by the others and wandered over to their own end of the village's center clearing. Things moved quickly; as the sky began to darken in a familiar yet discomforting way, and a gentle glow began to throb from the seven collected balls, the pulse of each and every person present quickened.

Then, in a cathartic moment of release, a golden form shot out up from the balls and began to blot out of the sky. The humans, despite their familiarity with what was happening, moved closer to comfort each other.

'Yamcha?' Bulma asked of the person next to her quietly, as the dragon grew impossibly larger and made the sky impossibly blacker. 'I hope things are going to turn out okay.'

His eyes were plastered to the sky. 'I hope so, too.'

0o0o0

Metal rattled and rolled beneath them, swerving to and fro across the black fabric of space, and they, the professionals, the _finishers,_ welcomed the discomfort. Slowly, each and every man, five in total, rolled and twisted in their pods, stretching their limbs and pricking their bodies out of forced sleep. It was a ritual of theirs- and enforced by their captain- that they did not talk to each other during this initial awakening. Every soldier, Captain Ginyu reflected, needed a moment to his own before the mission began.

Not an especially long one, though. 'Jeice,' he said. 'Sound-off.'

His lieutenant, Jeice, grumbled for a moment, but knew well enough not to keep him waiting. Groggily- 'Boys, get ready…'

'Ginyu!'

'Jeice!'

'Burter!'

'Guldo!'

'Recoome!'

'And,' Ginyu rejoined, 'together we are…'

In unison, they yelled- 'THE GINYU FORCE!'

Their voices reverberated in the small space of Ginyu's pod. One second… Two...

Captain Ginyu frowned. The cheer never sounded quite right when done without the accompaniment of their trademark poses; their physical artistry had a way of enhancing its sonic resonance. But it didn't matter; they would be reporting to that clown Zarbon soon enough, and then he would proudly present his company in a manner befitting their prestige.

Musing on this, he briefly examined the ship's navigation panel to his right before punching his fingers against the display and smiling.

'Men, we've been given the codes. Follow me in…'

* * *

A/N: This was one of the stranger and harder chapters for me to write. Also sorry that it's kind of on the short side. Expect this to be the last such one of the Namek Saga- it's going to a long, wild ride from now until the end.

Also reviews? What do ya think? HMMMM? (They never fail to brighten up my day, good or bad).

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** Thank you!

 **Titanfire999:** Haha! Glad to serve!


	57. Reprieve

Namek

Chapter 57: Reprieve

* * *

A hand tapped on his shoulder. Irked, Zarbon twisted his head around. 'Yes?'

A technician, a small, tweeny figure with ramshackle hair who was barely taller than Zarbon seated, stammered at Zarbon's tone. 'Command- commander,' he managed, 'The Ginyu Force has entered the system.'

Zarbon's eyebrows lifted a fraction. 'Have you given them the codes to dock?'

'I have, sir. They should be joining us in a matter of minutes.'

'Good.' he said, dismissing the technician with a wave of his hand. Then, conjuring a feeling of calm, he turned his attention to the matter at hand.

Zarbon had seated himself at the straight edge of a semicircular table. Arranged and seated before him were the four remaining squad leaders from his army- Appule, Rasp, Cochau, and Paya ran from his left to his right. Each was an elite in their own right. No doubt any one of them could be currently enjoying a comfortable governor's position at one of the safer, more developed planets in the PTO if they hadn't been stuck here. He sympathized with them.

'I want to go over what you said earlier, Appule,' Zarbon said, folding his hands on the table and casting his attention towards the purple alien to his far left. He was ugly to look at; the yellow spots patterning his purple tube of a head were of such a revolting shade. 'You mentioned that there was someone who intercepted your squad and beat you back from the village. _One_ person, specifically.'

'Ye- yes,' Appule answered. He glanced frantically between Zarbon and the other gathered squad leaders. 'He was… he broke one of my soldier's scouters. He couldn't be measured. The device exploded; it couldn't take his reading.'

'And you said you saw what, exactly, tucked underneath one of his arms?'

'Some sort of orange sphere. Large.'

Zarbon appraised Appule and noted the alien's remittent tension working its way through his fingers. He had seen this kind of tension before while serving at Frieza's side- it was found in soldiers who had tried to fulfill their mission but had failed regardless. And while Frieza didn't care enough about his underlings to distinguish this, Zarbon saw and knew better.

He swept his attention towards the other three leaders. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Appule relax. 'You all agree you saw the same man with the same object or objects? Green, tall, with one or more orange spheres?'

The squad leaders took turns avoiding his gaze, until finally the orange, bulbous alien called Paya, short and stout, gave a tensed nod. 'Yes, sir. He tore through my squad. It was a miracle that I and a few of my men got out. He also took the orange sphere we had from us.'

Peaking an eyebrow, Zarbon leaned in. 'And _why_ , exactly, did you have this in your possession?'

To his credit and Zarbon's surprise, Paya didn't flinch at the increased scrutiny. 'It was offered to us so that we would leave,' he replied. 'After killing a few of their warriors there was a brief struggle between a few younger looking natives and what looked to be their elder. The elder was knocked down to the ground and the younger ones carried over the ball to us. Said that it was a powerful artifact that, if gathered together with other spheres like it, would "give us what we want" , or whatever that meant.'

'And yet this village was wiped out by you? Totally?'

Paya stared at him. 'We asked them about the Saiyans- and they said didn't know anything. I assumed they were lying, so we fought some more. The sphere changed hands a few times, and by the end of it me and a few of my men were the only ones left alive. So we took it.'

'Hmm.' Zarbon looked at Paya for a bit longer, then turned his gaze finally to Rasp and Cochau. They were of the same race- Rasp was medium height, medium width, a dark shade of red, while Cochau was mostly the same except for being stone grey in color. They looked fairly similar to any other humanoid that served in the PTO, if you ignored their species' massive third arm which emerged from their midsections and seemed at rest wrapped around their waists. As a result, they had an odd hole in their chest armor where a black-clothed limb hung out of. 'And there were spheres at your respective villages as well?'

Rasp looked at Cochau. 'There were,' he replied, speaking for the both of them.

'And the same strong native?'

'Yes.'

Narrowing his eyes, Zarbon decoupled his hands and laid out his arms parallel to the edge of his table. 'Then I think I can surmise some facts to the convenience of everyone in this room,' Zarbon said. 'There is clearly a powerful warrior amongst the natives that is leaps and bounds stronger than any one of you. Perhaps even stronger than Dodoria, if his missing status is anything to go off on. Thus, while I have not formalized the plan for our next assault, when it occurs, it will be necessary that I lead you all on the ground to neutralize this threat. That way-'

'Err, sir' Rasp spoke up. 'There is something I should have mentioned earlier. One of the soldiers in my squad was measuring that warrior's strength up until his scouter exploded. The reading reached 25,000 before the thing gave out.'

The briefest moment of irrational panic rushed through Zarbon's veins, and while he thought he disguised his initial shock well, the engaged faces of the men before him told him otherwise. But he suppressed the feeling and reined in his face not a moment later.

'Regardless,' Zarbon continued, 'I will deal with him if or when he presents himself again. So I assure you; he will not trouble you or your men again.'

Rasp frowned but nodded.

Zarbon gauged the faces of the squad leaders, then went on. 'I also interested in the fact that he has sought out a specific set of items from the villages. This suggests that these spheres have a use or utility to him or the natives. I would recommend that, in any of our future operations, you and your men try to secure these items.'

'Lastly,' Zarbon said,' and most importantly, our sensor technicians have informed me that, in the wake of our withdrawal, the natives have drawn back to a single spot on the planet. Their "last stand", if I had to guess. So while we have yet to see or hear of any Saiyan renegades, if there any Saiyan renegades to be found, then they shall be found soon. So, I reiterate for when we engage them next; _do not kill them_. Detain them under any means other than death. If you cannot do that, tell me, and I will do this for you. Understood?'

The squad leaders all nodded yes, but now that their meeting was drawing to close, Zarbon noticed the return of the same tension that had afflicted them earlier.

Tucking away this observation, Zarbon stood. 'You are all dismissed.' He pushed his chair back towards the table, turned to leave and began to walk-

'Zarbon, sir?' Appule asked before he had left the room.

He halted. 'Yes?'

'Are… are you angry?'

Zarbon stood still for a moment, then turned halfway towards them. 'I am not Lord Frieza. I do not punish failure… not immediately,' he said coolly. 'Despite what has happened, you are all still alive, and as far as I am concerned, you are all still of use to me. Serve me well and _truthfully_ for the duration of this mission, and I guarantee you that none of you will ever be put on a combat assignment ever again.'

For a moment Zarbon felt the beginning of a collective response start to brew among his squad leaders, but he didn't stick around long enough to hear it; he had left the room as soon as he had finished speaking.

His course was quick, almost frantic. As soon as he was alone, in a long, narrow hallway that stretched itself down the ship's length, Zarbon let his anger seep up into his hands. Suddenly, he smashed his right hand, curled up into a fist, into the hallway's metal wall. A huge crater formed, warping and twisting its paneling to distort Zarbon's reflection into some grotesque, banal monster. Huffing, Zarbon drew his hand back and flipped his hair braid back behind his head.

It was infuriating and humiliating that he served in an army where soldiers lied. Every squad sent to the planet had gotten into some sort of battle with the villages they had been assigned to. Was he to believe that the natives, outnumbered in every locale, attacked them uniformly and unprovoked? No- that was less likely than the other explanation. His troops were greedy, pilfering louts who thought of making a quick profit at the expense of a carefully constructed mission plan. And there was no doubt in Zarbon's mind that Dodoria had, at the very least, ignored the actions of his rapacious soldiers.

But unlike his men, Zarbon _hadn't_ lied. They were useful to him in cleaning up this mess until they were dead. If they survived and the mission was done, Zarbon had every intent on following up on his promise. If they died, then they weren't his concern anymore. And, in the unlikely scenario that they survived and the mission failed… well, Zarbon wouldn't be thinking of them anymore. They wouldn't be thinking of him. They would all be thinking about Frieza.

 _One thing at a time…_ Zarbon's pulse was racing. _This mission isn't a disaster. Not yet. I can spin this._ He pictured himself delivering his report to Frieza. ' _Our initial attack was to weaken them- we must have cut the number of their defenders in half. Everything is proceeding according to plan, Lord Frieza. With… with the Ginyu- Ginyu Force…'_

Zarbon's imagination fell away, consumed by another fear. Every person in the PTO knew that interacting with any soldier that was stronger than you would more likely than not bring about a painful, premature death. When the Ginyu Force had been offered to him in this mission, Zarbon had feigned interest in them to please Frieza, as it was well known that Captain Ginyu was one of Frieza's most favored, if not _the_ most favored, of all his soldiers. He was the PTO's golden boy- ignoring some odd performing quirks- and could do no wrong. So the prospect of commanding someone who had Frieza's complete trust frustrated and terrified him all at once. One complaint from Ginyu or his goons would go straight to their common master, and Zarbon would be as good as dead upon his return to PTO space.

It would have been difficult, though possible, to have gone through with his original plan; to use the operation's early and initial success to dismiss Ginyu and his men when they arrived. But even if this operation had been moving along smoothly by this point… he couldn't ignore the danger posed by this mysterious warrior who had cut down his troops effortlessly. 25,000 was stronger than his current form… and wasn't that far below his _other_ one, either. As it was, it would be too risky to put himself on the ground without knowing exactly what he was dealing with. He would need the strength of Ginyu and his men to safeguard his life.

An unpleasant, rotting taste filled Zarbon's mouth. _Damn them. Damn Ginyu._ Shaking his head, he moved away from his mangled reflection. _Let's get this over with..._ Quick strides took him through the ship's hallway towards the docking bay. His pace was impeccable; as soon as he stepped into the bay, five pods in a V-shaped flight pattern eased into it from space outside. He was nervous. But after serving under Frieza for so long, this emotion immediately transformed into an upright posture and a neutral, calculating demeanor.

0o0o0

A familiar shake took hold of him, a hiss filled his pod, and Ginyu, yearning to stretch his limbs, leaned forward and hastened the hatch's up and out swing by pushing. His hands then slid to the outside rim of his ship, and pulling himself up, he clambered out.

The hangar was sparse and small; a quick glance to his left and right saw that, as expected, his men had arrived in proper formation. To his left, Burter, blue, tall, and athletic, was already chatting to Jeice, his red skinned and white-haired lieutenant. To Ginyu's right, Recoome stretched his outrageously muscled arms above his rectangular head topped with red mop-hair, making the fifth of their group, a short green alien named Guldo, look even punier and stodgier by comparison. Satisfied with their arrangement, Ginyu swung his gaze towards a soldier he recognized all too well as Zarbon. Grinning, Ginyu stepped forward and started to separate his clasped arms from behind him.

'Please, stop.'

Zarbon held up a hand, halting Ginyu halfway through swinging one arm over his head- the signal for the rest of his men to begin their routine. 'What?' he said.

'I am not Lord Frieza,' Zarbon stated, addressing Ginyu. 'I do not care for your presentation. Your team's reputation precedes you all. I aim to launch another assault- a _final one_ \- as soon as possible. So the sooner we begin discussing the plan, the better.'

Frowning, Ginyu rearranged his arms behind his back. 'Very well, then. But be warned that delaying our customary procession may dampen the morale of my men.'

For the first time, Zarbon swept his gaze up and down their line and examined each soldier individually. 'If you five are as strong as I think you are, then know this: before this mission is done, you'll have ample time to present yourselves to our captured enemies…'

0o0o0

Eyes shut and seated in a cross-legged position, Piccolo tried his best to ignore his surroundings. So far, nothing further had tried to burrow into his mind. His wariness slowly lapsed back into a meditative state, but even then his unease did not dissipate. The sense of his inner space being _violated_ would not leave him. Never before had his own thoughts been assaulted in such a horrible way. He had no idea what had happened, or _why_ , and the only person who could answer those questions was presumably brawling in Hell at the moment. Intermittently, Piccolo had asked King Kai when Master Roshi would be back. King Kai had told him to put the matter from his mind.

 _Easier said than done._ His meditation was uncharacteristically agitated. It took all of his willpower to blot out the other concurrent events on King Kai's planet from his mind, not least the semi-random flashes of light and energy coming from where Krillin was. With time Krillin's strength had risen… as had his own, in step and beyond. If Krillin hadn't learned that technique from King Kai, he would not be a threat to Piccolo… but there was no doubt in Piccolo's mind that, if he and Krillin ever fought again, Krillin's use of the Kaioken would allow him to win. _As soon as Master Roshi departs… another damn human takes his place at the top!_

He was restless; he was fundamentally uncomfortable in his own head. It was a feeling he had never experienced before.

Lacking anything better or more insightful to think, Piccolo had to conclude that recent events had rattled him. The intrusion into his mind had taught him how little he knew about himself. And, if he was going to be revived soon, he would have to grapple with a potentially permanent... _inferiority_ on Earth. A gap between himself and Krillin that would widen with time despite his efforts. What other conclusion was he supposed to draw from Krillin's recent progress? From the fact that he already had one opportunity to establish his dominance on Earth, and was unlikely to get another one ever again?

It wasn't King Kai's fault that one of his students could learn the Kaioken and another could not. But Piccolo was bitter nonetheless.

Taking a deep breath, he unsuccessfully tried to wave away the mental frustration. His head was a cluttered web of thoughts and emotion- two things uniquely bad for meditation. He tried to focus on nothing- and, failing to do that, he decided to give up on meditation for the moment. His eyes opened.

For a brief moment he stared out, unaware… until he realized that he was in a city- in a plaza, with a ruined stone fountain in the center and half-built buildings cropping up on its edges. It was immediately familiar but also dreamlike, and bewildered, Piccolo closed his eyes. He tried to clear the scene from his mind.

A few seconds later, when he opened his eyes again, he had succeeded- but now he looked out onto an entirely different scene. Blue grass and blue leaves on tall trees, contrasted by a green sky and an ocean of nearly the same shade grew _everywhere_. Piccolo felt a gentle wind blow across his full white cowl and purple _gi_ and recognized the feeling of warm sunlight on his face. Acting on intuition, he raised one hand above his head and failed to grasp his golden halo.

He was alive… and _not_ on Earth.

'Where am I?...'

0o0o0

Existence pinched into a single concentrated point, pulled on him, and then Kami found himself on his hands and knees, panting and staring down through teary eyes at familiar white tiles. His entire body trembling, he pulled his head and gaze up from the ground.

Not ten feet away, Korin was scolding at Yajirobe and held the samurai by the ear. But as soon as the cat turned in his direction, his face dropped and let Yajirobe fall backward to the ground. 'Kami?'

Kami struggled to hold his gaze with the white-furred cat. 'Old friend… my staff, do you have it?'

'Y- yes! Of course!' Korin said, nodding fervently and rushing off to somewhere behind and to the right of Kami. While this was happening, Kami watched Yajirobe pick himself up and start to glare; but then he looked at Kami and realized what had caused Korin to run off, and did some running of his own. Kami soon found himself being helped to his feet, supported by the shorter and stouter human. 'Got you…' he muttered.

Korin returned to them as soon as Kami had fully straightened. With both hands, he held out Kami's staff parallel to his body and proffered it. Grateful, Kami accepted it.

As soon as his hands gripped themselves around the worn piece of wood, Kami felt a certain strength flow back into him. Softly, he nudged Yajirobe away from him and came to stand under his own power. 'You have my thanks,' he said, moving his gaze to and from Korin and Yajirobe. Then, he looked beyond them. 'Though I would rather be thanking Mr. Popo... Where are they?'

Unseen by Kami, Korin and Yajirobe quickly glanced to each other. The newly revived Guardian of Earth had yet to turn around and look at the half-ruined dome of the main complex just behind him. 'Kami,' Korin said, 'I know you just got back on your feet, but Yajirobe is going to go get you a chair.'

Kami's eyes flickered to Korin. 'What for?'

'I'd prefer that you'd be sitting while I get you up to speed with everything that's happened over the past few months…. just in case.'

0o0o0

King Kai, snorting at a joke he had just made at Krillin's expense, looked over to Piccolo's usual sitting spot underneath one of the planet's only trees. 'Piccolo! Has Krillin ever told you the ridiculous story behind the nine dots on his hea- hmm?...'

There was no sulky green humanoid hanging out underneath a particular tree. Forgetting about Krillin for a moment, King Kai took a quick twenty-second stroll circumnavigating the planet and saw that Piccolo wasn't underneath _any_ of his trees. 'Odd…'

'King Kai?' Krillin asked. King Kai had left him in a push-up position with a couple hundred bricks balanced on his back. He couldn't move his head to look around without toppling the ten-foot-high stack. 'Where'd you go?'

'I'm over here, Krillin,' King Kai replied. Continuing with his idle examination, he walked over to one of his house's open windows and peeked through it to the inside. 'I'm looking for our green friend. He seems to have vanished.'

'He's not here?' Krillin asked, his voice strained. 'Guess I won't be here much longer, either, then.'

King Kai pulled back from the house and turned, slowly, towards Krillin. 'It sounds like you know something that I don't. Something a nearly omniscient _god_ does not.'

'You're omniscient?'

'Unimportant,' King Kai answered, while removing the stack of bricks on Krillin's back from existence with a snap of his fingers. The human blinked, then stood. 'Why are you not surprised that Piccolo is gone?'

'Well,' Krillin said, 'It's like what I said when we first arrived. Piccolo and I came here to train until we were revived. If Piccolo isn't here, that means my friends finally got their hands on another set of dragonballs.'

'I don't remember you telling me _that_ ,' King Kai said, irritated. 'What the heck are dragonballs?'

Krillin opened his mouth to explain, but he found it initially difficult to start. 'They're… um… hmm. They're magical, and orange…'

'You know, if you're trying to make a joke, tell me, and I'll start laughing.'

'No!' Krillin said, waving his arms frantically back and forth. 'It's not a joke! They're just hard to explain! But they can do a lot of seemingly impossible things, like bringing someone back to life.'

King Kai glowered at him. 'You're right about that- bringing people back from the dead should be impossible. How the hell do they work?'

'I don't know!' Krillin replied. 'They're magical! They're… hmm, actually…'

'What?'

'It just occurred to me that, if Piccolo was just revived, I'm going to be revived soon, too. Before that happens, you should really get around to helping me to perfect those other techniques you showed me-'

A stick, appearing out of thin air, whacked Krillin's shins and caused him to yelp. 'I don't care about that!' King Kai chided him. 'I want to know what happened to my other student!'

'He probably got revived! I don't know anything else! Maybe he's on Earth!?' Krillin cried, shrinking back.

King Kai, stick raised with one hand, looked ready to whack Krillin again, but then he sighed and let it drop from his hand. Then with the same hand, he beckoned Krillin to come closer. 'Close your eyes and put your arm on my back,' he said. 'We're going to figure out what's going on here.'

Krillin looked at him. 'You're not gonna whack me again, are you?'

'Krillin…'

'Alright, alright, fine,' he said, moving closer. 'Though I'm not sure what this is going to accompl- a- wh-' Krillin couldn't string together another word as his perception of King Kai's planet expanded, then exploded, as he began to take in so much more sensory information than he had ever thought possible. His perspective should have been impossible; he every side of King Kai's planet simultaneously. His perception then shot out past the confines of the planet as he began to see _this realm_ of Otherworld- Snake Way, King Yemma's palace, and all the empty air and clouds jotting around in between- from an incomprehensible perspective.

 _'You with me, Krillin?' a voice spoke into Krillin's mind._

 _'This… this is incredible! I can see everything!'_

 _'Welcome to my job, kid. Now then…'_

Krillin's perception shifted- he thought of it as a spotlight moving across a stage- and found himself being dragged along to… somewhere else entirely. He was utterly floored by the _amount_ of whatever he was seeing; he couldn't make any sense of it.

 _'I'm judging from your silence that you're a little overwhelmed right now.'_

 _'...'_

 _'This is the North Galaxy. The slice of the lower realm that I'm responsible for keeping watch over.'_

 _'And you can make sense of this?'_

 _'Why do you think I have antennae?'_

 _'...'_

 _'That was a joke.'_

Krillin, to his relief, then felt his perspective exponentially narrow. Soon enough he was looking at just one planet- which was still too much for him to fully perceive, but at least now it didn't feel like his head would burst.

' _Looking… green, young-looking humanoid who looks perpetually unhappy… and he's not here.'_ Krillin felt, all the way back on King Kai's planet, the body underneath his hand grow hot. _'Why is Piccolo not here, Krillin?'_

' _You sure that he's not here?'_

' _Are you_ _ **really**_ _doubting my abilities after everything I've shown you? Really?'_

 _Sorry… just thinking out loud. If Piccolo isn't here, then he must be wherever the other set of dragonballs are.'_

 _'And where is that?'_

 _'I don't know. I was never told any details as to our resurrection other than to train with you. I was just told the general plan.'_

 _'Well, who told you the plan?'_

0o0o0

Frowning, Kami moved farther out towards one end of the Lookout to get a better perspective of the main complex on the other end. Korin and Yajirobe meekly tailed him.

The dome was ruined, and Kami could now see the broken and chipped white floor tiles that were scattered around the Lookout's surface. 'It is as you told me,' he said gloomily. 'Garlic Jr. caused much damage to this place…'

'We've been trying our best to patch things since then,' Korin said hastily. 'Though I will admit we both got a little sidetracked…'

'It is not your fault, Korin,' Kami said, sounding tired. 'I knew Garlic Jr. was kept trapped within his vessel by the presence of a Guardian's power. It was my fault to not think he would quickly escape after my unplanned… demise... ' Kami freed one of his hands from his staff and began to massage his forehead. 'Ooo…'

'Kami?' Korin said, moving closer. 'Are you alright?'

'A headache,' Kami replied without looking at him. 'A particularly bad one. My time in the afterlife was anything but relaxing… and to be revived and be confronted with all this again is daunting…'

'With time, The Lookout can be repaired,' Korin said, trying to console Kami. 'Nothing has to be done today. Relax.'

 _'Is this a bad time?'_ A voice asked, popping into every person's head. _'Should I come back later?'_

Kami, eyes widening, tilted his head towards the sky. 'Who is this?' he said aloud.

' _Hey, Kami?'_ A different, familiar voice spoke up. _'Remember me?'_

'Krillin?' Korin exclaimed. 'Aren't you- you- you're dead!' He finished. 'So- that means-'

 _'I'm still dead_ ,' Krillin said in a somewhat muted manner. _'I'm speaking from King Kai's planet. He's the Kai assigned to watch over our part of the galaxy. Say hi, King Kai.'_

 _'You know I was the one to initiate this conversation, right?'_ King Kai grumbled.

 _'Hah… haha...'_

While Korin motioned Yajirobe to grab the chair Kami had left behind at the other end of the Lookout and bring it over to them, Kami continued to squint towards the sky. 'So, King Kai, you are the one who has been training Krillin these past few months,' he said. 'For that, you have my thanks. I hope he has learned enough to make my service to King Yemma worthwhile.'

King Kai chuckled, as if he had been reminded of a funny image. _'Yeah, wasn't he riding around you pretty hard?'_

'He was.'

 _'As your former student, thank you for that,'_ Krillin quickly added.

 _'Speaking of students,'_ King Kai said, _'I seem to be down one. What's up with that?'_

Kami frowned. 'Are you referring to Piccolo? Because, if so, he must have been brought back with the dragonballs at the same time as me. You do know what the dragonballs are, yes?'

 _'Krillin got me up to speed. Just checked the Earth, though- Piccolo's not there. Krillin thinks he must be wherever the dragonballs were used.'_

'Ah. So he must be on Namek,' Kami deduced.

There was a pause. A sufficiently strange one, considering that Kami, Korin, and a chair-carrying Yajirobe could feel that their connection with King Kai and Krillin was unbroken. Finally, after some time, King Kai asked in a flat voice: _'Could you give Namek's general direction_?'

Kami cocked his head. 'In what regard?'

 _'Galactic galaxy orientation… north, south, east, west of you, that sort of thing.'_

'Unfortunately, I am not acquainted with the larger galaxy's geography. I myself have never set foot on Namek. I only know that the ship the being I was split from arrived here on had the planet's coordinates. And I presume that this ship was used by whoever revived me to get to Namek in the first place.'

 _'So you don't know where Namek is? That's all you had to say.'_

'I do not. Sorry.'

'Here's an idea,' Korin spoke up, 'why don't you try to find Namek by using Kami's link to Piccolo? Their life force should be connected if they share the same soul… or whatever,' he looked at Kami,' right?'

Kami nodded. 'That is correct. For a being such as yourself, King Kai, I understand that you should be able to track our link across the cosmos.'

' _I can…'_ King Kai said. ' _But to do that I'm going to have to cut our verbal connection. Be prepared for any further questions I might have, though.'_ And then, abruptly, their connection with King Kai and Krillin was severed.

Korin blinked rapidly. A moment later, Yajirobe plunked down the wooden chair he had retrieved behind Kami.

'While we're waiting, Korin, I need you to do something,' Kami said as he settled into the chair and began to knead his aching forehead again. 'Within the complex, there is a room filled with opaque ceramic containers. I need you to bring me a vessel from this room that is grey with black and red horizontal stripes. Can you do this for me?'

'I'm on it.'

0o0o0

Beneath his hand, King Kai was remarkably still. 'Hey, you alright?' Krillin asked, opening his eyes.

'I'm focusing,' King Kai snapped. 'Tracking the outlines of a split soul divided across the galaxy's length is a tough ask.'

'I see… sorry.'

The body beneath Krillin's hand tensed even more, but then Krillin watched King Kai sigh, shrug off his hand, and turn to him. 'I'm not alright,' King Kai admitted. 'I'm… disturbed.'

Krillin's eyes narrowed. 'I thought so. I felt your body clam up at one point while we were talking to Kami. Something he said?'

King Kai sighed again before going on. 'Look, Krillin, I'll be honest- I don't want to have a full conversation with you about this,' he said. 'If I start telling you my whole life's story, we're going to be here until everyone you know has died of old age. So just promise me that… you'll listen for a bit without asking any silly questions, alright? And then we'll figure out where Piccolo is.'

'... Alright,' Krillin said, scratching his head. 'You're making it sound like I have any control over what we're doing.'

King Kai pursued his lips. 'Good point. Now, Krillin, hypothetically speaking; if you knew of a species that had terrorized the universe but had later gone on to change its ways and turn over a new, better leaf, what would your intuition be?'

Krillin stared at King Kai. 'You're not talking about whatever race Kakarot is from, right? You're not talking about the Saiyans?'

King Kai snorted. 'No, the Saiyans got what was coming to them- oops.' King Kai smoothed out the front of his clothes, grinning. 'You didn't hear that from me.'

'Well… if we're not talking about the Saiyans, then I'd say that this hypothetical species deserves a chance to continue to do good things, or deeds… or whatever.'

'Not what I'm getting at. I'm asking how you would _feel_ towards them. Good, bad, in-between?'

'I dunno,' Krillin said. 'I guess, if I had seen this species make this dramatic shift, it would be difficult for me to feel comfortable around them?... You've put me in a weird spot, King Kai. Who exactly are we talking about?'

King Kai, unreactive, adjusted the position of his shades on his nose an inch. 'I'm glad to hear your thoughts, Krillin.' He then spun around. 'But I'll think on this more later. For the moment, let me search out Piccolo by myself.'

Faced with King Kai's back, Krillin folded his arms and dug the heel of his foot into the ground. 'You know, you didn't answer my question.'

'Didn't you just admit you have no control over what we're doing at any point while you're here?'

'But you make it sound like you were talking about the-'

'Found him!'

0o0o0

Flying low above the ground, Piccolo glided through the air and took his time watching the landscape pass by below him. His initial sense of alien unfamiliarity had been replaced by a gentle appreciation of the planet's beauty- though this, in time, had transformed into a dull repetition. The planet was _strikingly_ repetitive. Every place looked to be of the same biome- short blue grass, tall trees with blue leaves, and water… everywhere. The only break in this monotony were the appearance of short plateaus and shallow gorges that, with time, also became repetitive. It had to be because of the constant sunlight; there always seemed to be at least two or three suns orbiting the sky at any given time. Conditions everywhere on the planet were the same. They were… boring.

He still didn't know why he was here. He could only sense one clump of energy at the other end of the planet. Had to be a group of this planet's natives… who, hopefully, could explain what was going on and how he was revived-

Piccolo froze mid-flight and straightened. _I've been revived. So… some set of dragonballs are involved. People… like Kami and I are involved. If they're here, then…_

The green and blue scenery didn't change, but despite this, colors and shapes that he didn't notice before began to jump out to him. _This… is where I came from, then. Here-_

 _'Hey!'_ An insufferably familiar voice grated into Piccolo's head. _'Piccolo?'_

Piccolo's eyes bulged with anger. 'Didn't I just get rid of you, clown!'

' _That's no way to talk to another student, Piccolo,'_ King Kai's goofy voice said, coming to Krillin's defense. _'In gaining life, you seem to have lost your manners.'_

'I don't care about you two anymore!' Piccolo yelled out, clenching his raised arms at his sides. 'I've been revived on my homeworld, and now, I will reunite with my kin and surpass both of you!'

There was silence for a moment. _'So you're revived and on Namek, then?'_ King Kai asked. _'Cool._ ' Then the connection cut out.

Wary of them trying to fool or spook him by speaking to him again, Piccolo kept motionless in the sky for a handful of more seconds until relaxing and letting his arms fall back down. His mind held onto the discomfort for a time, then began to think on something King Kai had said.

 _So that's where I am?… Namek..._

0o0o0

'What a sucker,' King Kai said back on King Kai's planet, giggling like a schoolchild. 'If I ever need to learn anything from Piccolo again, I'll just let him go on an ego trip.'

Scratching his neck, Krillin shrugged and kept his eyes closed.

0o0o0

The actual summoning from the dragonballs transpired over an astonishingly short amount of time. The Namekians were no slouches when it came to keeping their dragon waiting; they relayed their wishes in a punctual and efficient manner. And the travelers from Earth could see why. Porunga, the Namekian dragon, made Shenron look like a wimp. He must have been twice as tall and ten times as wide. In Shenron's presence, they had always felt a mystical power radiating down from him; in Porunga's presence, there felt an overbearing physicality, too. So they were relieved when the two wishes had been fulfilled- that Kami and Piccolo had been brought back to life, and that Piccolo was brought to Namek- and Porunga withdrew back into the dragonballs. Soon enough, the sky returned to its usual green shade.

They were surprised when the dragonballs didn't scatter after their use, though their color shifted from orange to grey and began to resemble ordinary stone just like the Earth's dragonballs after being used.

A brief conversation took place; Moori assured them that their wishes had been granted, and that he sensed the person called Piccolo was present on Namek. He recommended that they and Bez should stay in the deserted village- the remaining Namekians were still distrustful of them- and that he and Nail would prepare the Namekians for the next, and most likely final, battle.

'And make sure to inform your friends on Earth to start gathering their dragonballs,' Moori said just before flying off with the two other elders and Nail. 'They need to be on hand in case the battle does not go in our favor and we are forced to pursue a… temporary solution.'

'We understand,' Bulma replied. 'As soon as we can get back to our ship, we can arrange that.'

 _'Or I can do that for you,'_ a voice said, sliding into her head. ' _Save you the trek to that cruddy old shuttle.'_

Startled, Bulma nearly jumped out of her skin. 'Who's that?!' she cried.

'Wait, you hear it too!?' Yamcha yelled, twisting his head to her. 'The nasally voice?'

'I hear it too!' Tien exclaimed. 'We're all hearing the same voice!'

 _'I'm still here, you know…_ '

'Who are you!?' Bulma demanded.

'Hmm…' Moori frowned at them. 'Who exactly are you three talking to?'

Bez made a point of taking a few steps back from the humans. 'Not sure what's going on here… now associated with this. Or, really, whatever just happened with that gigantic dragon.' Bez looked pale. 'I'm sorry, but did you actually just grant _magical_ wishes? You brought someone _back to life_? That's impossible. Once you're dead, you're dead. Something like that can't be _done_ , it's impossible, it's- I'm babbling. I'm sorry, and I'm babbling.'

Moori stood unmoved. He opened his mouth to say something, then decided against it. 'Judging from your appearance, I take it that you, unlike these three, are not from Earth.'

'Yes,' Bez replied. 'You're correct.'

'But you are with them?'

'...For now.'

'Then inform them once their… episode… is over that we have departed,' Moori said, drawing Bez's attention to Bulma, Yamcha, and Tien staring off into space. 'They know where to find us.' Then, without saying anything more, Moori, Bez, Tsuno, and Leera departed.

As he watched them fly away, Bez wrapped his arms around him and tightened his grip. This was _insane_. Magic? Wishes? All the while we're surrounded by a PTO force that could invade at any minute! _And I just said I was standing with these fools…_ Bez turned back to the humans. _They're… look at them. They're… what's she doing?_

Bulma's mouth was hanging open. 'KRILLIN!?' she yelled.

0o0o0

He tried to delay springing it on them as long as possible… but his hand was growing sweaty on King Kai's back. _'Hey, guys…'_ Krillin finally said. ' _It's me.'_

 _'KRILLIN!?'_ Bulma roared back. ' _You- that's you! That's actually you!'_

 _'Krillin!'_ Yamcha joined in. _'You're alive! Or there! You're there in the afterlife?'_

 _'Yeah, I am,'_ Krillin replied. _'Training, actually, with King Kai. He's the guy who spoke to you first.'_

 _'I'm still here, just so you're all aware,'_ King Kai reminded them.

 _'Shouldn't have expected anything different from you, Krillin,'_ Tien said. ' _...It's nice to hear from you. We've all missed you.'_

Krillin smiled. _'You and everyone else on Earth, I'm sure,'_ He agreed. _'So… it's just the three of you on Namek, then?'_

 _'Just the three of us,'_ Bulma answered. _'We've… jeez, a lot has happened since you died… a crazy amount…'_

 _'Like what?'_

 _'Well-'_

 _'Krillin, you know I'm not a payphone, right?'_ King Kai grumbled. ' _We're here on business.'_

 _'Oh, right!'_ Krillin said. _'Can you guys confirm something for us? You just revived Piccolo, right?'_

 _'We did- or, more accurately, the Namekians did,'_ Bulma answered. _'And we wished him back to Namek.'_

 _'Why you'd do that?'_

 _'We're in a tough spot right now; the planet is surrounded by PTO forces,'_ Tien explained. _'Us and the Namekians have already been attacked and we think another assault is coming soon.'_

 _'PTO?'_

 _'A gang of thugs that runs most of the galaxy,'_ King Kai informed Krillin. _'Nasty bunch. Sorry to hear that they're after you. They have some strong soldiers in their ranks…'_

 _'They're also the group that employed Raditz,' Yamcha spat. 'So we can thank them for trying to destroy our planet.'_

 _'I see…' Krillin mumbled. 'Sounds like bad news then. So Piccolo is going to help you fight?'_

 _'That's the plan.'_

 _'You're placing a lot of faith in him,' Krillin cautioned them. 'He's had his fair share of shenanigans up here.'_

 _'We hope he'll see the benefit of helping us and staving off his own death,'_ Yamcha deadpanned.

 _'Even with him we're still in a bad spot, though,'_ Tien admitted. _'We could use more back-up. And, unfortunately, everyone on Earth is too far away to help…'_

 _'Well… I'm ready to throw-down,'_ Krillin said _. 'Now that Kami is alive again, we can use the Earth's dragonballs to revive me and bring me to Namek.'_

' _That would be our plan, but we promised the Namekians one of our wishes,_ _'_ Bulma explained. _'So… we'll see if we can bring you here and fulfill their wish. But, until they tell us what they want to do, you'll have to wait to be revived.'_

' _Hmm. Gotcha.'_

 _'King Kai,'_ Tien spoke up, _'did you say that you'll relay all this to Kami on Earth? If so, that'll be a big help to us.'_

 _'As a favor for my student, I shall,'_ King Kai pledged. _'I'll tell Kami to get the dragonballs on standby. Once they're gathered, I'll get back to you all.'_

 _'Thanks, King Kai.'_

 _'Yeah, thanks!'_ Krillin jumped in. _'Okay- everyone, I'll see you all soon! I can't wait-'_

The world rushed away- Krillin found himself back on King Kai's planet, blinking rapidly. His hand separated itself from King Kai's back.

'King Kai, did you just cut the connection?' Krillin asked.

'How many times do I have to say it? I'm not a _payphone_ , Krillin!'

0o0o0

When Korin, holding a tall, rounded, and grey vessel with black and red stripes, returned to Kami and Yajirobe, he found the Guardian of Earth staring off into space, eyes closed, with a meditative expression on his face. Yajirobe saw him approach and turned to him.

'What's going on?' Korin asked.

Yajirobe shrugged. 'Dunno. He zoned out a few minutes ago.'

'I'm still here,' Kami spoke up, adjusting himself in his chair. 'Just give me a moment.'

Korin glared at Yajirobe. 'Zoned out, huh?'

'He looked it!' Yajirobe exclaimed.

Before anything more could be said, Kami placed two hands on his staff and rose to his feet. 'Alright,' he said, looking upwards. 'I'll do that.' His gaze then centered on Korin. 'Thank you for retrieving the vessel I asked for.'

Korin handed it to Kami. 'You were talking to King Kai, right?'

'I was. He's informed me of a plan concocted by our friends on Namek.'

'Bulma, Yamcha, and Tien?'

Kami nodded.

'And the plan is?...'

'Gather the dragonballs. But, first,' Kami set the vessel down in front of him and motioned Yajirobe and Korin to step back. 'It's time to greet an old friend.'

Kami tapped his staff to the ground two times. In response, the vessel on the ground shuddered twice. The seal in its opening faded into nothing, and a thick, dark mist spooled out from this newly created opening. Then, with swings of his staff, Kami began to shape the mist without touching it, sloughing off sections of black here and there with his virtual shaping. A round shape, short but rotund like a person, began to take shape before them.

Then Kami stopped and held out his staff in front of him. 'I summon you, Mr. Popo,' he said, before tapping his staff down one last time.

As soon as the worn wood of the staff smacked against the white tile, another shudder rocked the mass, and out of nothing there came eyes, a mouth, a white turban, a maroon vest, white pants, and red shoes. Korin's eyes began to widen and Yajirobe, looking a little spooked, moved behind him. It was oddly captivating… and in some ways disturbing.

The coalescing came to a peak and then, with another shudder, all the features popped into their proper place on their body, and Mr. Popo touched down onto the tiles with both of their shoe-enclosed feet. They looked around for a moment, then gave a neutral smile towards Kami. 'It's nice to see you again, my friend,' they said.

Kami smiled. 'It is nice to see you,' he said. 'I have a task for you.'

'Name it, and I shall do it.'

0o0o0

As per King Kai's request, Krillin dragged over one the planet's lawn chairs and placed it behind the Kai. He plopped down into it a moment later. 'I'm beat,' he said.

'You did talk to a lot of people today,' Krillin pointed out.

'Yes…' King Kai folded his hands in his lap and started to twiddle his thumbs. 'I did. And I have a lot to think about.'

'The Namekians? Something to do with them?'

King Kai gave a heavy exhale. 'I have been alive for 600 years, Krillin. While this may sound like a long time for a mortal like you, for a Kai, it is _tiny._ We Kais come into existence fully formed. I was never a kid or a moody teenager; I never grew up from what I was at the very moment I started existing. But Kais still _mature._ We make mistakes and _learn_ from them, no matter how brutal or horrible they are. Right now, I'm wondering whether I've learned the right lessons from my past... But you have better things to do than listen to a Kai prattle on.'

Krillin looked at him. 'I do?'

'You've got who knows how much time left here,' King Kai told him. 'You need to make the most of it.'

'You mean training?' Krillin then frowned. 'Oh, shoot. You're right. I am on a deadline.'

'For your friends' sake, I'd recommend you get to it.'

'Are you going to help me with those techniques I mentioned?'

'Start without me- I'll join you soon.' King Kai said, his voice and mind distant. 'Just give me a moment…'

0o0o0

Sailing through the pink sky, Master Roshi cast his _ki_ sense to the edges of Hell until… something caught his attention. No, it was more than that; this wasn't something sticking out to him that his senses picked out. It was a power almost unignorable, bright, as if someone was shining a flashlight into a pitch-black room. It would be noticed by every denizen of Hell that could sense _ki_ … and it was very close to him. Suspiciously close.

 _A trap. I didn't think it was possible for someone in Hell to have this much control over their ki… but this is as bright a signal as I've ever felt down here. Someone is making their presence known. And, if they can do that, they can probably sense that I'm here, too…_

It must be a trap- but then, the question is, why? Why would this person telegraph where they are? Based on how their _ki_ felt, Master Roshi was pretty sure he hadn't met this person before, so it's unlikely that this person is trying to settle a grudge with him. If this was a stranger, it would be keeping with the theme of today- of running into Kakarot's father. _Hmm… Bardock knew I was here, too. And he was weaker than the energy I'm feeling right now…_ _There's no other conclusion to draw. This person knows I'm here, and is trying to lure me towards them._

 _Guess the question is… do I play their game?_

His whole search so far stunk of manipulation. Bardock must have known that he was coming before he came, and was working with whoever this mystery person is. How else would he have spotted him in the air and half-surprised him with a _ki_ attack?

But, then… if Bardock and this mystery person knew he was coming, and this person has enough power to shine like a star in Hell… then this is probably the same person who had tried to influence Piccolo. Or, at the very least, this person had a good idea as to who did that.

 _Well, trap it is then._ His hands curled into fists. _They're_ _going to regret messing with me._

Putting on a burst of speed, Master Roshi sped off in the energy's direction like a white-silver bullet.

* * *

A/N: BAM! I'm back with another chapter! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

Also, surprisingly, another chapter without a fight! Didn't think that'd happen. No chance in hell of that happening for the next chapter, though. Speaking of which, I'm very hopeful that I'll be able to get back to a weekly update schedule soon. I shouldn't have anything cataclysmically time-consuming hurtling towards me for a while. So keep your eyes peeled for a regular weekend update starting next Saturday! Get pumped!

 **Reviews!** I got a lot of nice ones for this chapter! Thank you all in advance; you're all wonderful and I wouldn't haven't gotten this far if it weren't for your support!

 **Anonymous:** The gang is going to have to pull off some serious shenanigans to come out of this alright.

Piccolo is revived! Ta-da! And Bez is now expressing some skepticism. Thank you for pointing out the relative absence of his perspective on dragonballs last chapter.

Gohan is two! Sometimes I forget, too! And, for the Ox-King, well, we'll see!

I'm excited for the next chapter ;). Thank you for your lovely review!

 **the1andonlyLucian:** (Review # 1): Thank you for the kind words! Glad to hear you like Kakarot's character development!

Well… I would argue that Kakarot would be alright with Raditz living as long as Chi-Chi and Gohan lived, too. So if he's defeated (as he was), I don't think his sacrifice for Chi-Chi and Gohan was wasted.

It's going to be a tough battle on Namek, for sure!

Things are coming to a head in hell… you will see what's going on there soon enough.

(Review #2): Could have been. Not the way I figured Kakarot's saiyan character but I can see a story where Saiyan Kakarot does a lot of training on his own. Though, in that case, there's still a problem: who would teach Kakarot more technical fighting skills? He's not like Raditz, Vegeta, or Nappa, who all grew up on Planet Vegeta and had the chance to learn from other Saiyans. All of Kakarot's fighting skills would have been picked up from combat… which isn't necessarily the best environment to learn winning techniques.

Thank you so much for both of your reviews! Keep me honest, and make me think about any flaws in my story!

 **TienFan99:** Corrected! Thank you for pointing that out! And thank you so much for your kind words! I try to make scenes as fleshed out as possible so as to make them gripping!

 **S3rp3nte:** Dude, you gotta read and find out for that question.

 **OneofTen:** Longer chapters are coming… coming soon… and will feature a lot of that Ginyu boom.

 **Guest:** I'm super excited to write it. Everything is outlined… now just a matter of _throwing down!_

 **LWexe:** Next chapter! Things are gonna go wild!


	58. Opening Moves

Namek

Chapter 58: Opening Moves

* * *

Bez, arms folded and hands pressed into his sides, remained silent as Bulma, Tien, and Yamcha strode over to him. He spoke to them without lifting his gaze from the ground. 'So… you're done with whatever that was.'

'We were having a chat with… a deity,' Tien managed. 'That last part isn't important. What matters is that our plan is set going forward.'

'The plan to get us out of here?'

'With time,' Yamcha said. 'Our friends back on our homeworld are preparing to help us if needed. But, for the moment, all we can do is wait for the PTO to attack and beat them.'

One of Bez's brow ridges- he had no hair on his head, including eyebrows- arched. 'You're telling me that after all that- the black sky, the _gigantic_ monster that lorded over all of us, and having literal _magic_ wishes granted, we're still in danger? We're still stuck here?'

Tien frowned. 'It was the best we could do,' he said. 'We needed wishes to fix the harm done to our own planet and to set ourselves up better for the fight ahead, while the Namekians wanted to avoid making any hasty decisions. They prefer to repel the PTO through traditional means before being forced to use the dragonballs.'

'And how do you know the PTO will risk another assault? Why wouldn't they just blast this planet from orbit instead?' Bez pushed.

'Well, you were there at FP083,' Bulma chimed in. 'You know that we're fugitives. Nappa and Vegeta-'

'Yes, Vegeta,' Bez shot his gaze towards her, 'where is he? Or his lapdog Nappa? We haven't fought them yet. If they had wanted to settle a score with us, they would have come here, alone, and not have brought an entire _army_ with them.' He paused, and tightened his grip around his body. 'You know what I think? I think Vegeta framed us up for his and Nappa's own attacks at FP083. Convinced the PTO that we were the instigators and that they were trying to fend us off. How else would everything line-up so perfectly? That we were able to escape when we were half as strong as Nappa, who was less than a third as strong as Vegeta. No- they framed us,' Bez reiterated with more force. 'It's the only explanation. And if that's the case, and the PTO is throwing every available resource at us, then- then we might as well be dead…'

Surrounded by empty houses and barren space, Bez's voice carried his words through the village and faded into the far-off and unseen distance. Bulma, Tien, and Yamcha, looking at him, felt indescribably distant.

Bez's gaze tracked their attention on him, then moved beyond them. 'The past few hours have been a lot for me,' he sighed. 'Nearly dying, magic wishes, people coming back to life… I really don't understand what's going on anymore, and I can't go anywhere, and I'm _tired_ ,' he finished, letting his arms drop to his sides. 'I need to sleep.' He glanced between them, then hardened his face. 'I'm going to sleep.'

The wind picked up then and whistled through the area. As if he was being carried away by it, Bez turned and walked into an empty house. No one moved or said anything; they watched the building's gloomy interior enshroud Bez's angular, vertical purple form in darkness until he disappeared entirely.

'You know,' Yamcha said, drawing Bulma and Tien's gazes, 'he's not wrong.'

'About what?' Bulma asked.

'We need to sleep,' he replied. 'We haven't slept since we've got here. And if we're going to be fighting for our lives soon… again, we need to sleep.'

Tien yawned. 'Now that you mention it… yeah, I'm pretty tired.'

'This may be our only chance to do so before everything kicks up again,' Yamcha advised. 'We'll duck into one of bigger buildings towards the center of this village…'

Bulma glanced over to the closest building. 'What about Bez?'

'Let him be by himself. He'll do no harm on his own. For now, let's…' Yamcha yawned, 'sleep…'

0o0o0

With Yajirobe at his side and Kami seated just a few feet away, Korin watched as Mr. Popo skipped away to the complex and returned a minute later with what looked to be a rolled up carpet. After nodding to Kami, Mr. Popo placed the fabric down and laid it out across the tiles. As soon as the carpet was fully unfurled, it rose half a foot off the ground. Mr. Popo climbed up on it and looked at Kami once more.

'I will see you soon, Kami,' they said, standing up fully with their hands clasped behind their back. Then, with some unseen command, the carpet lurched into motion. As Popo's carpet dove and disappeared beneath the edge of the Lookout, Yajirobe turned and leaned towards Korin. 'How come you're not searching for the dragonballs, Korin?'

'Because I don't have a flying carpet,' Korin bit back.

The interim caretaker of the Earth was feeling odd. A part of him wished he had had more time at the Lookout to himself. In a few short months he had explored nearly every room, crook, and chamber, and yet was only beginning to understand the long-running history that pervaded the bones of this place. But Kami's return had changed things for him- he felt like a bystander again… which, in its own way, made him feel relieved and sad.

'Can you help me to stand again, friends?'

Blinking, Korin turned to Kami and, assisting Yajirobe, helped the Guardian to his feet. He noticed that Kami had resumed rubbing his forehead. 'Are you alright, Kami?'

Kami pushed his fingers even deeper against his skull. 'I have an atrocious headache. Perhaps, in death, I had forgotten how frail my living body is.' But then Korin found himself being nudged away from Kami. 'While I appreciate your concern, there will be time to worry about my health later. For the moment,' he moved both of his hands to his staff, 'I must finish setting things in motion.'

He took a breath. Then, withdrawing into his own mind, Kami pushed his consciousness down into the very core of the Lookout.

0o0o0

Spinning, Launch backflipped once, then twice, then crossed her arms and felt a fist crash against her block. Her feet stabbed the ground, started to dig trenches through it as her body moved with the force of the blow. Something brushed against her-

And she stepped to the side, letting Suno cry and fly past her before stepping back and grabbing her by the back of her blue-white _gi_ 's collar. Immediately, Suno began to squirm in her grip.

'Hey!' She growled, twisting her head towards her. 'What-'

Quick as lightning, Launch pressed one finger to Suno's mouth, silencing her. 'Quiet. I think… we're about to receive a call.'

0o0o0

Wiping his hands clean of grease on his apron, Dr. Briefs placed them on his thighs and pushed himself to his feet. 'Glad you brought that to my attention, Retu,' he said as he turned away from the ship's piloting console. 'Would have hated to see the navigation system fail halfway into the cosmos- err- what are you doing?'

In the center of the ship's round and spacious interior, one hand placed high above the central pillar's own console, Retu pinched his face and kept his gaze aimed up at the ceiling. 'Dr. Briefs,' he said without facing him, 'I know that Bulma took one of the dragon radars with her to Namek… we have a spare one, right?'

For a moment Dr. Briefs scratched his head, but then the full implication of Retu's question floored him like a truck- he nearly stumbled over his own feet. 'Oh, my.' He broke into a jog towards the ship's exit. 'Oh, MY!'

0o0o0

Carrying Gohan with one arm, Oolong glided down the hall. The half-Saiyan was fidgeting in his arms, yearning to get back on the ground. 'Chi-Chi,' Oolong called out as he took a sharp right into a room. 'I think Gohan is… what's going on?'

In a circle in front of him, the Ox-King, Chi-Chi, Puar, and Rayne had their arms linked and were jumping and spinning around. Chi-Chi's head tipped out backward. 'It's happening! It happened!' She cheered.

'What? What's happening- happened?'

'What we've been waiting for! Kami is back! He's alive! _We have dragonballs again!_ '

A smile spilled out onto Oolong's face. 'Seriously!? That's…'

'Amazing!' Rayne finished for him. She left the circle and moved over to her backpack. In one smooth motion, she lifted it up and across her arms, fitting it tight to her back. 'So now we just need to find the dragonballs… and then Krillin will be back.' Rayne paused, and let her arms hover around her abdomen. It might have had a bump; she might be showing. Could she tell? Not through all the mania and anxiety that potential development brought. 'He'll be back before it happens,' she asserted. 'I _know_ it.'

While this was happening, Chi-Chi exited the circle and took a reaching Gohan into her arms from Oolong. 'Uh, Rayne? Are you going to go looking right now?'

She tightened the straps laid across her chest. 'The backpack didn't give it away?'

'You know we don't have a dragon radar, right? You're going to be wandering around aimlessly for who knows how long trying to find even a single dragonball.'

Rayne smirked. 'If the universe knows what's good for it, it's going to lead me to one. Either that, or you all will find one for me.'

'Ah,' Chi-Chi said, giving a weak smile. 'That makes more sense.'

0o0o0

Before Korin knew what had happened, Kami's eyes fluttered open. The Guardian turned to Korin and Yajirobe. 'It is done. Everyone who has a stake in this has been informed of the present circumstances and plan.'

Korin gaped at him. 'You're done already? That took barely a minute!'

'Oh?' Kami flashed Korin a smile. 'Were you keeping time?'

'What else am I supposed to do while I'm waiting around? Sit here and stare off into space?'

'On the contrary,' Kami said, leaning forward and putting more of his weight on his staff. 'I have a special task for one of my oldest friends of all.'

0o0o0

 _Fire. There was flame racing across the land, split by falling rubble and light. Buildings devolved; windows and siding peeled away, then the guts and bolts, until even the primary pillars and beams were broken apart. It was soundless, this chaos, and even though Bez knew that his people were dying left and right, burning, asphyxiating, bleeding, suffocating- he could hear nothing. He could only see terrible scenes continue to play out across a familiar landscape and taste the stink of death in his mouth. Across his face, his chest, his arms, his hands..._

 _Blood encased his hands like a pair of gloves, leaving stains wherever his fingers went. A trail of pink handprints marked his path across the rubble, his scrambling across ruin like a crow. His feet sloshed in the soaked mud, punctuating his scramble with splashes of brown and black, and slid across the rubble. He was running… but for what end? What was he doing? His eyes kept glancing to his left and right; he kept seeing desiccated and fresh corpses, so many different shades of purple and different faces that consumed him. For the briefest moment the feel of death in his mouth was overpowered by something else entirely- shame._

 _It was a passing taste. His right foot plunged into an unseen hole and he careened forward and hard to the ground. Mud and blood mixed across the front of his body as his arms and leg peddled furiously into the muck, desperate to free himself. He was out of breath, and face-first to the ground, mud yearned to surge into his lungs._

 _He was drowning. But then he rose- a hand grasped the back of his clothing, and yanking forcefully, lifted him clear of the mud. Sputtering, Bez panted and filled his lungs with air even as he was tossed farther forward onto a slab of tan-colored concrete. Pain bloomed in his mind as his body was dragged face-first across the concrete, but Bez breathed in air and felt more pleasure than pain in that moment._

 _Writhing on the ground, Bez could do nothing as he was shoved over onto his back. Through clouded, mud-smeared vision, he saw a short, orange alien clad in plated armor, a black jumpsuit, white gloves, white boots…_

 _And the soldier was sneering at him. A rain framed expression that said everything this murderer thought of him._

' _You're the last one left alive in this city,' the alien said to him. 'Can't tell if you're lucky, or smart, or both.'_

 _Bez said nothing. He found that he could say nothing. Like the city ruins around him, he was coerced into silence._

 _'You should be proud. Happy, even.' The alien pointed one open palm towards Bez. A green-blue ball was forming in its center. 'I'm happy, anyway. Once you're gone, I'll be done for the day and I can have a nice, relaxing meal…'_

 _Death. Death filled his mouth, stronger than before. He would die on his back. This soldier- he would kill him- Bez, first-he would kill him!-_

Bez's eyes sprung open and he surged to his right, aiming a _ki_ -laden hand towards a faint figure in the dark. 'DIE, YOU- you-'

The blast should have left his hand. Instead, it clung to his skin like a drop of water. The figure didn't flinch, and after a moment Bez saw their hands drop to their sides. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you…'

Bez's eyes finished adjusting to the building's gloom. The building he had fallen asleep in. _It was a nightmare. A… bad dream._ The figure was clearer now. They were short, and green, and had antenna- it was the Namekian child that had healed him. Feeling foolish, Bez closed his outstretched hand and dispersed his _ki_. 'What are you doing here?' he breathed.

Dende's eyes- the only part of his face that was easily discernible- were fixed on him. 'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have woken you. You were having a bad dream, weren't you?'

Scowling, Bez scooted away from Dende. 'Not your concern. You're not… nevermind.'

'Do you feel different?'

Bez glared at him. 'Different? My heart is still racing from a nightmare, if that's what you mean.'

Dende's eyes continued to reflect the minuscule amount of light that reached into the building's interior. 'Do you feel stronger? More powerful? I tried the best I could…'

Eyes widening, Bez examined his outstretched hand, then dug the tips of his fingers into the bottom of his jaw. 'What did you do?'

'I unlocked your power level,' Dende explained, 'or tried to, at least. I tried to do it as well as Guru would have done it.'

'You're talking about what Guru did for Tien,' Bez said in a burst of realization. 'What allowed them to go toe-to-toe with that super elite. You… increased my power?' He questioned, his eyes locked on Dende. 'Why would you _do_ that?'

'You fought alongside the humans- against the people who attacked my people, I'm guessing. So you're a good person.'

Bez grunted and looked away. 'I'm not as good as you think I am.'

Dende moved closer, grabbing Bez's attention. 'We all need to be prepared for the fight ahead. You, the humans, my people. Every person who can help, should. I… I saw what Nail looked like when he came back,' he murmured. 'He had to single-handedly fly to every one of our villages and fend off the invaders. He saved some, failed to save others… and when he came back, he was covered in so many different colors of blood that it looked like he had been painted…'

Bez closed his eyes and shook his head. 'Why are you telling me this? I don't need to know…' While he saw nothing, he heard nothing for a few heartbeats after this; this upset him, because that meant Dende was still with him. _Why did he have to bother me, out of the four of us?..._

'I don't think you four did anything bad,' Dende said, as if reading his mind. Bez opened his eyes and saw that Dende's face was shaking. 'The other Namekians speak badly of you and the humans because you came back to them unharmed… but they don't know what I know. You were all injured, in some cases badly… you fought the people who attacked us.' He sniffled, and then wiped away a tear from his cheek. 'So thank you for that. Thank you for what you've done. And thank you for anything else you're going to do.'

Bez, unsure of whether Dende could see his face in the dark, stood. 'Get out of here,' he said, ushering Dende out. 'Get back before anyone notices you're gone.'

Once physically prodded, Dende complied. With Bez behind him, the Namekian child walked outside, glanced at him one last time, and flew off.

Bez watched him go until the green and brown blip he made in the sky fully disappeared from sight. One sun instead of two was in the sky, though this did nothing to diminish the green-colored haze that ran in every direction. He wasn't sure how long he was out there like that, just staring off into the distance, but this state was broken when an impulse pressed against his head.

He spun to his right. To his surprise, his eyes landed on something.

0o0o0

'Sleep well?' Yamcha asked, coming up to Bez alongside Tien and Bulma.

'Well enough,' Bez grunted. 'Are we going to the Namekians?'

'We are,' Bulma answered. 'We'll prepare there.'

Bez looked at her, then Yamcha and Tien. 'To fight?'

'You've already saved all our lives once over,' Tien said, frowning. 'We don't expect you to put your life on the line for us again.'

'And if I choose to fight anyway?'

'It's dangerous,' Yamcha stressed. 'You're not as strong as us.'

'That so?'

Tien narrowed his eyes at Bez. 'Wait…'

Bez gave them a strange look. 'Keep up.' He spun and launched himself into the sky. A small _phoom_ of wind that blew off of him, buffeting their clothes and nearly pushing Bulma off her feet. Startled, Yamcha and Tien gazed on as the purple alien vanished in a matter of seconds.

'What the hell!?' Bulma cried.

'He got stronger,' Tien noted, glancing over to the house Bez had slept in. 'From sleeping?…'

Yamcha glanced over to the building as well, then turned to Bulma. 'Come on,' he said, holding out his arms. 'Let's not keep him and the Namekians waiting.'

A few seconds later, with Bulma in Yamcha's arms, the three of them were airborne and in pursuit.

0o0o0

His fingers rapped against each other behind him. With every second that passed, they moved faster, struck harder, as all of Zarbon's fear and anger played out through two small appendages crammed behind his back. But more important than playing out this release was that it was unseen; the rest of Zarbon's body was as rigid as a slab of stone, as steady as the walls of the room surrounding him and the ship beyond it. _Almost_ as steady as the small, pinched face, part of a projected virtual body which was about two-thirds of Zarbon's height, looking down just a handful of feet away from him.

Almost.

At last, Frieza tore his gaze from the unseen desk before him at whatever planet or ship he was speaking to Zarbon from. 'So this is the plan you've created, Zarbon?'

From his kneeling position, Zarbon made sure not to make eye contact. 'It is, Lord Frieza. Is it to your liking?'

He saw or heard nothing of Frieza for a few heartbeats. 'Rise, Zarbon, and look at me,' Frieza said finally.

'As you wish, my Lord,' he replied, standing. He noticed that Frieza was appraising him with an idle, unusually contemplative eye.

'You seem to have planned around the Ginyu Force's capabilities well,' Frieza observed.

'I would do nothing less.'

The sound of objects shuffling reverberated across the room briefly. Zarbon thought he could see something moving behind Frieza's image.

'Zarbon,' Frieza said, his gaze never leaving his lieutenant, 'tell me: what are your thoughts on fairness? Equality?'

Zarbon blinked. '... Fairness, Lord Frieza? I think it is a privilege that you may grant at your leisure.'

'Indeed. So in the interest of fairness and, there is something I must disclose to you.'

'My Lord?'

'Do you remember our common friend _Vegeta_ , Zarbon?'

Zarbon felt a trickle of sweat run down his neck. 'But of course, Lord Frieza,' he answered. 'It is his information that has led us these renegade Saiyans in the first place.'

'I'm well aware of that, Zarbon,' Frieza said. 'Recently, I've been thinking a great deal about what he told us.'

'Thinking about what specifically, my Lord?'

Frieza flashed an eminently superior smile towards him. 'The contents of my thoughts are not relevant to this conversation. What _is_ relevant, however, was the curiosity generated by my musing. This curiosity led me to contact Vegeta to straighten something out.' Frieza's smile faded. 'Imagine my surprise upon discovering Vegeta and his lackey Nappa are missing.'

In a show of concern, Zarbon's brows scrunched forward. 'Missing?'

'They disappeared without a trace while en route to an outpost near the edge of our holdings in the South Quadrant. For all intents and purposes, they are gone. Understandably, I've begun to wonder whether this event is in any way related to whatever information Vegeta passed along to us beforehand. So tell me, Zarbon,' Frieza said, his projection seemingly ballooning in size, 'have you identified the Saiyan renegades on your planet?' Frieza swung his hand over what Zarbon assumed was the desk. 'Because your report makes no mention of having met them yet.'

'We've located their positions,' Zarbon replied immediately. 'There is no doubt in my mind that they're here.'

'You're sure?'

'I am.'

'There is no shame in being wrong, Zarbon.'

'I am not wrong,' Zarbon said, holding his ground. 'I have staked my reputation, my career, and my _life_ on this mission. To fail you would be to utterly and completely disgrace myself. I wouldn't be able to go on living if that were to occur.'

Frieza stared at Zarbon, his eyes not betraying his what was going through his mind in the slightest, but eventually relaxed his face in what seemed to be a gesture of satisfaction. 'Good to hear,' he said. 'I wouldn't want my best lieutenant wasting his time chasing false leads. Capture these renegade Saiyans and bring them to me.' Frieza's gaze tightened again. 'And be aware, Zarbon, that if you fail…'

Suddenly, a shape lunged at Zarbon so indescribably quick that he screamed and stumbled backward. Even as his body fell to the cold hard ground, the shape twisted and spun, and came to a tip- and-

Zarbon was on the ground, and saw the object's tip held an inch away from his chest. It was blue-tinted. Wide-eyed, Zarbon looked back up.

With nerve-wracking slowness, a smiling Frieza drew back his projected tail from Zarbon. 'I don't want you to go the way of _Dodoria_ , Zarbon. Need I say anything else?'

'No-n-nothing else, Lord Frieza,' Zarbon stammered, shaking and struggling to stand.

'You're dismissed.' Frieza's image cut out a second later.

It had taken less than a second for Frieza's final and least veiled threat to be presented to Zarbon- but it was this one, above all the others, that forced the sweating, stained alien to recover his breath and his wits from a pathetic position.

0o0o0

Aching and exhausted, Cui shook their head and floated back to the ground. They landed awkwardly, landing on one foot before the other, and nearly fell over from the movement. Frustrated, they shrunk a hand into a fist and beat their chest in an effort to keep their wits about them. ' _Focus!'_

Without a scouter they had spent hours and hours flying aimlessly around this forsaken planet, first from fury and later from stubbornness. The planet was huge, however, and maddeningly sparse. Every feature looked the same, down to the color of the grass and the sky. Though in some way they were thankful for this- when a village appeared he spotted it easily, and doubting that he would find anyone, Cui touched down to the ground and sought out a place to rest.

They heard nothing as they approached. Cui quickly realized that the village was abandoned. Moving closer to one of the buildings, they saw the black marks of blaster fire scoring one side of the building. _The PTO has been here…_ Cui hobbled around the building. _Which means…_

A handful of bodies, all PTO, littered the village's center clearing. Seizing the opportunity, Cui rushed forward, kneeled down next to one of the bodies, and flipped it. A seemingly-intact scouter was resting over the dead soldier's face.

Fumbling, Cui grabbed it and yanked it off. They slapped the scouter over their left eye and pressed down the boot button on its side. For a moment, nothing happened, and Cui held their breath… but released it as soon as readings began to pop-up across their visor. They were all concentrated in one spot- _one target. Pooling their strength? As if that'll do them any good!_

Cui was sure that they'd find those fighters who had humiliated them there. These natives had no means of challenging a spaceborne fleet, which most likely meant that the rest of the PTO force was in orbit and preparing another assault. There was no doubt in Cui's mind- they would be joined soon by the full weight of the PTO's wrath. Perhaps even that bootlicker Zarbon would get involved. _Zarbon..._

At their side, their hands began to clench and curl. _He- the PTO and my enemies have forgotten me_. Cui had spent a miserable chunk of their life on this planet- marooned, blind, and humiliated- that they would never get back; but they intended to correct this. They _would_ correct this.

Grimacing, Cui wrapped themself in a purple aura and roared into the sky.

0o0o0

'Are we agreed, then?'

Moori's words echoed within the room. Guru's hall, without Guru himself, felt empty. Moori, Nail, Tsuno, Leera… none of them could fill the space left by Guru. None of them ever would. Yamcha, his attention fixed on the massive chair where the now deceased leader of the Namekian race had sat, knew this beyond a doubt.

'We'll try to keep the fighting away from here,' Tien said from his side. 'When the PTO approaches, we'll rush out and meet them head-on. They're only interested in us- they shouldn't need to assault this place.'

'Nail will stay here to defend us just in case they do,' Moori said, gesturing to the Namekian warrior standing to his right. 'I am also aware that your friend, Piccolo, should be here soon.'

Yamcha nodded. 'Hopefully, he'll be of some help. Can you tell how strong he is?'

Moori turned to Nail. 'Well?'

Nail closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. 'Hard to say,' he said. 'He hasn't revealed his full power yet… but, if I had to guess, I would say that he's stronger than you two or your friend.'

Bez, leaning against the hall's wall behind Yamcha, Tien, and Bulma, didn't register that he was being referred to. Instead, as evidenced by his distant expression, he seemed preoccupied with some internal thought.

'Hopefully… that's a good thing,' Bulma ventured.

'Can you tell us anything about the PTO?' Tien asked.

Nail shook his head. 'From this far out, it's hard for me to gauge the total strength of our enemies. Though I am aware that a recent arrival of a few men has increased their strength considerably.'

'But none of them are stronger than you,' Yamcha sought to confirm, 'right?'

To everyone's surprise, Nail looked to his right and said nothing. After a moment, Tsuno coughed and cleared his voice. 'Do you have any update on the dragonballs?' he asked of them.

'We were told that we'd be contacted when they've been gathered,' Bulma informed them. 'And we haven't been contacted yet, so… yeah.'

Moori frowned. 'Let us hope it does not come down to the wire.'

'I can't imagine that it'll take much longer. Our friends have gotten pretty good at finding dragonballs at this point, and they've already had several hours to look for them.'

Yamcha leaned over to Bulma. 'They have a second dragon ball radar on Earth, right?' he whispered.

'Yes! Of course…' Bulma's speech slowed. '... Well, actually-'

'Someone's coming,' Nail spoke up from the other side of the room. He opened his eyes and glanced towards the hall's entrance. 'They're close.'

'Another assault? Already?' Tien asked.

'Not the main force… someone who's been on this planet since the first attack.'

Tien instantly realized who Nail was referring to- he searched and found Yamcha's concerned gaze. 'Then we have to go,' Yamcha declared. 'How long until the main PTO force lands?'

'Not long, if I had to guess from what I can sense,' Nail answered. 'You won't have much time to fight them alone.'

Tien looked back to Bez, who nodded. 'That's fine. We shouldn't need much time to defeat him.'

As Tien and Bez strode towards the exit, Yamcha began to follow them. But after taking one step, a hand grabbed his arm and stopped him. Confused, he turned to a visibly worried Bulma.

'You're don't want to come, do you?' he asked, unsure of what was going on.

Bulma's nose crinkled, and she playfully shoved him away. 'No, you dolt.' She then stepped closer. 'But…' Yamcha was shocked as Bulma stepped up onto her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his right cheek. She then rocked back, smiling.

'For good luck.'

Looking like he had been touched by a ghost, Yamcha rubbed the spot on his face where she had kissed him. 'Are you going to do that every time I'm about to go into a fight?' he asked, astonished.

'Far from it,' Bulma countered, jabbing a finger to his chest, 'I expect _you_ to do that _for me_ the next time I'm about to do something dangerous but necessary. So get out there, win, and come back safe. Someone who expects you to do the same for her is waiting for you.'

Grinning hard enough to crack his jaw, Yamcha nodded, and seeing that Bez and Tien had already exited, spun and ran out.

0o0o0

Gliding above the Namekian landscape, a sudden mental jolt hit Piccolo. He had been tracking a power moving across the planet to where he was also going, and had been planning on intercepting this person… but three powers had just peeled off from his original destination to intercept this person as well. Piccolo recognized two of them.

 _Tien and Yamcha. Exponentially stronger than they were the last time I was alive… but weaker than me regardless._ He had a good idea as to what had happened. The humans had arrived on Namek and had convinced the Namekians, his people, to revive Kami. When Kami was revived, he came back, too.

 _Though the question remains… why am I here? I should be on Earth if all they did was revive Kami… so they must have brought me here. But why?_

Piccolo suspected the reason might involve the mystery energy the humans and their third were moving to intercept and the vague collection of energy Piccolo sensed was moving closer to the planet's surface. Perhaps they wanted him to fight for them. Perhaps they wanted him to _help_ them.

In an instant the white aura that surrounded Piccolo's airborne body doubled in size, nearly doubling his airborne speed. _Fools. Not just Yamcha and Tien- every single human. That entire race was a collection of idiots._ Were they that quick to dismiss his deeds? What he had **done**? He wasn't Kami, nor was he his father- he was Piccolo, and with a single-minded focus, he would pursue what he wanted for himself.

He was close now; he would have the Namekians all to himself.

0o0o0

Cui's scouter beeped several seconds before they appeared. To prepare themself, Cui stopped flying, folded their arms, and began to hover in mid-air. Below, the land was flat and remarkably uniform. It would make a fine place for their revenge.

Side-by-side, three figures halted before them. Cui recognized the one in the middle and on the right- but their gaze lingered on the tall purple one to their left. 'Who's this?' Cui mocked. 'One of your friends?'

Bez floated a few feet away from Tien and Yamcha. 'I'm just here to fight,' he said.

'You're in PTO armor,' Cui noted, examining the nearly broken state of Bez's chestplate. 'The blast that created that hole in your armor must have been bad enough to have killed whoever was wearing it. You steal it from a dead soldier, native?'

Bez scoffed. 'You think I'm a native? You really do know nothing about the planet you're attacking.'

'Not my job,' Cui replied, a smug smile glued to their face. 'But you know what _is_ my job?' They pointed an accusatory finger at Yamcha and Tien. 'I think you two are who I'm looking for. You're certainly strong enough.'

Yamcha and Tien glanced at each other. 'Yeah? Who exactly are you looking for?'

Cui, peeling back the sides of their mouth with a grin, shook their head. 'Always the same with these Saiyans…'

Cui's purple, lithe form then blurred to one side, coalescing into lines, and spinning, Tien caught a forearm with one hand that had been aimed at his head.

'Shame that I can't kill you now!'

0o0o0

Despite the storm of fists, kicks, and elbows that burst into being just to his left, Bez hung back. He wasn't sure Cui had said something. He wasn't sure… He… might be sure.

Cui had said _Saiyans._ Bez was nearly sure of it. What else would Cui have said that starts with "Sai…"? _Vegeta blamed us._

A crushing impact roared down from above. Before Bez could look up, Yamcha's body crashed into his own, sending them spiraling down to the ground. After a second of flailing, Yamcha growled, spun, and pushed Bez away from him in mid-air. 'Get in the fight!' he yelled, before zooming off to Bez's right.

Startled, Bez flung out his energy and slowed himself. He looked skyward again and dodged to the right just in time before Tien's body catapulted past him. Orienting himself diagonally to the ground, Bez drew back one arm and leg, and brought the other two limbs closer together like a brace. True to his guess, Cui's form slammed into his own a second later, causing Bez to shudder from the sudden and painful crush.

'Get out of my way!' Cui shrieked while pushing against Bez's guard.

Bez swung to his left to avoid an overhead chop, then shifted back instantly to grab Cui's left arm high and above his head. Bez then rapid-fire slammed his left elbow into Cui's left side, causing the PTO soldier to gasp and chips of Cui's armor to fly off. Bez finished by zooming around to Cui's back and bending their left arm further behind them, causing Cui to painfully squirm, before hooking back his right arm to drive into Cui's back.

'GET OFF!' Cui roared, before launching their head backward and slamming it into Cui's face. Stunned, Bez let his grip around Cui's left arm loosen- Cui spun, and their entire body flipped- and two boots slammed down on Bez's right shoulder, twisting it down and out far further than it should have and launching Bez towards the ground. Rubbing their pained, stretched arm, Cui watched Bez crash into a plain below before charging a _ki_ blast in their other arm. 'My scouter tells me where you are, fool!' He shouted, turning.

A wave of pink energy exploded from Cui's palm, enveloping the Saiyan with the black hair- _Wait, no!_ Even through the sheen of light coming off of their attack, Cui saw Yamcha's form disperse as the blast passed through the area he was without resistance and zoomed off into the sky. Frantic, Cui looked to their left and right before Yamcha appeared below them and roundhoused kicked them higher into the sky.

Immediately, Yamcha began charging a Kamehameha in his palms. _'Tien, now!'_ he telepathically commanded.

Far above him, Tien materialized in the path of Cui's trajectory, two fingers pointed down. 'FULL-POWER DODON RAY, HAH!' Tien yelled as a beam twice as wide as his two fingers shot out from his fingertips and screamed down towards Cui. Alarmed, the PTO soldier barely managed to halt their momentum, raise their arms to block, and call forth their raging purple aura. When the beam hit, it crashed against Cui's arms and the full might of their aura, and despite Tien's best efforts, the driving edge of it soon began to splinter apart inches away from Cui's forearms.

'Did you learn anything from last time?' Cui screamed, shooting a gaze that could kill at Tien. 'You can only slow me down!

At this distance, Cui couldn't see Tien's face- but they were sure that he was casting down an insufferable smile regardless. 'That may have been true before,' Tien yelled back, 'but you're weaker than you were last time!' The dodon ray received another burst of energy, pushing Cui back several feet down in the air. 'Not to mention more arrogant!'

 _BEEP-BEEP-BEEP_ ; the scouter over Cui's left eye shook, then exploded in response to a new source of energy. Cui's attention moved beyond the mass of energy pressing down on them from above and to their right. Just as they caught a glimpse of blue, Yamcha's Kamehameha roared up from below and swallowed them.

0o0o0

 _Ooof…_ Bez's eyes fluttered open. _Ouch…_ Groaning, Bez sat up, brushing off the dirt that had half-submerged him as he went. He rolled his neck, noted that the pain his right shoulder was horrible- _probably dislocated_ \- and glanced around. He was in a crater.

 _Got knocked down… so… up?_ Bez looked skyward. High above him, he saw Cui's purple form pressing against a yellow blast from above. _Tien, most likely._ Closer to him, Bez saw Yamcha cocking back his hands… and then shooting a blue, loping beam up towards Cui's back. The PTO soldier looked back at the last second before being sandwiched alive. The blue and gold ran over their aura and mixed together, generating an explosive, volatile white, before bursting apart and exploding.

The shockwave was horribly loud- Bez covered his ears while waves of wind drove down from above and crashed against him, strong enough to nearly flatten him to the ground again. All around him grass wavered violently and was flung into the air, while a few trees lost all their blue leaves to the repeated blasts of wind. In the distance, he heard the churning of water spout and bubble.

By the time the shaking stopped, Bez was standing, body and bones aching with his left arm hovering over his right shoulder, and was searching the sky above him. For a moment he saw residual energy unraveling, streaks of blue and white… but then Yamcha and Tien appeared to him and started to descend.

0o0o0

Tien touched down first. 'You alright?' he asked, running his eyes over Bez.

'I'm fine,' Bez said, shaking off Tien's question and any behavior that accurately indicated how much pain he presently felt. 'He's gone?'

'He's not up there, so he's either dead or somewhere down here.'

Yamcha then touched down. To Bez's eyes, he seemed concerned. 'Something the matter?' he asked.

'That shouldn't have been enough energy to kill him,' Yamcha muttered. 'If we hit him, he should be heavily damaged, unable to fight- but not dead.' Yamcha closed his eyes, then shook his head and looked at the ground. 'Can't sense anything. Still too much random energy in the air.'

'If he's alive, he couldn't have gotten far.' Tien stepped out to his right, glanced over Bez's shoulder. 'We'll just need to look for him the old fashion way. I'll get airborne again and get a better vie-'

'Hmm?' Bez looked over to Tien; the human had visibly paled and was frozen in place. Bez's eyes shot over to Yamcha, saw his gaze was directed over his shoulder too, and fighting a rising feeling of dread, he followed their attention and turned.

Ten feet away, an eminently cocky, smug, and blue alien smiled at them with his lips. He was tall- maybe a third taller than Yamcha and Tien, and possessed a slender yet muscular build. He wore a black jumpsuit underneath black armor and white boots, and the tanned color of his shoulder pads matched the color of a segmented, oval piece of his skin that ran along the topmost part of his head. Only one difference in his attire as compared to the average PTO soldier stuck out to Yamcha, Tien, and Bez- a white, upside down A with purple in the center was laid across an orange patch on the left side of his chestplate.

They also saw that Cui's motionless body, burnt and mangled by their combined attack, was tucked underneath the blue alien's right arm and dripped dark purple blood onto his white boots.

Burter drew back his lips and gave them a real smile. 'Hello, boys.' Without any concern for Cui, he then let the PTO's soldier body slip out of his grip and crash to the ground. 'Too bad I didn't get here a few moments earlier,' Burter teased. 'Would have saved Cui here a lot of pain.'

Yamcha's gaze tracked Cui's body plop down, bounce once, and come to a stop. 'Damn it,' he fumed, 'he's still alive!…'

'Oh?' Burter said, gazing down at Cui planted face-down in the dirt. 'Pity. You're not going to do much better today than what you did to him.'

Without thinking, Bez took two steps back, placing himself behind Tien and Yamcha's rigid forms. _A living nightmare, in the flesh. He isn't supposed to be here. This just isn't fair…_ He took another step back. _If all his friends are here... we really are dead._

'He's one of your own,' Tien said, trying to disguise the fear in his voice.

'He is, and you've had your fun with him,' Burter jeered. He then slid one foot back, raised his arms above his head, and stuck out his body at an angle. 'Now it's time for Burter of the Ginyu Force to have his fun!'

* * *

A/N: This was a super tough chapter to write (primary reason for why this was on the shorter side…). Also a tough spot to end things! I was originally planning on writing a few more scenes out for this chapter, but decided in the interest of getting out a Saturday update to shunt them into next week's chapter. Got in some action, though! And next week will have a whole lot of that!

Power levels

Tien: 16,000

Yamcha: 15,000

Bez: 12,000

Cui: 17,000 (weakened from 18,000 from the previous fight)

Burter: ?

 **Reviews** :

 **LWexe:** I always enjoy your reviews! Keep 'em coming!


	59. Best Laid Plans

Namek

Chapter 59: Best Laid Plans

* * *

'Bodies.' Scowling, Nappa swept his gaze over the crater, then to the hill to his right. 'Just bodies here, Vegeta.'

'And just dust here,' a voice replied. A moment later, Vegeta appeared on top of the hill. 'Any clues?'

Nappa moved his attention back to the bodies. 'These PTO corpses seem more recent. Haven't been dead for more than a few days. And yet…'

'And yet?'

'They're withering away,' Nappa said. He balanced his foot on a bloating, yellow-green soldier's chestplate, and with the lightest force, crumpled the entire body inwards and shot out dirt and dust out of the armor's sides. 'They're much, _much_ weaker than they should be. And even years-old corpses don't just _vanish_ from pressure. There's something else going on here.'

Vegeta grunted. Sideways, he slid down the side of the dusty, lifeless hill. The whole planet was like this hill- it was all dirt, or dust, without a shred of life anywhere. No lifeforms, no vegetation… nothing. Even stranger, he and Nappa kept finding wholly untouched cities and villages… as if the people of this planet had simply disappeared without a fight.

'These are like the other PTO corpses we found earlier.' Vegeta asked as he crouched down to inspect one particular body. His hand cupped the side of one soldier's head before pressing its bleached from into a cloud of dust. 'No scouters.'

'Bet someone's been destroying them,' Nappa surmised, 'probably targeting them before or during the fights.' He nudged an empty white boot a few inches across the ground before slamming it into the distance with the side of his foot. 'So we know that whoever's come through this planet knows the PTO.'

Vegeta wiped his white-gloved handed clean of dust and smirked. 'He's trying to hide from us,' he said, standing.

'The dead man?' Nappa asked.

'Who else would have attacked these soldiers?' Vegeta contended.

'Someone I didn't see _die_ , Vegeta,' Nappa rumbled. 'The dead don't affect this world once they're dead- that's the whole point of them being _dead_.'

Vegeta, statue-like, turned to face his companion, 'You sound unconvinced, Nappa.'

Briefly, Nappa held his gaze on Vegeta, then glowered at the ground. 'I think-'

'I do not ask you to believe or think the same as me, Nappa,' Vegeta interrupted him, 'but I _do_ require that you follow my orders. Do you understand?'

Nappa's nostrils flared. 'I've understood that since the day you were _born_ , Vegeta.'

'Then we have nothing further to discuss,' Vegeta said, turning away from him. After trudging back up the hill, Vegeta looked down again on Nappa. 'I am going to draw him and any of his cronies out of whatever hole they're hiding in. You, in the meanwhile, will stay here and hide,' he commanded. In the same motion, he used one arm to beat his cape back and forth behind him. 'When the best opportunity arises, strike.'

'Yeah?' Nappa growled, curling his hands into fists. 'And what will you be doing?'

Vegeta smiled. Then, without any warning, he blasted off vertically into the sky.

0o0o0

Tasked with guarding the last great mass of Namekian people in the galaxy, Nail stood at the spire's top edge and breathed. With his eyes closed, he felt more; not too far away, he sensed clusters of people landing onto the planet in unison, all guarding one central mass of people and individual power- it was there he felt three powers that could challenge his own, and one that certainly surpassed his… though, by how much, he didn't know. Before the entrance of these individuals he had felt secure that he could dispatch this invasion on his own… but, now, that belief seemed more tenuous.

'Nail,' Moori said from his side. The Elder of the Namekian race was standing in much the same way and position as Nail. 'You can feel them, can't you?'

'Yes. They're landing close by-'

'Not them,' Moori cut him off. 'Not the invaders. Can you feel the _humans_?'

Frowning, Nail shifted his focus towards where their allies had run off to. 'They're all there, with... well…'

'You see, then?'

'They were too slow,' Nail remarked. 'And they're too far out for me to go out and help them now.'

Moori opened his eyes and looked out to the deceptive, empty horizon. 'Do they have a chance?'

Behind them, Namekians were funneling into Guru's hall, chattering and squirming amongst each other, while the adults directed the youngest Namekians in first. After a moment, Nail opened his eyes, glanced behind him, and looked at Moori.

'No.'

Grimacing, Moori closed his eyes again. 'Hmm…'

0o0o0

By this point, between the three of them, Yamcha, Tien, and Bez had seen a lot of weird things. But someone… posing like this was not one of them.

'...What are you doing?' Yamcha asked, his eyes tracing the weird shapes Burter made with his arms. 'Is this an attack?'

Tien moved out to the side to get a better angle. 'He's moving pretty slow… so, probably not.'

Even Bez, who was shaking just a few seconds ago, steadied himself to get a good look at the tall, gesticulating alien. 'We should go,' he urged, causing Yamcha and Tien to glance back at him. 'We won't get another chance to run.'

'Run all you want,' Burter spoke, moving his arms out of the V and twisting his torso back-and-forth. As he did this, he stepped over Cui's unmoving body like they were a rock in the ground. 'Take as much time as you want. I'll catch up with you.'

Tien's mouth wobbled. 'You can't be serious-'

'Run,' Burter said, staring Tien dead in the eye. 'Go ahead.'

The two of them stared at each other until Tien wrenched his gaze away to Yamcha. 'Let's go,' he ordered, ' _now_.'

Nothing more was said; followed a few seconds later by a more injured Bez, Yamcha and Tien zoomed off into the sky back towards the Namekians. Burter knew where they were going, and knew how long exactly, judging from their current speed, how long it would take for him to catch-up. So he gave them five minutes. Once five minutes passed, he bent low to the ground, formed a square with his legs, and burst into flight fast enough to flatten every blade of blue-colored grass for half a mile around.

0o0o0

At the speed they were going the wind roared, and Tien had to project his _ki_ to his left and behind him to create a space where he and Yamcha could talk to each other. 'Did we lose him?' Tien yelled back just to be extra sure he would be heard.

'We lost Bez,' Yamcha replied, his cropped black hair ruffling through the wind. 'He's farther back-'

A deafening _boom_ rolled over them-

And Yamcha found himself half-buried in the ground, every part of him hurting, and tasted blood in his mouth. Gagging, he wormed himself out from under a thick coating of dirt and rock and rolled onto his side. Once freed, he twisted his head above the ground and spat to clear his mouth of blood.

'What… the hell?...' he mouthed, as he rolled back and onto his other side, then carefully sat up. He realized that he was in a crater. _When did that happen?_

The sound of two boots tapping down to the ground reached Yamcha. Startled, he jumped to his feet and whirled.

Not ten feet away, the blue alien from earlier stood motionless, arms folded. 'Told you I'd catch up,' he snarked.

'What… the hell?' Yamcha muttered. 'How can any person be that fast?'

'"Any person"? Forgot my name already, huh?' Burter teased. 'It's Burter. I'll even spell it for you. B-U-R- _T_ -'

'GYAA!' Yamcha roared, as he surged forward and smashed Burter across the face with his fist. His head moved an inch, if at all.

Unfazed, Burter glared at him. ' _E-R._ Hmph.' Then, he jumped and flipped over Yamcha- which caused a charging Tien, who was rushing Burter from behind, to crash into Yamcha. Together, they tumbled and fell to the ground.

'Your friend seems pretty keen to fight me, too,' Burter commented as he tapped back down resumed his previous position. 'I'm surprised. This is typically the point where people like you start to kneel down and beg in front of people like me.'

Snarling, Yamcha clambered to his feet. _This- I hate these PTO soldiers!-_

 _'Getting angry isn't going to get us anywhere,' Tien's strained voice said, flowing into Yamcha's mind. 'We need to focus.'_

 _'Well, running didn't get us anywhere! So we have to fight!'_

 _'Together, then!'_

Yamcha and Tien's outlines burst apart, and a split-second later, each one attacked Burter from an opposite side- but their blows both landed ineffectively against Burter's forearms. Undeterred, Yamcha and Tien weaved and moved forward, launching two or three limbs at Burter at a time. Their auras kicked up; wind blew across the surface of Namek as they wasted no time unleashing the full extent of their power. Against Cui, in either of their fights, they never fought with this purpose or single-mindedness; they fought with everything they had, with everything they _knew_ , as between the two of them, they saw techniques last used two tournaments ago. Their opponent, a blurred splotch of blue that was present at every one of their blows, absorbed all their ferocity and focus like a tree being ruffled by a light wind. Energy roared out of both of them, but broke against Burter's black and brown armor all the same.

For all their effort… it did them nothing. They spent a minute pushing their bodies to their absolute max, beyond whatever sustainable pace they had used in battles past, because they knew that if they didn't win this fight in less than a minute, then the battle was already lost.

Screaming, Yamcha launched forward and tried to slam one _ki_ -fanged hand into Burter's chest. As a final insult, the purple alien mildly exerted himself and zipped just a few inches away from Yamcha's outstretched appendage. 'Close,' Burter taunted. 'So very _close_.'

Yamcha, drooping, fell to one knee and struggled to catch his breath. Tien, in a similar state, hunched and shook on his feet. 'How?' Tien asked, disbelieving. 'This can't be real. How can the gap between us be so large?'

'Don't feel so bad,' Burter faux-consoled. 'Someone who notches a 20,000 reading on a scouter could rule most parts of the galaxy. But, here… you're outclassed.' When Yamcha and Tien, staring at him, did nothing more than continue to pant, Burter frowned. 'You know what? I feel bad. How about this: I'll give you another minute. Do whatever you want with it- run, prepare to fight me again, whatever. I'll stand here and wait.'

Weak, Yamcha half-turned to Tien. 'One more shot!' he shouted. 'Charge your strong-'

Before he could finish, Yamcha felt a person appear next to him. 'I lied,' Burter whispered into his ear. 'I don't have the time to play with you.'

Indescribable pain, delivered through a punch that pressed itself up and halfway through his body, threw Yamcha off his feet and into the air. Stunned, he was helpless as Burter appeared in the air above him, spun in place fast enough to lose all definition, and slammed the bottom of his boot against Yamcha's chest. Bones _cracked_ as Yamcha's body blurred down and impacted with the ground near the edge of a body of water.

Below Burter, gaping, Tien saw what he could perceive of this, and heard his own blood drip off his arms and trickle onto the grass. He was faced with a ruthless power, and despair as thick as blood swept over him. _I can't see a way out._

0o0o0

 _Ooof…_ His vision pulsed in and out. _What?..._

Knocked to the ground with his head resting on his left arm, Yamcha discovered that he couldn't move any part of his body beyond the fingers on his right hand. His mind felt disconnected from his body, which first surprised him, then terrified him. His out-of-control crash landing had come to a stop just feet away from the land's edge- beyond it, a green ocean reached out to him. Invited…

 _Invited what? That I roll myself into the water to hide, and drown because I can't come back up for air? Or maybe that's the idea- just to roll in and be done with it._

He began to stand. He had no idea _why_ \- there was no way they could win this battle. Before they had even had a chance to think through _what_ longshot technique _may_ have saved them, the battle was over. They were beaten. Even now, Yamcha felt that Burter's power hadn't diminished. And he was pretty sure that he was still holding a significant chunk of his power back.

They were going to be crushed… by someone toying with them. Even in their most hopeless fights, when the odds were stacked against them entirely, it had never been this humiliating.

Shaking, Yamcha seized control of his right hand, pressed it to the ground, and clawed as the loose soil. _What do I care about humiliation?_ _My life is full of it…_ The hand halted, then closed together to form a palm. _What's…_ He pressed the palm to the ground and pushed more of his weight down on that spot. _What's… one more?_

Through sheer force of will, Yamcha took back control over his body. From one hand, he fought his way to sit up, kneel, and finally stand. As he rose, the last pieces of his PTO chestplate fell away- no doubt destroyed by his last attack- leaving him clothed in a pair of ruined white boots and a tattered black jumpsuit peppered with blood stains. His bones were broken; he was bleeding inside and out, and Yamcha felt about as close as he could to dying without _actually_ doing so.

He saw Tien rising to his feet about fifty feet away. Between them, Burter stood just the same as he had the entire fight. His arms were crossed.

 _If I ever need to die again… let it be quick, please…_ Yamcha staggered forward. _Like when King Piccolo returned. Dying then was tolerable. It wasn't like this- not like how this is going._

He stumbled forward a few more feet before stopping. To his own surprise, he started to chuckle whenever the pain would let him. _Can't believe I just thought that. Not too long ago, I would have never missed a fight, but…_ Yamcha lifted his gaze towards his target. Burter was fully turned to him now, and appeared to be preparing to charge him. _I'd like this to be over now._

 _'Yamcha,'_ Tien's feeble voice whispered into his consciousness. ' _It's time for last-ditch efforts.'_

 _'I think the time has passed for that.'_

 _'To win? I'd agree. But it's not a matter of winning now. It's a matter of survival.'_

Yamcha halted. _'Yeah?'_

 _'Stay down.'_

Time ground to a halt- Yamcha saw Tien's pleading face hang in the distance, partially obscured by Burter on the precipice of bursting into action. _Last-ditch._

 _Ok._ Yamcha used every bit of his energy to track the oncoming blow. Then, once it hit, darkness engulfed him.

0o0o0

Just like his friend, the three-eyed one failed to see Burter zoom around to behind him. There, he paused for a moment, savoring the dumb look of a disoriented and frightened target, before slamming the tip of his elbow into the back of three-eye's head. All the tension in his body then vanished; he dropped to the ground, unconscious, just as his friend had.

 _Run of the mill._

A few seconds later, with each captive tucked underneath each arm, Burter took off into the sky. As fast as he was, soon enough he came to where he had first encountered his captives; he slowed and started his descent back to the ground.

To his immense satisfaction, he landed a handful of seconds before the rest of his team appeared. What would have flashes of color to any other soldier were distinct shapes of red, tan, and green- except for one. Burter may have trained his speed more than anyone else in the Ginyu squad, but, when it came to the Captain, no-one had any funny ideas as to how they stacked up against him. They all accepted and appreciated the fact the Captain was stronger than them and would step in to help them if need be- which wasn't very often. The three other men who landed alongside Captain Ginyu, with their jaw-dropping power, made that fact clear enough.

Jeice, Reccome, and Guldo, hand folded at their backs, landed behind the Captain. At first, their commanding officer did nothing except remain rigid, signaling to everyone present to remain in their present poses. But then Ginyu gave a shake of his head, strode up to Burter, and took him by his shoulders.

'Nice catch, Burter,' Ginyu congratulated him while bending up and down to examine Tien and Yamcha hanging limply in his arms. The rest of the squad also tiptoed closer and followed the Captain's lead.

'They're so tall…' Guldo remarked, poking at their legs.

'Look kinda thin to me,' Recoome commented. 'Wonder if I could snap them in two.'

'Oi! This one has a third eye!' Jeice cried, slapping Tien's forehead a few times to get everyone's attention.

As Recoome and Guldo joined Jeice in his ogling, Ginyu moved to Burter's other side. 'Anything else to report?' he asked once he had grabbed Burter's attention.

Burter nodded. 'You know Cui?'

'That fish-face?' Jeice joined in. 'The one with holes in their head?'

'Yeah, them. They're still alive. Was fighting these two.' Burter said, shaking the bodies in his arms. 'I saved their life- but Cui seems to have run off. They and... ' Burter wiggled his mouth, and drew it into a frown. 'There was a third with these two. Didn't look the same, though- definitely not a Saiyan.'

'Strong?' Recoome asked, grinning.

Burter chuckled. 'Not in the slightest. Not very fast, either.'

Ginyu finished examining the bodies and straightened. 'Then this third is not our concern,' he said, 'nor is it anyone else's. We are here to capture potential Saiyans and Saiyans _only_. Rule #14 to ensure a successful operation, men: never spread unnecessary information among your allies. You'll either distract them or doom them to an early death.' He spun on his troops. 'Am I clear? This information does not leave our squad!'

In unison, Jeice, Recoome, Guldo, and even Burter, saddled with two people, snapped to attention. 'Sir, yes, sir!'

Ginyu inspected their poses for a moment, then dipped his head. On cue, his squad relaxed. 'Jeice,' he addressed the red alien, 'I want you to take those two back to the command ship. Stick them in a storage room with energy dampeners clamped around their wrists. If they wake up before you get there, knock them around again- my scouter logged their max power level at around 20,000, so it should be easy for you to detain them again if need be.'

Jeice clicked his boots and saluted. 'Sir, yes, sir!' Quick and soundless as the wind, Jeice strode over to Burter, let the alien hoist the bodies onto his shoulders like heavy sacks, and gave a wave of his hand as he lifted up into the sky. 'Don't let them have all the fun without me, Cap'n!'

Ginyu gave a flat smile. 'See you soon, Jeice.'

With one final nod, the red alien twisted and blasted off into the horizon. Once he was gone, Ginyu turned back to his men. 'Well, now that we're all wrapped up here, it's time to rejoin the others! Everyone! Prepare to fly, in formation! We've got a reputation to uphold!'

His squad hooted in response to his words. Ginyu may have been far and away the strongest member of the _Ginyu_ Squad- but power wasn't everything. A good leader should know how to motivate and inspire the troops under their command. And Ginyu considered himself to be much, _much_ better than a "good" leader.

As his men stretched and hopped, preparing themselves for the imminent flight, Ginyu came to Burter's side and clapped a hand on the alien's shoulder.

'Burter?'

The blue alien lifted his chin and looked at him. 'Yes, boss?'

'I want you to fly in front of us. Full-speed, no delays.' Ginyu's mouth curled into a crooked line. 'Embarrass Zarbon before we arrive. It'll make our job at the end of this that much easier.'

Burter smirked. 'Will do, boss.'

0o0o0

Petrified, Bez tried his best to meld into the stray rock he was currently pressed up against. Just a couple hundred yards away, he saw the _living, breathing Ginyu Force_ circle around Yamcha and Tien like a group of vultures. Both of them had gone down without so much as scratching the blue one, Burter. But, oddly enough, they weren't being finished off. If anything, their unconscious bodies were treated carefully as they passed from the blue alien to the red one.

It hit him. _They're prisoners. They- we weren't being hunted- we were being tracked._ Which meant that Yamcha and Tien were now back to what they were a little over a week ago- prisoners in the most brutal organization in the galaxy. They were as good as dead once whoever wanted them alive was done with them.

 _They were my ticket out of here._ It was a nasty, selfish thought, and to Bez's surprise, he felt shame for having thought it. _I can get back to the other one, Bulma, though. She and I-_

Bez ducked, pressed his back to the rock, and slapped himself. It hurt a little. _Stop that! No more! If we can leave together, we will. They'll escape… somehow. I believe in them. Wouldn't be the first time they've done something impossible._

A roar of wind reached Bez's ears. Alerted, Bez sat back up and peered out over the top of the rock. He looked just in time to see the Ginyu Force, in formation, lift off from the ground and fly off. When they finally fully dispersed, Bez, relieved that they were gone, stood. He was careful not to inflame any of his previous injuries, nor further dislocate his shoulder. _Ouch... Forgot about that. I'm going to need someone to pop that back in._

' _Asshole_.'

Bez recognized the voice; he really, _really_ didn't want to see this person again. An instant later, Bez fell forward, propelled by a blinding force emanating from the back of his skull. He crashed to the ground, gasped, and threw himself to the right, avoiding a charred white boot stabbing itself into the ground. Tearing up, Bez's eyes traced the leg up to its owner

Cui looked more like a corpse than a person, but even so, they made one _angry_ corpse. 'Captured, your two friends are going to suffer a worse fate than you,' they said, bending over and picking up Bez by the edge of the hole in his chestplate. They slammed a fist, knuckles raking across Bez's chest, sideways across his armor. The armor splintered apart, and Bez was thrown several feet and rolled across the ground.

As Bez used his good arm to push himself up, he glanced to his right and saw Cui stomp over to him, aura flickering around them, and pull off the ruined remains of their white gloves from their hands. 'Get up!' they yelled.

0o0o0

In the distance the spire stood, stolid, and did not cast a shadow. Zarbon was surprised when he noticed this; in all his planning, he had never thought about how this planet's three suns would make it that there were no shadows on its surface. No darkness hung out in the open among all the light; not a single spot was untouched by the constant sunlight, barring whatever caves or crevices laid underneath the surface.

As it was, everything that could be apparent to him was- and he was confident that his hands would soon be clean of everything before him.

'Commander?'

Zarbon turned to his right. Appule, the purple alien with a massive, cylindrical head whom he had made his second to replace Dodoria, waited on his word. 'Yes?'

'Three things. First, we've started to receive close-range readings from the spire.'

Zarbon returned his attention to the far-off landmark. 'Average power level?'

'Around 3,000 to 4,000. Puts them on about equal footing with an average soldier of ours.'

'So you'd predict an even battle if we were to engage them as an army?'

'Well, if it was just them…'

Zarbon put his hands to his neck and cracked it, thrashing around his ponytail braid on his back. 'You're referring to the one who decimated our army in the last attack, I presume.'

'Yes… we've detected a reading of at least 22,000 among the others. And it's been growing steadily over the past hour- just a few minutes ago, it came in at 20,000.'

'That so?' Zarbon thought on this. _Perhaps they're trying to intimidate me. Perhaps they're preparing for the battle, in their own way… but it doesn't matter. I've planned for whatever flailing they wish to do._ 'And the second thing?'

Appule blinked. 'Second-ah, yes! Sorry, sir! We've just received a message from Captain Ginyu. One of his men successfully intercepted and captured the readings that had peeled off from the spire.'

Zarbon's gaze swung back to his second. 'Captured? I didn't order that.'

'They think they're Saiyans,' Appule clarified. 'So, as per our orders…'

'I recall _my own_ orders, Appule,' Zarbon reminded him. 'What makes them think those two are Saiyans?'

Appule tapped the scouter over his left and eye and began reading off of his visor. 'Well, their prisoners don't look like the other locals we've met- they're not green, don't have antennae. They have beige-white skin. And, perhaps most damning of all, they were caught wearing PTO armor.' Appule clicked the side of his scouter again and looked back to Zarbon. 'If you want my opinion, sir, I think it's pretty likely they're the people we're looking for.'

Zarbon regarded the distant spire again. 'Indeed. It is likely, based on what you've told me. Though you seemed to have forgotten an important detail, Appule.'

'What's that?'

'There were _three_ reported renegades, Appule!' Zarbon said, swinging back to glare at his second. 'Which means that we're not done here- the plan continues as _planned_.' He pointed into the distance. 'Their third is still there, at the spire, hiding behind what's left of this planet's people.'

'So we attack?'

Furious, Zarbon twisted back to Appule and nearly struck him and his thick, fat skull. 'No! We do not do anything until the Ginyu Force arrives!' He yelled, making himself seem twice as tall as Appule. 'They have a warrior who surpasses most, if not _all_ of our forces! Are you too dumb to realize that flinging ourselves at that now would invite needless death? Do you know nothing about being a commanding officer? You- _we_ do not throw away our soldiers' lives unnecessarily! Am I clear?'

Shrinking, Appule looked away from Zarbon's murderous glare. 'Yes, sir. Sorry- I didn't mean to… make dumb comments.'

Zarbon fumed at him. 'I'm sure,' he said, turning away his gaze. 'Nevermind. Do you have anything else to report?'

'The third thing, sir?'

'What is it?' Zarbon asked, exasperated.

'We got a reading on someone else closing in on the spire. They logged a reading of 5,000 on our scouters. Too weak to be one of Ginyu's men.'

'Someone with a power level of 5,000 does not concern me. Send Cochau and Rasp with their squads towards this reading,' Zarbon commanded without hesitation. 'We can afford to spare them and still ensure a strong enough perimeter around the spire.'

Appule bowed, and began to back away to relay Zarbon's command. 'Then I'll do that, sir.'

Zarbon, after eyeing Appule retreat, turned his gaze back to the spire. '...'

0o0o0

Perched like a bird, Moori squinted into the distance. 'What are they doing?'

At his side, Nail grunted. 'Nothing. Absolutely _nothing_.'

'You sound displeased by this.'

'Nothing means that they're waiting.' In one abrupt motion, Nail clenched his hands into fists and raised his arms. Waves of wind arose from nowhere and flew across the spire's top. 'I can sense how far away their reinforcements are. I can decimate this army before they arrive with time to spare.'

Moori linked his hands together in front of him. 'Then the humans lost? They're gone?'

Nail shifted his gaze to his right. 'Not gone. Their energy is faint and moving together with one of the stronger powers across the planet. They've most likely been captured.'

'They were baited,' Moori said, shaking his head.

'Looks like it.'

'We will have to rely on their friend, now, to use their set of dragonballs.'

'Then keep her here. Do I have your permission to engage the army?'

Moori dipped his head. 'Go.'

'What's going on?'

Surprised, Nail and Moori turned. Bulma, her face tied up into an anxious knot, fought against the wind rolling off of Nail's body and approached. 'Are Yamcha and Tien coming back soon?'

Unseen by Bulma, Nail glanced at Moori, then summoned his full white aura and rushed into the sky towards the thin black line of people surrounding the spire. Bulma would have been blown off her feet if it weren't for Moori grabbing her arm and steading her. Moori noticed how tense her entire body was and how her fingernails dug into her palms.

'Let's go inside,' Moori suggested, pressing an arm to Bulma's back in an attempt to turn her around. 'I see that you're upset-'

'They're not coming back, are they?' she shouted while shoving off his arm.

Moori frowned. 'They seem to have been captured.'

'Then are you going after them?'

When Moori didn't respond, Bulma huffed, implied a hundred awful things she would do to Moori if given the chance with her eyes, and strode back towards the hall. After a moment, he followed her inside.

0o0o0

Mid-flight, Piccolo came to an abrupt halt. 'Hmmph?'

Twenty armor-clad soldiers were assembled in his path. Considering that they had stopped him, he didn't see them as very smart.

'Who are you supposed to be?' Piccolo asked broadly in a dismissive tone.

A red colored man in front floated forward. 'Haven't met us before, huh? Where were you the last time we went through here?'

'Not here,' Piccolo brushed off his question. 'Now move aside- my patience for fools only goes so far.'

'Fools, huh?' A stone-gray soldier rumbled while drifting closer to Piccolo. As he did this, what Piccolo thought to be a feature of his armor unwrapped itself from around his waist and extended. It was an arm. A third arm. _Not the grossest thing I've seen._

'Say that again,' this stone-gray alien repeated, floating straight into Piccolo's face. 'Say it again, _native_ \- say that we're fools.'

'We can read your power level clear as day,' Rasp commented from just a few feet behind Cochau. '5,000. You're _nothing_ compared to us.'

A wide, thin smile took hold of Piccolo's face. 'It's funny. A few months ago, I would have been scared of you. Now, though…' Piccolo shook his head and trailed off.

Cochau now was mere inches away from him. 'What?' He snarled. 'What's so funny!?'

'I was wrong,' Piccolo said just before he appeared behind Cochau and swung his leg _through_ the soldier's body, severing him clean in two. 'You're not fools. You're _dead men_.'

0o0o0

Zarbon's scouter _beeped_. The warrior his forces had been monitoring was flying away from the spire towards them. 22,000, then 23,000…

Rigid, Zarbon removed his scouter from his head. 'Hold this for a second,' Zarbon said, giving it to Appule.

Appule clumsily accepted it. 'What are you doing, sir?'

'Stand back.'

'Sir?'

In an instant, Zarbon's width doubled, as his muscles expanded to twice their usual side. Slim legs and arms became engorged pillars. Most strikingly, the lower half of Zarbon's face expanded to accommodate a set of crocodile-like teeth and a wicked, though concerned, grin. It looked like his entire body was about to burst out from underneath his now skin-tight armor. 'Scouter, please,' he said, in a much lower voice than he had had previously.

When a shaking Appule hesitated, Zarbon swung his snub-nosed face to him. 'I am still your commanding officer, dolt!' he snarled while snatching the scouter from his hand. 'Good for nothing!' he snarled, as he fixed the scouter back over his left eye.

Before Appule could respond, Zarbon blasted forward.

0o0o0

These would-be conquerors were _weak_. Nail had first discovered this when skimming across Namek in defense of the Namekian villages. They relied on their misplaced confidence, the puny weapons fixed to their arms, and their sheer, brute numbers to slaughter like common thugs. Did they think they had an actual chance?

Shaking off the thought, Nail placed a hand to a soldier's back and pulled out his other arm. The blue-skinned alien fell to the ground with a thud.

A nearby soldier spun in response to the sound. 'He's over here!' he yelled, as he raised a beam blaster. In-sync, the rest of the soldier nearby, all arranged in a line, turned and raised their own weapons.

'Blast him!' the original soldier yelled, as a wave of yellow oval-shaped blasts zoomed towards him. Expressionless, Nail's outline vanished. He reappeared in the sky above and behind the line of soldiers. Oblivious, they continued to bombard the spot where he had just been with a hail of energy blasts.

 _They can't track my movements in the slightest._ Raising both of his arms, Nail felt a twinge of pity for them. Their actions were born of total ignorance. Perhaps they expected their leaders to only send them into battles they could win. Perhaps they had _faith_ that their lives wouldn't be thrown away for nothing.

Thin gold sparks began to race up and down the length of Nail's arms. But he had no sympathy for them. Any person used as a tool had to be prepared to answer for their user's crimes.

Nail then appeared just above and in front of the original soldier who had spotted him. From this position, he faced the curving line of soldiers that ran around the spire in a circle.

The original soldier had just enough time to move back a step before Nail thrust his arms forward. _'GOLDEN PIERCE!'_ The sparks leaped off of Nail's arms like lightning, coalesced into a thick, arcing beam of yellow energy, and ran through the soldier's chest, skewering him and causing blood to shoot from his mouth. As he began to fall, Nail saw the arc splinter into four separate paths and impale the next four closest soldiers. What had been originally one arc soon grew into hundreds, as a chain of lurching energy moved through the line, killing soldiers as it went.

When the blast petered out a few seconds later, having cut through a large swath of the circle surrounding the spire, Nail realized that he had given them more mercy than they deserved; only the first soldier had enough time to see his death before he became it.

A flicker of energy caught Nail's attention. Mid-turn, he was slammed to his right towards the spire from behind.

0o0o0

Rushing, Zarbon followed after Nail's careening outline. His light blue outline burned around him, spitting color into the air, as he appeared above the green warrior's body, locked his fingers together, and raised the combined fist over his head.

When he swung, the strike fell neatly into Nail's outstretched hands. The warrior narrowed his eyes at him, then pushed back and away, disappearing from sight.

Alarmed, Zarbon slowed his momentum to a halt. His scouter beeped. _30,000!?_ At the last second, Zarbun spun and caught a fist that had been aimed for his back. They remained locked in that position for a time, each one staring down the other. Zarbon, despite his bulkier and larger body, physically trembled with exertion to remain in place. 'So,' Zarbon forced out, 'you're the local pest who's been making a mockery of my operation?'

Nail raised an eyebrow. 'Your operation?' Nail then applied more force, made Zarbon yelp and stammer, and bent Zarbon's arms at an unnatural angle. ' _You_ are responsible for everything that's happened?'

Zarbon's scouter beeped again. 33,000 flashed on its display. Bloodshot, Zarbon's attention fixed on the number. _No! That's impossible! That's higher than mine!_

'I see,' Nail seethed, before Zarbon's vision shook back and forth and a horrible pain erupted against his head. Trailing blood, Zarbon crashed to the ground below near the foot of the spire. His world spinning, Zarbon struggled to remove himself from the ground.

'A minute is all I need to dismiss what remains of your army,' A voice spoke down to him from above. Blinking away the bleariness in his eyes, Zarbon recognized Nail as hovering above him. Somehow, he had transformed his stolid face into something terrifying.

'Then, I'll come for _you_ ,' Nail continued, sneering. 'And trust me; I'll want more than a minute with you. When- Hmph?' Nail's eyes flickered towards something farther out, away from the spire. His postured tightened, and a moment later, he zipped away.

Head aching from the last blow, Zarbon's eyes struggled to see where Nail had gone. Forgetting that he had a scouter, he stood and looked towards his army, searching for a green blur bulldozing its way through his forces. After a few seconds, his scouter beeped and drew his attention skyward.

Nail was flying parallel to the spire to its top. 'He's pulling back,' Zarbon muttered. He tapped his scouter- thankfully, it was still working- and connected to Appule. 'Order everyone to regroup! Now!'

0o0o0

A spire, starting as a thin line running from the horizon into the sky, widened and grew over the course of a minute. Atop it, Piccolo sensed his ultimate goal- the Namekians, gathered together in one place for his leisure. He sensed that Tien and Yamcha were far away now, faint, which meant they wouldn't be interfering with his plans any time soon. He also sensed that a ring of soldiers was surrounding the spire- but those same soldiers were occupied by someone, most likely a Namekian, cutting through their ranks. But even if they hadn't been occupied, they were… Piccolo half-smiled, flashing one of his fang-like canines.

 _Ingrates._ The ones he ran across before, now dead, had wasted his time. He didn't intend to let anyone do that to him again. Putting on a burst of speed, Piccolo sprinted down the final stretch. A white building now came into focus atop the spire, and inside, he felt forty-odd souls huddling together. No-one would get between him, them, and what he wanted to know. _No-one_ -

He was feet away from the edge of the spire when a green blur shot up from below and halted in his path. A Namekian, a strong one judging by how fast he flew up to meet him, examined him. 'So, you're Piccolo?' He asked.

Piccolo, examining him in turn, finally met Nail's gaze. 'I am. I take it that I have to thank you and the other Namekians for my revival.'

'Us, and your friends from Earth.'

'That's what they said?' Piccolo grinned from ear-to-ear. 'Friends?'

'My word, not theirs,' Nail said, unamused. 'They promised that you'd be able to help us- but I noticed that you flew past everyone surrounding this spire.'

'And?'

Nail wrinkled his nose. 'The deal we struck with the humans is that you'd help us fight. And, right now, your back is turned to the battle.'

'I'd prefer if you didn't question my actions,' Piccolo growled, 'and that you let me proceed into the hall.'

'When you haven't given me a good reason to let you? Not a chance.'

'"Let you?"' Piccolo repeated, irate. 'Are you getting in my way?'

'You got in mine, first.'

For a handful of seconds, both Namekians stared down the other, prepared to fight at a moment's notice. Piccolo drifted closer.

'Not another inch,' Nail said, holding out his palm. 'Turn around.'

Stone-faced, Piccolo looked away from Nail and began to turn. Halfway through it, white lines coalesced in front of Nail and, driven by instinct, Nail raised his forearms and blocked a fist. Piccolo then lurched up and above Nail. 'Get out of my way!' He roared, as he brought up his right hand, filled with crackling yellow energy, and encased Nail in a vertical tube of concentrated energy.

0o0o0

From a distance, Zarbon watched on with awe as a whole sliver of the spire was ripped apart by a yellow blast.

Next to him, Appule yelped as his scouter exploded on the side of his head. 'Ow! Ow, ow, ow!' He fell back to the ground on his butt, and began to pat the left side of his head. 'OW!'

Zarbon didn't even spare a glance for his poor-luck second. His full attention was consumed by the cloud of dust and debris rolling out from the bottom of the spire. _Maybe I won't need the Ginyus, after all…_

* * *

A/N: This arc is shaping up to be a long one. Buckle in.

 **Reviews:**

 **Titanfire999:** How strong will the Saiyans be? RAFO, bud. And I do read Dragon Ball Multiverse! Dare I say I'm a big fan of it!

 **LWexe:** Nothing is simple when the Ginyu Force is involved, bub!


	60. Mission Critical

Namek

Chapter 60: Mission Critical

* * *

Nail's outline was consumed by bright, cauterizing light; Piccolo watched as the blast traveled beneath him and scraped off one entire side of the pillar as it raced towards the far-off ground below. Halfway down, Piccolo directed the energy to curve away from the spire and had it explode harmlessly in the open air.

He waited. When Nail finally reappeared below him, singed arms spread protectively in front of him, Piccolo had grown tired of waiting. Speeding down, Piccolo extended one hand and swiped it against Nail's block.

To his surprise, a pair of hands clamped down on his outstretched wrist. Nail, boring into him with deep-set eyes, said nothing as he leaned back in the air- pulling Piccolo forward in the process- and swerved, spinning Piccolo around in a half-circle before releasing him the way he had directed his earlier blast. Careening through the air, Piccolo twisted and lashed out with his arm, smashing it across a pursuing Nail's face and momentarily knocking his pursuer back. 'Thought I didn't see that?' Piccolo taunted.

'No,' a chilling voice from behind him whispered. Before he could turn, Piccolo felt a palm slam into his upper back, flipping him in mid-air and halting his momentum. Nail slammed another palm strike into Piccolo's chest, causing air to rush out of his lungs, and grabbed Piccolo by his right leg and rocketed them upward. In an instant they were level with the spire, and with a mighty groan, Nail thrust his weight forward, extended his right arm by ten feet, and slammed Piccolo into the spire's top. A great cloud of dust and dirt sprouted and shot into the air.

Disoriented, Piccolo blinked until he could see straight. His hands groped around his chest to make sure he hadn't been impaled- and froze when he realized Nail's arm was gripped around his _gi_.

Stepping over Piccolo's supine body, Nail yanked hard and pulled Piccolo off of the ground. With his other hand, he held it at his side and began to fill it with energy. 'You embody every detestable trait a Namekian could possess,' Nail pronounced. 'Pride, arrogance, and selfishness. You are _broken_.'

With every word that tumbled out of Nail's mouth, Piccolo grew more and more aware of the gap between in power. Nail was not significantly stronger than him… but it was enough. He had made a fatal misjudgment just under a day of having being brought back to life. A type of misjudgment, he now reflected, that looked to be more and more essential to him and his father.

'Well? Do you have anything to say?'

Piccolo's eyes landed on the Nail's face. In spite of the emotive character of Nail's voice, his face remained expressionless. 'I can tell you've made up your mind about me already,' Piccolo said, 'and you're clearly stronger than me. So do what you're going to do and be done with it.'

' _Hmmph_. I have made my mind about you. I _want_ to kill you.' Nail's hand, wreathed in snapping yellow _ki_ , hung a few inches from Piccolo's face. The green color of their skins was suffused by a pulsing yellow glow. 'I _should_ kill you.'

For a moment, there was nothing between them except Nail's ki-laced hand- but with the same inexpressive face, Nail let the light disperse from his hand and closed it. 'But with what faces us, my own desires are not important,' he said, glowering, while he still held Piccolo by the collar of his _gi_ with his other hand. 'I do not care about what I _want_ or what _should_ be done. I care about what I _need_. You understand that?'

Piccolo's gaze jumped to Nail's now-empty hand, then back to his face. 'I do.'

'Good.' Nail released his grip on Piccolo's _gi._ With a _doomp_ , Piccolo smacked down to the ground. 'Then I'll offer you a deal,' Nail intoned as he stood and his arms dropped back to his sides. 'Do what was promised of you. Fight to defend the Namekians. Even if you don't see them as your own people.'

An unpleasant look crossed Piccolo's face. 'You've spoken at length about what you want or what should be done. So: you think I'll help you under _either_ of those two motivations? I'm only looking out for myself.'

'Yes, that's true,' Nail said, and Piccolo suppressed whatever insane urge inside him wanted him to dispute proven fact. _I came here for answers- my own answers. No one else's._ 'But serving yourself requires that the Namekians survive the invasion of this planet.'

'Yeah? How so?'

'You're looking for answers among my kin, aren't you?'

Piccolo's mouth drew into a thin line. 'How do you know about that?'

'I don't, actually. I just know as much as I need to to prevent you from throwing your life away.'

'I don't take deals under duress,' Piccolo spat, glaring up at Nail. 'And I don't _need_ anything from the likes of you.'

Nail, without any warning, extended a hand down towards Piccolo. 'But you need a deal that saves your life.' His eyes were focused on Piccolo's. 'Or _was_ I wrong about you? Protect the Namekians, and not only will you live to annoy someone else another day, but you'll also be able to ask my people anything. That's the best deal you're going to get.'

'Damn you,' Piccolo growled. Roughly, he accepted the hand and let Nail help him to his feet. 'Damn you and your entire race.'

'I'm sure you would if given the chance,' Nail intimated while turning to look out over the horizon. In the distance, the black circle of soldiers surrounding the spire looked thinner than before. 'But you hate everyone out there more than you hate us, right? Otherwise, you would have bypassed the group of soldiers sent after you earlier.'

Piccolo grunted. 'Is there anything that happens on this planet that you _don't_ know about?'

To this, Nail half-smiled. 'Like I said, I know as much as I need to plan out the day.'

'And what is that, specifically?' Piccolo demanded. 'Your _plan_ , that is.'

Nail pointed to where the circle of soldiers was at its thickest. 'Other than protecting this spire, you need to defeat their leader. I've killed his officers before, and in every case, the grunts working under them lost the will to fight and tried to run away. I'm confident that if you cut off this army's head, it'll collapse into chaos.' Nail glanced at Piccolo. 'It is a winnable fight. I have a rough idea of how you and their leader compare in strength. You have a good chance of beating him if you fight smart.'

Piccolo's cape, fluttering in the wind behind him, curled up and dropped to the ground. Piccolo threw his headwear atop of it, revealing his brilliant, dark purple _gi_ and the blue _obi_ wrapped around his waist. That was definitely a perk about being brought back to life- you got the clothes you last had on back. 'You haven't mentioned what you'll be doing.'

'I'm not sticking around here,' Nail replied. 'Someone needs to rescue our mutual allies.'

Piccolo's eyes lit up. 'The humans?' he questioned. 'Where's the gain in that? They're weaker than us, and in the time it takes for you to rescue them-'

'I'll be quick,' Nail said, brushing off Piccolo's concerns. 'And strength isn't everything in a battle. You know that. But you'll do as I said?'

Piccolo turned to Nail. Something sharp and knowing glinted in the Namekian's eyes, and was made all the stranger by his unflinching neutral expression. Nothing prevented Piccolo from reneging on the deal once Nail was gone. But, frankly, that didn't feel like an option to Piccolo, nor could he think of a good reason to do it. The Namekians, for all intents and purposes, seemed willing to talk with him. If they knew about whatever intent he had in coming here, and yet had accepted him as an ally anyway, then he had no worries about them betraying him at a later point. They recognized him, in a way.

'Go on, then, ' Piccolo said, turning away and walking to the cliff's edge. 'Go make yourself useful. I'll be here.'

'Until I'm back,' Nail said, flaring his _ki_ and summoning a white aura around him, 'I hope.' Then, he blasted off from the spire and sailed high above the circle of soldiers. Piccolo watched him go and, after he passed out of sight, set his focus on the thick black line flowing in the distance. He swung his chin up, leaned his weight forward, and blasted off.

0o0o0

With Guldo to his right and Recoome to his left, Ginyu coasted through the sky. He was thankful that he had commanded Burter to go on ahead- Guldo was crawling through the sky next to him, which forced himself and Recoome to slow down to maintain their group's uniform speed. The little green alien was wobbling, out-of-breath, and sweaty from flying only a few miles short of a hundred. _I'll have to drill Guldo a bit more on his physical capabilities when we get back to base. He's definitely been slacking as of late. There's not a chance in the galaxy that he would have passed my rigorous inspection if he applied for the Force today. I'll have to hound him, wake-up and drag him to training every day… hmm… Jeice may be better suited for this task-_

 _Beep beep beep._ A reading shot up on Ginyu's visor. '35,000?' He read aloud.

'What's that, boss?' Recoome asked, swinging his massive, boxish head towards him. 'You just say 35k?'

'I did,' Ginyu replied. 'My scouter just picked up on a reading that's moving away from our destination, fast. Not one of our own, either. Must be the one Zarbon pointed out to us- the one who's been throwing a wrench in his plans.'

Wheezing, Guldo coughed. 'Are… they…. going to… intercept us?'

'No,' Ginyu answered, shaking his head. 'We'll miss them by a bit, though…'

Recoome rolled his head side-to-side, cracking his neck in the process. 'Sounds like you're thinking, boss.'

'Our primary reason for being here is to deal with this... thorn in Zarbon's side,' Ginyu said after a few seconds of silence. 'It would not reflect well upon the Force if we did not act immediately and effectively when prompted. So… Recoome, I want you to fly out and intercept this person. A power level of 35,000 is strong, but nothing compared to yours. Kill whoever owns that power level once you've had your fill of them.'

'Will do, boss. 35,000…' Recoome repeated, grinning. 'That'll be fun to take on. Maybe, if I'm lucky, they'll even be a bit stronger than that.'

'One can hope.'

Recoome saluted, and silhouetted by his pink _ki_ , he swung further to their left and flew off. Ginyu found himself envious of how fast Recoome sped away.

'...You don't want me to carry you, do you?' he eventually asked of Guldo.

'I… wouldn't even… consider it!' Guldo panted back.

0o0o0

Stumbling, Bez pulled himself to his feet and stumbled to his right, narrowly avoiding a knee aimed at his gut. Cui, however, hadn't foreseen their opponent making such a move, and lacking the energy to catch themself, shot past their mark and smacked down face-first to the ground. A groan skitted across the tips of the blue grass blades, and with every part of his body aching, Bez forced himself to turn to it.

'You're… hard to put down,' Cui rumbled while they laboriously got to their feet. 'My scouter… it read you before! 12,000!' Cui shouted, spraying spittle from their mouth. 'I have a power level of 18,000! I am one of the PTO's super elites!' Cui charged again, and throwing himself out of the way at the last second, Bez painfully flopped onto the ground at the same time as Cui. They both hissed and squirmed from the dull aches spreading up and down their backs. Bez yelped especially hard when he rebounded off of his dislocated right shoulder. But Bez gritted his teeth and soldiered on

'You're nowhere close to a strength of 18,000, considering how beat up you are,' Bez muttered as he rolled onto his side. Five feet away, Cui was facing him and in a similar position. His purple enemy, who was a few shades darker than himself, trembled, and was splattered with scratches, bruises, and burns. Not much was left of their black jumpsuit for the top half of their body, and even less was left of their armor. 'Even though I may be injured… I figure I have a good chance of killing you.'

'Yeah?' Cui huffed, shifting onto their knees. 'How'd you judge that? I don't see a scouter on your head.'

'I can- err-'

'Yeah?' Cui said again, taunting Bez. 'You can what?'

Bez, as if pulling the shades closed over a window, strung his mouth farther across and deeper into his face. He was going to say that he _sensed_ himself as compared to Cui- but that was insane. He didn't have a scouter. Nothing sensical suggest that Cui's power had decreased enough compared to his own that he could beat them in a fight.

And yet Bez felt, clear as this planet's neverending day, an evenness between whatever he felt about himself, and whatever he felt about Cui, and even then, there was something distinct about these two feelings. They were equal, yet different.

 _I've lost my mind._

'That's right,' Cui snarled, dragging themself to their feet. 'Clam up. Be scared. You're _dirt_. Dirt between my toes! Dirt getting in my clothes! I hate dirt! I hate it!' Bruised enough to look yellow, Cui raised a hand to their right and fired off a beam of _ki_. It was thin and sputtering, and broke across the ground like a splash of water. He did manage to eviscerate some grass, however. 'Raagh!' Cui fumed. 'Dirt! I hate this planet!' They whipped their head back to Bez, who by this point had managed to stand. 'I hate _dirt!_ '

Bez's face was a mixture of concern, disgust, and genuine shock. _They've lost their mind, too._

Yelling, Cui ran at Bez; shifting, he fell to one knee, slapped his left hand to the ground and pivoted. Cui yelped as Bez's legs slammed into their back, toppling them forward, but the PTO soldier danced to keep themself upright and plopped backward onto Bez's legs, pinning him. They devolved into a gyrating, violent mess, where neither one could free their body of the other.

A fist cracked across Bez's face. He took a moment to register the dull, thudding pain, and focused his hazy vision on the person kneeling atop of him. From this close up, he could see a thick, deep gash running from Cui's left ear hole all the way down to their bottom lip. It faded back and forth, like a flag wavering in the wind, and Bez thought of his home.

'I'm going to kill you.'

Another fist destined for his face hit another target; at the last second, Bez bucked, and swung his right shoulder into the path of Cui's strike. The blow slammed into his body, but no amount of shooting, sweat-inducing pain would have prevented him from hearing a loud _pop_.

Cui's eyelids swung down and up and down again. 'What? What did you?-'

Bez's right fist uppercut Cui on the jaw, interrupting them, and after a brief struggle, Bez threw himself on top of Cui and sat back on their legs, in the process trapping their arms beneath their body. Then, in repayment, Bez pounded Cui in the face as they had done to him, whiplashing the alien's head to the right.

'Get-' Cui struggled to say. Their gaze was scattered. 'Get-'

Bez struck Cui's torso, forcing the air of the alien's lungs and silencing them. He slammed another blow, then another, down onto the center of Cui's chest. The PTO soldier, helpless without a limb to defend themself, garbled and wheezed, but could ultimately do nothing as fist after fist smashed into their chest. Bez felt bones buckle then break, and sensed that the chest was shrinking to a deadly degree, but none of this was conscious to his fists, which were bloodied and bruised but rammed down regardless. He felt his mind drift away; from above, he found himself watching his body, operating its hands like tools, smash repeatedly against Cui's chest. Whatever resistance Cui tried to offer soon dried up, and any signs of life left soon after, but these events didn't slow the pace of Bez's assault. His body fought just as hard against a corpse as it had a living person. It was violent. It was also art.

When he was done, and nothing recognizable remained of Cui's torso, Bez rolled off of Cui's legs and fell backward to the ground. For a long time he laid there, panting, and kept his mind as far away from where he was as possible.

0o0o0

When pointed out to Piccolo, the army's leader was laughably easy to find. Among the small crowd of soldiers gathered below him, one person stood apart, though not because of anything this person did- his soldiers were running _away_ from him. _Perhaps I've given these fools too little credit_.

'You look lonely,' Piccolo commented as he landed opposite of Zarbon, casting looks to the soldiers receding from them. 'Or is that disappointment smeared all over your face?'

Zarbon did a similar survey of their surroundings. 'They're following my orders as instructed,' Zarbon replied, centering his gaze on Piccolo. 'What may look like disloyalty is deference.'

'Yeah? So you're the one calling the shots, huh?' Piccolo scrutinized Zarbon; he was the strongest of everyone he sensed among the soldiers. He was lithe, nimble-looking, and had the cool grace he would expect from a leader. His power was still pitiful compared to his own, however. 'Is depriving yourself of your troops good strategy?'

'The extent of your power is apparent to me,' Zarbon disclosed, tapping a finger to the scouter resting over his left eye. '20,000. And I would assume you have a bit more available to you beyond that.'

'Your point is?'

Zarbon flouted a knowing smile. 'My men would only get in our way. Caught up in forces too strong for them to contend with. I'd rather save lives that would be wasted otherwise.'

'You'd do well by getting out of this fight yourself, then,' Piccolo mocked, as he dug in his feet and bent lower to the ground. 'Otherwise… well, you said it yourself.'

'I'm going to end you in one fell swoop,' Zarbon uttered while raising his arms. His aura spiked, and in a moment, his width and musculature doubled. Flat and snub-nosed, his face became a cruel mockery of the serenity that had previously dominated it. Piccolo restrained himself from reacting- Zarbon's power had jumped by more than a third.

Piccolo grunted. 'You-'

'TOO SLOW!' Zarbon roared, appearing behind Piccolo and diagonally punting him into the air. Igniting his blue aura, Zarbon sped after his opponent and rammed a number of heavy, thick punches into Piccolo's back. Another burst of energy and Zarbon intercepted Piccolo's body at a forty-five-degree angle, spun, and smashed a kick into Piccolo's torso, rocketing him away and crashing him into the spire near its base. Though there was an accompanying _boom_ that rode across the land, the spire didn't shake at all.

 _Odd…_ Zarbon thought, as he flew over to the cloud of dust and debris rising away from the point of impact. _No natural formation should be sturdy enough to receive that much kinetic energy and continue standing._

A wave of wind broke over Zarbon, pushing the detritus over and past him like a splash of water. Between his arms, he glimpsed Piccolo, looking scuffed but otherwise unharmed, glaring down on him with a cold, rigid stare. Zarbon also noticed that there was no crater in the spire behind Piccolo.

'That spire,' Zarbon said, looking past Piccolo, 'what protects it?'

'If I actually _knew_ that, why would I share that with you?' Piccolo retorted, his canine fangs dipping in and out of sight.

'Oh, I can think of a few good reasons,' Zarbon suggested, flaring his snub-nose. 'Not least that I can give a pretty good guess from what I already know. You'd just be… filling in the gaps.' In a gesture of trust, Zarbon lowered his guard. 'I already have _most_ of what I want from this planet. What is left to _get_ can be obtained with a simple conversation. And you seem leaps and bounds more reasonable than the other one I've fought against.'

Piccolo's antennae twitched. 'That so? How'd you come to that conclusion?'

'You sought me out,' Zarbon noted. 'You didn't carve through my soldiers; you passed over them.'

For a few heartbeats, Piccolo did nothing, content with examining Zarbon's open posture. His antennae continued to twitch.

Zarbon dabbed at his sweaty neck. 'Come, now; it's clear that we both respect each other-'

Out of nowhere, Piccolo twisted to his right, threw his head over his shoulder, and lasered out two beams from his eyes. They raced through the air and shot through a yellow and bulbous PTO soldier creeping up the spire, spraying blood and knocking his corpse out of the air. When Piccolo swung his head back to Zarbon, his face was flushed with fury.

'You thought you could trick me?' Piccolo snarled, whipping the air into a frenzy with his _ki_. ' _Me, the Demon King's heir?!_ '

A reading of 30,000 flashed on Zarbon's scouter. Zarbon, grinning despite himself, lifted his arms and steadied his guard. 'That was a mistake. You should have let that man go. He would have saved us both a lot of time.'

'You mean he would have saved _you_ a lot of time.'

Shrugging, Zarbon settled into his airborne pose a bit more and called on his _ki_. Like before, his blue outline surrounded him. 'You made things difficult on yourself. What you choose to do won't affect the outcome of today; at some point, you _will_ be dead at _someone's_ feet, and I'll have secured every person, item, and bit of information I need from this miserable planet.'

Piccolo's outline, burnished with white _ki_ , flickered and waved like a candle in the wind. 'I believe I'll kill you before the end of today,' he said.

'I've heard that before. Perhaps you'll be the _last_ person to make that claim,' Zarbon taunted.

They squared off for a few seconds after that- then charged at each other, fists held back, and slammed blow-to-blow, aura-to-aura, strong enough to flatten most of the nearby PTO army.

0o0o0

The hall shook hard enough to throw a few people off their feet- if it weren't for the fact that Dende and most of the other Namekians children were already packed together into one frightened clump, they would have toppled over like most of the untethered Namekian adults. For Bulma, it would have been funny to watch grown people flop onto their backs and butts under different circumstances. But as it was, she didn't even budge from the shake; her fingers pressed against the wall and floor of the hall like tree roots growing up against concrete sidewalks.

Everyone within the hall- herself included- smelled of helplessness. Since leaving Earth, Bulma knew she was the most vulnerable out of her three-person group. Tien and Yamcha had proved that they could get beat up and knocked down and _still_ get up after. In contrast, the worst Bulma had had to endure was adjusting to a planet's gravity that was three times stronger than Earth's. She knew that she wasn't a warrior- she knew that Tien and Yamcha would face things she would never have to. But she had found a way to be useful in other ways, in the past, ever since she stumbled across Krillin in that sad patch of woods.

Bulma's gaze turned to the hall's entrance. _I should have parked the shuttle near here. I should have taken everything I could have gotten my hands on from FP083 and brought it with me. I could… well, I should have done more. With Yamcha and Tien captured, and Piccolo defending us… I should have done more._

For now, she was as stranded and powerless as forty other Namekians.

After another long stretch where the entire hall quaked, Bulma looked over to Moori. The elder was in a similar huddled position to her own against the wall opposite of her. 'The ground isn't going to fall out from under us, right?'

'The spire will hold,' Moori assured her. 'My people have lived on Namek long enough to imbue it with certain protections. In many ways, the planet is bound to us as we are bound to it.'

'And that's why we're sitting around, dithering, waiting for something or someone to act on us?'

Moori's eyes jumped to her, then settled on a spot in the center of the room halfway between them. 'I sense that you're upset.'

'Any _living being_ should be able to pick up on that,' Bulma bit back. 'You told me that my friends are captured- do you expect me to be _happy_?'

'No,' Moori muttered, 'I suppose not.'

Bulma stared at Moori. 'We should have used the dragonballs to get everyone off this planet when we had the chance. Take everyone to Earth, or a planet just as good as this one, or _anywhere else_ where there isn't an invasion force bearing down on us! That way, maybe Tien and Yamcha _wouldn't_ have been captured, likely to be shipped off to Kami-knows-where in space, beaten, tortured-'

'You know what you are saying is unfair,' Moori interrupted without looking up at her. His voice sounded brittle. 'We did not force your friends to fight for us. You and your friends chose to stay here after we granted your wish. You all agreed that it was the _fair_ thing to do.' Moori paused. 'They knew what they were getting into. They knew the risks.'

Bulma took a breath, then ripped her gaze from him. 'I wish they hadn't. I wish… I have a lot of wishes, now…'

'Look at me, Bulma.'

She turned to him. Moori, through a face that numbered the oldest among his kin, gazed at her. Beneath his somber demeanor… there was something churning in his eyes. 'If you were forced to leave your home, would you do so without a fight?' Moori asked her.

As he searched for something common, not divisive, Bulma felt her anger warp into shame. 'I would fight,' she admitted.

Moori gestured with his arm to the mass of Namekians around them. 'As would every person you see in here, if given the chance. Our people have lived here for centuries… and they are stubborn. This planet means much to me, but it means even _more_ to them. Your friends- Tien and Yamcha- prevented me from making one of two heart-wrenching decisions; I was not forced to abandon our home or send out more of my people to fight for it. They offered us their strength to give us more time on this planet… even if we are ultimately forced to leave it.' Moori laid his hands horizontal across his abdomen and, in what Bulma interpreted as a sign of thanks, he dipped his head. 'For this, I am eternally grateful for you three.'

Tearing, Bulma tried to hold his gaze until she was forced to look away. She wanted to think of anything but the moral confusion ringing in her head. 'Will Nail return soon?' She asked of Moori while rubbing her wet cheeks.

He closed his eyes. 'Soon enough,' Moori replied in a distant voice, 'he will return… hopefully with your friends in tow.'

'And Piccolo?'

'I sense that he is holding his own,' Moori said without opening his eyes. 'Perhaps even doing better than that.'

'I'm sure the Earth will have their dragonballs gathered soon,' Bulma asserted. 'I-'

Another shockwave, much worse than the previous few, rocked the hall. Moori's eyes sprung open as he was bucked a handful of feet into the air. Like a juggled piece of produce, he flipped in the air and smacked down to the ground along with forty other Namekians.

'Ooo…' Moori moaned, as he pushed his torso off of the ground. 'Thank Guru for the elders and the magic that pervades this place... ' He made sure nothing of his was broken before looking across the room. 'Bulma, are you alright?' he asked, glancing over to where he had last seen her.

Her spot against the wall was empty. Moori scanned behind him, and saw that she wasn't among the Namekians. Furrowing his brow, he swung his attention towards the hall's entrance.

A blue PTO soldier, as incongruent as any person had ever been within Guru's hall, stood in the doorway with their sun at his back. Bulma, unmoving, was held under the soldier's left arm.

Burter gave a wave. 'Bye,' he said, and vanished.

0o0o0

Zarbon's fist cracked against Piccolo's block, but to Zarbon's shock, Piccolo didn't travel with the blow- his brown footwear didn't even make a mark in the grass.

Loathing kept his fist pressed against Piccolo's block. 'Why!... You!...' Zarbon said through grinding teeth.

Piccolo's face popped out to Zarbon through the cracks of his block. 'You're the best this army has to offer?' Piccolo huffed- it was clear that holding his position was requiring some serious exertion on his part. 'You're… an elite?'

'I am more than a mere elite! I am the right-hand man of the most powerful person in the galaxy!'

'He must not train you.'

'RAAAGH!' Zarbon bellowed, skinning his fist up across Piccolo's block and launching forward a knee strike. Nimbly, Piccolo flattened his body to one side and dodged it, and whipped his fist across the right side of Zarbon's flat, animal-like face. Zarbon stumbled back a few steps, planted one of his gigantic legs into the dirt and stopped himself, and wiped his hand across the newly made mark on his cheek. Dark blue blood smeared across his glove. A reading of 33,000 blinked on his scouter.

They were both covered in superficial scuffs, bruises, and cuts- but the gash on Zarbon's face was the first real blood shed of the day. The first real damage.

'You… you…' Zarbon growled, curling his hand into a fist. 'You…'

'Please,' Piccolo said, before shooting out two eye beams and lancing through the chest of another PTO soldier that was trying to sneak up the spire. 'Take as long as you need.'

'Your strength... you're stronger than me!'

Piccolo snorted. 'And?' His outline faded to the right, and Zarbon hopped back, dodging a leg kick aimed at sweeping him off his feet. Piccolo grunted and surged forward, slamming an elbow into Zarbon's hastily raised hands before shifting and pressing his feet against Zarbon's chest and using him as a springboard. As he launched himself and sailed through the air, he disappeared from Zarbon's sight.

Muscles rippling, Zarbon twisted his meaty neck back and forth. _Where? Where!?_

'Shouldn't you know there's more to a fight than raw power?' Piccolo whispered into Zarbon's ear.

'HYAA!' Zarbon spun, swinging his massive arm through a Piccolo that wasn't there. A second later, a blow smashed into his back, slamming through his armor there, and smacked him face-first to the ground.

Fist outstretched, Piccolo lowered his arm. 'Apparently not,' he panted. He wasn't trying to lose this fight by giving advice- which, even now, was pushing him to the limits- but he couldn't help but give some tips to such a lamentable opponent. _What kind of fighter points at his opponent and says, "Hey! You're stronger than me!"_

Before him, Zarbon's fists and legs dug into the ground. He was slow to get up.

 _The privilege this person must have had. He must have never fought someone stronger than him. His strength is untested… unwon. Such a waste._

Zarbon propped himself up on one knee, then pushed himself up. His eyes, which were filled with disbelief and indignation just moments prior, were now empty. 'I think I owe you an apology,' he said, trying to make the distorted, deeper voice of his current form sound as refined as possible. 'I lost my temper for a second there.'

Piccolo smirked. 'No amount- GYAAK!'

Zarbon's head smashed into Piccolo's, flinging it back in a ring of blood. Seizing the initiative, Zarbon clamped his arms around Piccolo's wrists, yanked him to a stop, and headbutted Piccolo again, and again, even as the skin on his face began to pucker and welt. Visceral pain ripped through them as their skulls brutally slammed against each other. There was no thought to this strategy- no consideration of whether slamming his head against Piccolo's was the smart thing to do. Zarbon felt and saw red; the only thing coursing through his mind was the repetitive thud of his skull bending and the haptic reverberations coming from his victim.

It was after Zarbon- with one last terrible strike- head-slammed Piccolo out of his grip and off his feet did he realize he was using one of his strengths in battle. His opponent may have a higher power level than him, but in an enclosed space, Zarbon's thick, brawny build won out.

 _I… ooo…_ Wincing, Zarbon tried to steady himself, then staggered backward. He couldn't feel the top half of his face. Moist lines ran down past his nose and mouth to his neck. _I'm… hurt? I hurt myself..._ Wiping the blood clear of his vision, Zarbon peered down at Piccolo. He didn't stir, the Namekian's face, gnashed, dented, and colored purple by his blood, looked like that of a dead man's.

Pink blood swarmed Zarbon's vision again. With a snarl, Zarbon wiped his vision clear again. 'Wretch!' he spat, casting his vision back to his opponent.

Piccolo was _gone_. _What!?_ Zarbon spun; as soon as he did, knuckles rammed into his face and knocked him back. A storm of blows connected against his arms, torso, and leg, while he tried to block them to mixed results. He heard chips of his armor crack and fly off of him, resonating with the steady _thrum_ of contact vibrating out from his arms and legs like ringing metal.

His vision became clouded yet again; his spirited defense became just that, as he could no longer see where his assailant was aiming his attacks towards next. A brutal onslaught descended on Zarbon, driving holes in his armor and pushing his feet deeper into the dirt. Finally, with every bone in his body hurting, Zarbon guessed right, and with his arms raised in a cross-block, tanked a heavy strike aimed at his chest. _I've got it! I've… wait!_

The pressure on his arms failed to level-off; a searing sensation started to sweep over his body. To Zarbon's horror, he realized that he was blocking a _ki_ attack. _No…_ Zarbon tried to move from his spot, but the force on him was too great- he was fixed to this spot unless he wanted to topple over and be hit by the attack undefended. Groaning, he started to drag his _ki_ to his arms, forming a barrier with his aura that began to nudge the attack back.

'You blinded yourself with your own attack,' a voice spoke to him from behind. Alarmed, even though Zarbon couldn't see, he swung his head over his shoulder to his right. Doing so exposed his face to the brunt of the _ki_ attack- the blood pooling over his eyes vaporized from the heat.

Piccolo, injured but conscious, grimaced at him. His ruined face, though still bloodied, was no longer bludgeoned and distorted from Zarbon's earlier attack. _How!?_ Zarbon tried in vain to squint- but that only clouded his vision with blood once again. Through the blurry haze, Zarbon could make out a ball of _ki_ held within Piccolo's hands; yellow tendrils snaked and curled around them like slow-moving lightning. 'And I'm supposed to believe you're a fighter?'

Zarbon heard nothing more; his vision cleared one last time as Piccolo's blast rushed towards him and exploded.

0o0o0

The last exchange between his commander and the native exploded the scouter of every soldier around Appule; his scouter, which was made for and distributed to Frieza's elites, had a higher maximum reading it could detect before doing the same. This fact didn't comfort Appule, though- already, he could feet the device warming the left side of his face.

'Quite a show, huh?'

Appule cocked his head to his right- and nearly jumped. A blue soldier twice as tall as him was watching the cataclysmic battle as casually as someone watching a sunrise. Somehow, with his arms crossed, he looked familiar. 'You think this is a show?' Appule asked, baffled.

'You don't?'

'No!' Appule shouted, pumping his fists up and down. 'As soon as Zarbon is done getting pulverized, we're next!'

Burter paid his little outburst no mind- he didn't even look at him. 'So that is Zarbon out there, huh? Well then-'

A wave of wind sprang out from the blue soldier's feet, nearly pushing Appule off his feet. 'I better get to it.'

The blue soldier sprung away, faster than Appule could see, and this time, floored by the wind's force and thrown into a heap, it clicked in Appule's head. _Was that… Burter?..._

0o0o0

The smoke cleared with a simple use of _ki_ ; Piccolo revealed Zarbon, armor more gone than not and battle-weary, shaking in a small crater. The battle would have been closer if his opponent had been more judicious in using his strength, but he was in no position to do so now; in addition to what he saw, Piccolo felt that his opponent's energy had dropped by a third.

'What's your name?' Piccolo asked as he slid back into his guard. Despite his worn outward appearance, ranging from the scuffs and cuts in his _gi_ to the purple blood patterning his face and limbs, his movements betrayed his preserved underlying strength. 'Wouldn't be right if I killed you without knowing your name.'

Zarbon tried his best to put on an angry face. Faced with death, it was hard to find. 'You presumptuous brat!' Zarbon growled. The clenching of his jaw and face made blood run over his eyes again. He struggled to raise his now heavy right arm to clear his vision. 'I'll… Grr!...'

'You're losing the ability to speak,' Piccolo jeered. 'So you aren't a leader, either. Guess that makes you-'

 _PHOOM_. A soundwave as heavy as they came swept over Zarbon, shaking him to his core. Blinking, he saw a reading flash on his scouter, then winced as it exploded.

0o0o0

Piccolo was standing on the ground a moment before; now, he was speeding through the air, peppered and steered by a number of small, precise blows that plunged in and out of his body. Pain far greater than what Zarbon had inflicted on him now raged within him- whoever was attacking him now was not only strong but _skilled_. They would-

A blow to his head silenced the thought; his senses scrambled, Piccolo barely understood what was happening as two arms wrapped around his chest and dragged him higher up into the sky.

Behind him, Burter was grinning like a kid. 'The Captain never lets me use this move in combat- but, lucky for you, the Captain ain't here!'

Piccolo's head throbbed, then his chest, as he felt his ribs crack, while Burter carried him higher and higher in into the air.

The spire's top flashed past the two. At that point, Burter released his grip on Piccolo and brought himself to a stop in an instant. Then, before Piccolo flew up past him, Burter surged forward, grabbed Piccolo's legs from above him, and gouged him into the rock of the spire's flat top. Through the chaos, Piccolo realized that this was where Nail had smashed him down earlier, albeit with _much_ less force.

A small crater rippled out as Piccolo's body became entombed within the earth. ' _Gaak-_ ' Piccolo choked out. 'Gaa- GAAARGGH!' Piccolo's lungs nearly ruptured from his yell; two feet impaled him through his chest.

'Captain doesn't like brutal moves.' Burter twisted his feet in Piccolo's torso, much like twisting a knife, and jumped out to a chorus of flesh and blood shifting to his will. 'Says it's unbecoming of men of our renown. But like I said- the Captain ain't here.'

Piccolo, shaking, raised his arms, then lost his strength and let them plunk back. 'Y… You…who...' he managed, before tipping his head to the side and vomiting blood.

Burter, standing at Piccolo's side, waited a moment before bending down and cupping Piccolo by his jaw. He turned the head back to him, noted the dull look in his eyes, then let it return to its original position.

'Nice to meet you, too.' Moving his gaze from Piccolo, Burter examined the white, round building several feet away from him before flying off and down the spire.

0o0o0

Just as Appule successfully worked his way under one of Zarbon's arm in an effort to help him move, Burter landed in front of them. He gave the hobbling alien a thin smirk. 'Nice to see you again, Zarbon.'

' _Commander_ ,' Zarbon corrected him. He glanced towards the top of the spire. 'Is he dead?'

'I put a hole in his chest as large as both my feet,' Burter recounted with a mote of satisfaction. 'He's dead.'

Aching, Zarbon motioned for Appule to pull something out of his armor for him. 'I take it that your arrival here means the other two have been secured?' he asked of Burter after accepting a white fabric from Appule.

There was a glint of pride in Burter's eyes. 'Jeice is bringing them back to the command ship as we speak. Not to mention that I secured the third target while that pushover was cooking you alive.'

At that moment, due to his clouded vision, Zarbon couldn't see how Appule had reacted to Burter flagrant disregard, but he prayed that his second thought well of him still.

'Then we're pulling back,' Zarbon announced. 'Appule, tell the soldiers to move to their positions beyond the blast radius.'

Burter glanced back at the spire. 'Sure you don't want me to clean up right now? Shouldn't take me long to finish off whoever's left.'

'I have a destroyer parked in this planet's orbit for a reason,' Zarbon growled. 'I have a _plan_ for a reason.' Zarbon pressed the white fabric to his eyes and soaked up the blood- the white square's color darkened into a dull blue. 'One _prodigious_ blast centered on that damn, indestructible pillar is all we need.

With Appule's aid, Zarbon began to stagger forward.

'One blast, and we'll rid ourselves of this mess...'

* * *

A/N: So I just realized that I'm running a story at… 5 distinct places at the moment. Which is kinda insane. I apologize if the narrative pulse of this fic has become hard to follow over the last several chapters. I'm going to try and condense what's going on over the next few chapters. Also:

Power Levels:

Nail:?

Piccolo: 33,000

Bez: 12,000, weakened… less

Cui: 18,000, weakened… less

Zarbon: 23,000 untransformed, 32,000 transformed

Burter:?

Also! I've made a similar appeal to what I'm about to say in the past, but I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts:

What about this story do you like right now? What do you not like? What parts of the story did you think I handled or depicted well? What parts do you not think that for? Who's a character you've liked? Who's a character you've disliked? Tell me your thoughts!

AND ONE MORE THING: Does anyone remember if I ever described Zarbon's hair as turquoise? Because, if so… that's a continuity break, and I gotta change that in the previous chapters, lol.

AND ONE MORE LAST THING, I PROMISE: I decided this will be the last chapter of the Namek Arc. Going to move over to the Ginyu Arc starting next week. Makes sense considering 1) the length of this arc so far and 2) the probable length of the next arc, so, yeah. Next week: _Ginyu Arc._

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** They've gotten pretty good by this point… but, yeah, they weren't quite there yet.

 **OneofTen:** Ohoho, Piccolo's still a ripe bastard. He killed himself out of spite and has continued to look out for number one (himself) since… for the most part.

 **Anonymous:** Yeah! I like that little subversion. Wasn't thinking of that at the time I wrote it but I do enjoy how it played out.

Piccolo got along with Nail… well enough. I think Nail has a gruff, stern nature to him that Piccolo respects.

Ah, I've been waiting for someone to ask me this question! I've got some thoughts on power levels in group fights that I've been meaning to write down but haven't done so yet. So, with that in mind:

Let's see how fight #1 of Tien and Yamcha against Cui went, and let's see how fight #2 went. In fight #1, Tien and Yamcha did a decent amount of damage to Cui and received a significant amount of damage for their efforts. In fight #2, fully healed, Yamcha and Tien, with Bez's help, were able to nearly finish off a damaged Cui with a significant amount of effort… but, ultimately, not a significantly taxing amount. How'd this happen?

In fight #1, we know that Cui's power is 18,000, Tien's is 16,000, and Yamcha's is 15,000. In DBZ, fighters in group fights seem to be punished when their power isn't concentrated in one person- in other words, 5 people with a power level of 2,000 will more often than be defeated by a person with a power level of 5,000, even though the more numerous side has a total power level of 10,000. When this five-person group squares off against a 5,000 strong person, their cumulative power isn't something like 10,000, but something below or close to 5,000. That's because any individual fighter can't pull on their collective strength- they can only access their individual power level of 5,000.

There's math involved here that I won't enumerate, but the idea is that a person at a power level of 2,000 getting a boost of 1,000 is not as valuable as someone at a power level of 4,000 getting the same thing when facing off against someone with a power level of 5,000. A boost of 1,000 to someone at 4,000 increases their chances of winning a battle against someone with a power level of 5,000 than if they had a power level of 3,000 or 2,000. Thus, a boost of the same amount can have very different impacts depending on who it's given to.

When a group fights a single person, the total combat strength of the group is dependant on the strongest fighter in that group, the closeness in power the other fighters have to the stronger fighter, and the group's teamwork. While I can't offer a formula, the idea is that the difference in power between two fighters becomes exponentially more difficult to overcome the farther one fighter is from the other. So, for example, the bonus a fighter at a 2,000 power level gives to a fighter with a 3,000 power level in a group fight is higher when fighting against a person with a power level of 5,000 than against someone with a 6,000 one.

I subscribe to a rule I once read in the A/N of _Bringer of Death_ that in any fight where both powers are within 10% of each other- so, a 9,000 fighting a 10,000, a 45,000 fighting a 50,000- either fighter can win depending on the skills, technique, and damage they use. In a fight beyond that 10% range, however, it becomes much, much harder to overcome the sheer energy disparity between the two fighters. There comes a point where no amount of technique of strategy will win you a fight against a stronger opponent, short of a miracle. Thus, factoring in their combined group strength, Tien and Yamcha are outmatched in the first fight, and we see the Tri-Beam and ditch.

When the second fight comes along, Tien, Yamcha, and Bez are all at full strength, while Cui is weaker from the first fight. I'm not sure where I'd peg Cui's power level here, but long story short, it's weaker than the group power level of Tien, Yamcha, and Bez at that moment. Couple that with some bad strategic moves and being sandwiched between two blasts, and he gets beat up pretty bad.

I'm not sure if any of that made sense, and if didn't, point out where or any questions you have, and I'll give my explanation another shot next chapter.

 **Titanfire999:** Not quite a body swap between Nail and Piccolo with Nail as the base going on here. Would be a cool idea but I feel that _Break Through The Limit_ already did that pretty well… except for… maybe… one or two things… hmm...

As for your second question, I can't really say much without giving away what I've got planned. But I will say that 1) Goku didn't get any zenkais on King Kai's planet, to my knowledge, and 2) Goku took half a year to get to King Kai's planet, while Krillin took only a few months due to him competing with Piccolo. So it's probable that Krillin + Piccolo had two or three fewer months to train than Goku. There are some other factors that impacted/ are impacting Krillin and Piccolo's progression rate that I've said piecemeal in earlier chapters, but if it becomes relevant again, I will bring it up. I will also say that Piccolo is as strong as he is here because he didn't have the Kaioken to work on _and_ because he competed to get stronger with Krillin.

 **Guest:** I'm sorry for the lateness! And thank you for the review! This was the one that made me get off my butt and write this chapter over the past few days!

And Piccolo is a really cool character! I'm a Piccolo stan!


	61. From the Flames

Ginyu

Chapter 61: From the Flames

* * *

Death. This is what it felt like, what it _looked_ like- or, at least, what it seemed to be. Piccolo had no confidence in his ability to sense or understand anything. Like a great wave of water, confusion had swept over his mind, blanketing his thoughts, suffocating them, even as incomprehensible images and shapes flashed across his retinas. Focused thoughts became unfocused; any pretense of control over what he was experiencing melted away into the muted, blurred, darkened world around him. He was like a drop of water being taken up by a dry towel. He felt himself spreading so thin as to become nothing. He could make no sense of any of it- but he knew that he was dying.

A distant part of him stirred; air brushed past his consciousness, light and heavy, sweet and salty, as if his senses, fighting to last a little longer, began to sense anything and everything there was to the world. Even as he felt air futilely pass down his throat and fruitlessly spill out of the hole in his chest, he tasted things he had never tasted before in the wind- that of crisp, verdant life. It was the taste and feeling of Namek, of the place that he knew he should have been born and raised in. Earth, his father… all of it had fought against him and his potential. Nail was right. To die here, at this point, with the traits he embodied, make him broken.

He had already died once before, and he wasn't afraid of dying again. He could not remember every step of it, but he knew that Otherworld was the final destination. But there was a worry, far back and buried within his consciousness, that this time would be worse. He would have… regret.

 _I may not have been born here…_ his eyes, miraculously, began to work again. Directly above him rested two of Namek's three suns, shining down on him at an improbably perfect vertical angle. _But perhaps it is fitting that I will die here… on the porch of the… wait… wait…_

Shaking, Piccolo painstakingly twisted his head to his left. Gleaming in the sun, the white, round hall was still standing. _It stands… so…_ darkened, mismatched shapes began to surge back and forth, left-to-right in between him and the hall. _They may… still be alive. That PTO punk… didn't kill them?_

A guiding force cupped his head and turned it upright. The shapes- _no, a shape_ \- was close enough now to block the sun's rays from him. It hovered above him, holding back, until a presence returned to his head. With that event, the shape incrementally began to crystallize. A vague outline of something. Of a person.

 _'You are dying.'_

Telepathy. So Piccolo was not quite dead to the outside world yet, and beholden to more… whatever this was. Sniveling? Condescension? Kindness? Whatever it was, he wanted none of it.

 _'We have someone who can heal you_ ,'the voice continued placidly. _'He is coming now.'_

Even within his mind, Piccolo found it hard to put together a sentence. _'Who are you? I… saw shapes.'_

' _Peace, child. I am one of your own.'_

Irritation laced Piccolo's next words. _'You lie. You all have made it clear; Nail has made it clear. I am not one of you. You will never_ _ **see me**_ _as one of you._ '

When the voice spoke next, it sounded considerative. _'I do not know what he has said to you, but Nail is but one Namekian. He does not speak for all of us. We have heard stories about you, lost child of Namek. How you came from a being now split in two, and that you represent that being's malice. Moori has said this speaks of your potential- no Namekian among us can claim to have the same auspicious origin as you.'_

There was something suffused into the voice's words- but Piccolo was dying, and just noticing the presence of something, even if he couldn't identify what it was, sated his remaining curiosity. _'Stop talking…'_ Piccolo grumbled. _'Find… a healer…'_ He could feel this person on him, clasping onto his head to strengthen their telepathic connection. This Namekian's presence at his side suddenly became overbearing- it was if his entire sensory world shrank to him and this person. They were far too connected for his liking.

Without thinking, and impressed at his remaining strength, Piccolo felt his left hand grip the wrist of the hand at his head and drag it off of him.A strange silence took hold of Piccolo's mind- and he wasn't sure, between himself and the voice, who was responsible for it.

 _'... what is this?'_ the voice breathed- which fell to nothing. The sound left first, then the presence, even as Piccolo's mind deadened into a deeper void. The shape smothering him shimmered away from his mind, and with its disappearance, the narrowing force on Piccolo's sensory world loosened. What was left of his sensation returned to him, and then burgeoned past their limits, recovering to what they had been before he had received his fatal injuries. A sharp, piercing pain traveled from the very core of his being outward, exited his chest, and with a final, shocking blast of force, sprung his eyes open.

The sky above him was as detailed as he remembered it. His hands lifted off the ground without difficulty and patted his chest- _my chest_. His probing fingers found no gaping hole, or even a scratch besides the torn outline of the wound in his _gi_. He was whole. Once he realized this, it seemed that his strength rushed back to him, and within seconds, he was back on his feet. The presence, the Namekian who had been talking to him… _Where is he?_

'You… what have you done?'

Piccolo swung to his left. Gathered in front of the white hall was a cluster of Namekians, all tensed and hanging back as if ready to flee. The figure at the center, a round, shorter, older Namekian, looked the most appalled of them all. A name, unknown by Piccolo until that very moment, flashed through his head- _Moori_. Their expressions were foreign, unrecognizable- it was if he didn't have the ability to even _begin_ to understandwhat they were conveying. Looking at them made his head hurt. Made his head _throb_.

 _No… that's not it!_ Piccolo's gaze swept upwards. High, _high_ above them was a tiny splotch of red, darker than what should be possible for the planet's atmosphere. Piccolo's _ki_ sense further added information to that point- the splotch wasn't from the planet nor in its atmosphere, but located beyond it. And the _ki… the energy..._

Before he knew what he was doing, Piccolo's burning gaze fell on the motionless Namekians. 'What are you looking at!?' he shrieked, causing everyone in the crowd to flinch. 'Get inside! **NOW** _!_ '

Despite their odd behavior, they did what they were told and rushed back inside. Moori was the last the enter, and the last to send over a strange, alarmed look. But Piccolo's thoughts and feelings towards the Namekians- which were now filled with odd, out-of-place, and unexplainable bits and pieces of knowledge- were put aside by this point. His attention was singularly focused on the spot he felt energy gathering in high above the planet.

 _The PTO came in ships. So, this must be another ship, collecting a staggering amount of energy._ Frowning, Piccolo closed his eyes and tried to get a better sense for the red point's strength. _Massively strong… but not overwhelming. Judging by how fast energy is being added… it's close to firing._

Something clicked into place in Piccolo's mind, even though he had already been acting under the realized assumption already without knowing it. _The blast is going to strike this spire- it's going to hit the Namekians. I might be fast enough to get away if I run now- but the Namekians won't have that chance. They're going to die here._

Piccolo's feet dug into the rock and dirt beneath him, finding gaps created by Burter's earlier assault to slot and lock into. _Surely they can sense what's about to descend onto the planet. They expect me to defend them. To_ _ **protect**_ _them. Or maybe they realize that their survival is out of their hands, now. Either way, they can do nothing..._

An idea sprung into Piccolo's mind. During his training with King Kai, he had been piecing together a technique that could dispatch enemies many times stronger than him. But, now, like a puzzle snapping together, the form and shape of the attack revealed itself to him, and he felt a certainty growing within him. There was something pulling him to stay, something that told him that this attack could work and save him _and_ the Namekians. He would have to focus the energy into one specific point if it was going to successfully defeat the imminent beam attack. But… if he did that…

Two green fingers, straightened and bound together as if tied, extended from Piccolo's right hand. Their sharpened nails came to rest against Piccolo's temple, and at the moment of contact, thin yellow sparks shot across and off them. Joined by a growing, piercing growl, a storm of _ki_ began to jump, shake, and roll around Piccolo's body.

0o0o0

There were miles away from the spire now- which made the targeted landmark little more than a thin line leaping up from the horizon- but Burter was never one to lose his focus during a mission. As such, he walked backward alongside Appule and Zarbon, who together, due to Zarbon's injuries, struggled to keep a steady pace going. Farther out, the PTO army trudged on.

'How long, now?' Burter asked, not bothering to look at Zarbon.

'Minutes,' Zarbon growled back. The green-haired alien, still transformed, was beginning to look more alive than dead. His healing was better than the average soldier's, and most of his wounds from earlier had closed up. Still, as a sign of his exhaustion, he answered Burter's question without lifting his head.

Burter, without stopping, crossed his arms. 'You said that minutes ago,' he replied.

'And it was minutes then, too,' Zarbon pointed out, his voice scratchy from pain and annoyance. 'The destroyer will fire _soon_ , and then…' Zarbon bit back the rest of his sentence. _And then I promise we will never have to interact with each other ever again._

Appule shifted at Zarbon's side, slowing them. Burter had not offered to help Zarbon walk. Zarbon had not asked. Zarbon was not delusional. He knew Ginyu's men, as well as Ginyu, thought nothing of him or anyone else below them. If he wasn't their commanding officer…

Zarbon's mind jumped to a dark place. _I need to leave this planet as soon as possible. Once the blast hits, I'll call the ship here and leave… and hopefully-_

'The Captain should be here soon,' Burter remarked, interrupting Zarbon's thoughts. 'Just so you know, he'll want to give his report to you.' The blue alien looked over to Zarbon and Appule. 'Personally.'

His head hung, Zarbon made no indication whether he had noticed this. _Yes; I need to leave very,_ _ **very**_ _soon._

A minute had passed in silence- to Zarbon's surprise, Burter made no annoying comments about the passage of one- when a series of beeps rang out from Burter's scouter. The blue alien stopped. 'Weird,' he said while repeatedly tapping his fingers against his arms.

'What?' Appule asked, serving as a mouthpiece for Zarbon's thoughts.

'There's a reading coming from the spire again. Same as before. 33,000.'

'So you didn't kill him, then,' Zarbon accused, before coughing.

'No, he's dead- has to be someone else,' Burter replied. 'It's not 33,000. It's 36,000.'

'So it's a different person?' Appule deduced.

'39,000.'

'What?'

'42,000.'

'What are you talking about?'

'Just hit 45,000. The reading.' Burter reported in the most distant and detached manner possible.

Lodged underneath one of Zarbon's arms, Appule scratched his head. 'You sure your scouter isn't broken?'

Burter didn't reply; he didn't even move. Appule watched Burter's eyes fix themselves on the square visor resting over his left eye and stay there. After enough time, Zarbon yanked up his head, reopening the wounds surrounding his eyes in the process, and swung his gaze towards Burter. 'Answer Appule's question!' He commanded. 'Is your scouter broken? And what's the final reading on that power level, anyway?'

Burter's face, normally dark blue, was noticeably pale. 'It's… still rising.'

0o0o0

It was more power than he had ever felt in one place- this was power unbridled, unkempt, unleashed. This was enough power to put Krillin and his silly techniques to shame. This was enough power to overcome that dead man Roshi even. But, most importantly, this was enough power to wipe out that blue alien's cocky little grin from the galaxy. And he felt is coursing, surging, wrapping itself around him, like an otherworldly presence imbuing him with unassailable power. It was insane to think that all this was his. It was insane to think that he was ever weaker than he was now- his power now felt so whole, so complete, that accessing it felt like submerging himself in a horizonless ocean. It was intoxicating.

But his reveling would have to wait; in the sky far above him, he felt the final throes of a massive attack forming. He was smart enough to realize that he was drunk on power, and that any lapse of concentration now would cost him dearly. So even as his thoughts verged on manic, another part of his mind kept the energy coursing up his right arm to his fingertips steady. His sight slowly grew more and more clouded as arcs and cracks of yellow and blue rocketed away from his forehead and fingertips in every possible direction, forming a growing sphere of uncontrollable light. His feet crushed further into the ground as the force of his _ki_ pressed further out in every direction, flattening previously jagged ground around him. Most tellingly, the sound of the wind gave way to a hissing, crackling sound which rode out in pulses.

As the entire spire began to shake, Piccolo's body started to shudder. With a pained effort, Piccolo yanked his two fingers from his forehead and looked up. High above, a massive beam of energy rushed towards him, expanding further and further out towards the edges of his vision- a testament to how large the beam was.

Piccolo wondered if, from far away, he looked like a tiny speck of yellow light waiting to be consumed. He certainly hoped that was the case. _Let them watch- and see._

There was no more time to hold back his attack, nor could he hold his attack back any longer. Drawing one foot backward, and arching his body towards what he guessed was the center of the blast, Piccolo tensed. Light and _ki_ crackled out from a ball of _ki_ held on his two fingers like tiny little bolts of lightning. With a push, he thrust out his arm and attack all at once towards the heavens.

 _'_ SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!'

Piccolo had expected the beam to launch from his fingers to be no wider than his palm- instead, most of it was as wide as him, and its pointed, sloped head rivaled the nearby hall in size. Once it left his hand, the attack started to spin and curve in its trajectory, twisting so much that a second line of yellow began to snake around its center. It was both mesmerizing and incredibly violent- his energy fought and slammed against itself, enforcing uniformity throughout his attack. Shots of yellow lightning only grew worse as the head grew larger, throwing themselves farther and farther out like a growing storm.

But this was nothing compared to the moment of impact. When the wall of red hit his yellow lance of an attack, a thunderous crash, like gods hammering metal, screeched down from above, Piccolo nearly let his hands shoot up to his ears to shield them. The auditory pain was astonishing, mind-boggling, and might have conquered his will if not for the fact that it began to lessen after a few seconds. Aside from the sound, light danced and skirted above him, making a visual mess… but the ominous red glow, which had suffused everything just moments prior, started to fade. The wall of red stalled, then retreated backward as Piccolo's attack speared right through its center, splitting the beam into incohesive shards that curled away from the spire and dispersed into the green sky above. An awe-inspiring maelstrom of energy slowly diluted itself across Namek's atmosphere. Through this all, a beam continued to spool out of Piccolo's two fingers, riding itself higher and higher off of Namek's surface.

When the red glow disappeared and the natural light of Namek's binary suns returned, Piccolo ceased his attack, dropping his arm and letting the last bits of his gathered _ki_ flush out from his aura as a gust of wind. Just as it was before, only a single point of energy remained in the sky- but it was now yellow instead of red.

Huffing, Piccolo let steam curl up off his body before swinging his head towards the horizon. He felt PTO _ki_ , meager, _insignificant_ , gathered together not too far away. He took a second to catch his breath, filled his mind with cruel thoughts of retribution, and flew off.

0o0o0

'Ship's cores nearly spent, sir.'

A scrawny, long-limbed yellow alien with four eyes- two in his head, two stalks to its sides- leaned back in his chair and plopped his feet onto the console in front of him. His eyes were closed and he had a content expression on his face. Not many soldiers liked being stuck in what was essentially a box with a bunch of levers, but as for him, he enjoyed being the gunnery technician who had to interact with none of the other crew members and move his arms maybe once or twice a mission to fire the ship's main cannon. That instance, where he had fired the ship's cannon, had just passed, and he'd get back to his nap once he got a response from his CO. _Zardon. Zargon? I can never remember the names of these pompous, self-conceited commander types. They're too similar._

After a moment, he tapped the scouter over his left eye. Communication in and out of his box was sometimes spotty, too- which he also appreciated. 'Cores are spent, sir,' he repeated.

Still no response. Without opening his eyes, his eyebrows lifted. 'Zarbon? You got me?'

His scouter continued to pump out quiet static. No change.

 _Must be too much interference from the blast. Oh well._ With a yawn, he leaned further back in his chair. _No one's gonna come down on me for that, anywho..._

0o0o0

In the soundless expanse of space, a single ship skimmed across Namek's outline, holding itself steady as the last wisps of red energy emanated from a large gun lodged in its underbelly. The ship did nothing after this, and continued to do nothing as a smaller, thinner beam of yellow _ki_ lazily moved towards it from the surface of Namek. First wreathed in red light, then by nothing, this beamspiraled deeper into space without a care in the world.

The ship offered no greater resistance to Piccolo's attack than its delivered beam. The yellow, spinning beam punctured it and detonated inside it, shattering what had once been one of the largest ships in the galaxy into galactic garbage in a matter of seconds.

0o0o0

Soaring high above the surface of Namek, Nail's eyes were tuned to spot anything appearing on the horizon- and soon enough, the presence he sensed coming towards him appeared in his vision. He slowed his flight and came to a halt. The distant dot of black did the same and by parts- red hair shone in the sun, followed by a thick and chiseled physique- transformed into a person. Easily identifiable by his armor, the PTO soldier was _massive_ \- twice as wide as Nail and a few feet taller. Nail would have been fazed by this fact if he didn't have a clear sense of the soldier's substantive, yet manageable _ki_ and didn't have somewhere to be.

'And who exactly are you?' Nail asked, more irritated than curious. He made no effort to conceal his glare.

'Captain didn't tell me to give my name,' the soldier, grinning, replied as if reciting an order. 'Though…' He began to shift his arms and legs, stretching them vertically. With a pop, he formed two mid-air Os, one with his arms and one with his legs, and shouted. 'RECOOME POSE!'

Nail's glare deepened. 'How does that answer my previous question?' he growled.

'Captain told me to pose, even without the others,' Recoome explained. 'That was my pose.' He scratched one side of his face with one of his thick, white glove-clad fingers. 'Probably didn't look right, considering no-one else was around… I'm not very good with my individual moves.'

Nail had checked out of their conversation long before Recoome- _he's implying his name is Recoome, at least_ \- had finished speaking. _If I'm reading what he said right, my first guess was true- this isn't that new group's leader, or captain- whatever. So, then…_ He began to back away. _No need to deal with him now. I should be able to get away easily enough._

Just as Recoome looked up and noticed Nail's slow withdraw, the Namekian spoke. 'Well, this has been fun,' he drawled disinterestedly. 'Tell your _Captain_ I said hi. I'm going now.'

A frown tugged at the corners of Recoome's mouth as he resumed a more natural pose. 'Huh? You don't want to fight me?'

'Correct,' Nail replied, curling his hands into fists. 'So now that we're on the same page-'

As soon as the word "page" left Nail's mouth, Recoome burst in action, charging forward with an overhead smash. Reaching Nail, he swung down, but his double-fist swung through the Namekian's outline and dispersed it.

Nail, having expected his opponent to pull something like this, appeared behind his afterimage and shot forward, ramming an elbow into Recoome's chestplate- but, to his surprise, the giant of a man didn't budge. His right hand had caught the attack. Grimacing, Nail pivoted and crashed his leg against Recoome's blocking left arm to the same effect. A ripple of air rode out from the spot of impact

'I gave you too little credit,' Nail said through gritted teeth, unmoving, as they pressed against each other. 'You didn't look like the type to block an attack.'

Bizarrely, Recoome's unsmart grin from earlier was back. 'You talk too much!' he shouted, before surging forward and swiping a fist across where Nail had been a split-second earlier. A few feet away, Nail narrowed his eyes and shot out two thin yellow beams of _ki_ from them. The parallel lines rammed into Recoome's chest, but to Nail's shock, the red-haired soldier flew through them and clocked Nail on the right side of his face with one gigantic fist. From that one strike, Nail felt his jaw click out of place, and was pushed several feet back.

With a pained grunt and a wrench, Nail placed a hand to his head, pressed the bones in his face back together, and used his regeneration to heal their fractures. Stars briefly swam through his vision. When he could see again, he centered his gaze on Recoome and the holes in his chestplate. Beneath his armor two black marks were present and clear. Nail looked up at their owner's face; the grin he saw earlier was there, unwavering.

'Ouch,' Recoome said playfully, 'that stung...'

Nail glanced back at the wounds in Recoome's chest. They were deep enough to be painful, though too shallow to cause any real damage. _His tolerance for pain must be freakishly high. No other way he can charge through a blast that's digging into his chest without stopping or flinching._ _But I don't-_

Nail's internal monologue was cut short as Recoome rushed him again. Straining, Nail thrust himself backward just in time to avoid a fast-moving horizontal kick. 'I don't have time for this!' he yelled, before spinning and landing a flurry of quick chops to Recoome's midsection. On the last chop, just before making contact with Recoome's block, the hand halted.

Recoome waited for a strike that never came; he peeked his head over his block and looked at Nail. 'Huh?'

Nail was half facing him, one hand still extended as a chop. Suddenly, the Namekian grabbed onto one of Recoome's massive arms, pushed himself into the air above him, and spun. Nail's other side looked down on Recoome's head- and in his other hand, a humming, billowing ball of _ki_ pulsed in Nail's hand.

Recoome's eyes widened. 'Oh!'

'HAAH!' Nail roared, as he thrust the hand downward and smacked its palm- and the _ki_ blast- against Recoome's skull and his red, mop-like hair. Nail had intended the blast to be more kinetic than explosive; hence, while there was a minor release of _ki_ that momentarily engulfed them, through the light Nail spotted Recoome's gargantuan outline rocket down to the ground with ludicrous speed.

That was all he needed to see- the next moment, Nail burst off into flight. He moved much faster than before. He was putting all his _ki_ into his speed now.

His mind caught up in other things, Nail began to rub the welling, purple bruise covering most of the right side of his face. His regeneration was better at repairing major injuries than minor damage. _Forget about the bruise- this is a full-out sprint, now. I need to keep myself as far ahead of him as possible. With any luck, I can get the drop on the next guy and stay in motion… Ugh, but what a nightmare… why did those humans have to get captured?_

It was more of a formality, but just to be sure, Nail reached out with his _ki_ to check behind him. Unsurprisingly, he sensed Recoome hot on his tail.

 _Great._

0o0o0

By this point, walking amongst his army- _or what's left of it, anyway_ \- Zarbon had long ago shrugged off Appule and resumed walking unassisted. A commander, especially a commander in the PTO, could not afford to look weak among their soldiers. It was bad enough that only half of his armor still clung to his body, and beneath what was left, his body was a bloodied, bruised, and marred mess. He was hurt enough that he feared transforming back to his more appealing, untransformed state- he was worried that reverting back would reopen his wounds. _And the last thing I need to do is bleed more._

Appule, in proper deference, had trailed behind Zarbon, but Burter had made it a point to not leave his side as they descended from this planet's version of a plateau- it was maybe fifty feet higher than the flat grasslands that dominated the landscape- and looked out over his army gathered together in a plain. Despite his injuries, and despite Burter's obvious attempts to undermine his authority, Zarbon held his head high and waded into the mass of his soldiers. By now, the destroyer in orbit should have fired and turned that spire and the land for miles around into glass- though they were too far away to see this.

Around him, his soldiers were chatting with each other; consequently, when Zarbon turned to Burter, only Appule observed their brief conversation.

'Go check to see that the spire is gone,' Zarbon ordered, 'now.'

One half of Burter's mouth curled up. 'You want me to fly into space and check on the destroyer too, while I'm at it?' he mocked.

'Considering that there's too much interference from the blast's dispersed energy to contact its crew, yes,' Zarbon said, stepping closer, his gaze unflinching, 'I would.'

They held this position for a time, each one barely a foot apart from each other, each face staring into the other. Burter was the one to break it off. 'I'll check on the spire and report back in a minute,' he said, glaring as he stepped back.

'I expect nothing less.'

'Hmph.' With that, Burter spun away and blasted off back towards the spire.

As soon as this happened, Zarbon wasted no time in turning to his second. 'Appule,' he said in a more measured voice, 'bring the prisoner to me.'

To Zarbon's relief, Appule still had a healthy fear of him- his hand shot up to salute him. 'Sir, of course!' The purple alien broke off and ran deeper into the crowd, elbowing his way through soldiers when the situation required it. Zarbon had a moment to scan his army to see if anyone else had observed his conversation with Burter before Appule, pulling along Bulma, exited the crowd and made his way back to him.

'That was quick,' Zarbon commented as the blue-haired woman was shoved onto her knees by Appule.

'I made sure to keep her close and on-hand when we captured her,' Appule said with the slightest bit of pride in his voice. At least, Zarbon thought it was pride- it was such an unexpected thing to hear from his second that he doubted whether he was hearing it at all. 'I knew you'd want to talk to her as soon as things were wrapped up with the natives.'

An approving smile graced Zarbon's transformed face. 'Smart thinking, Appule. With that done...' He moved his attention back towards his prisoner. 'I have some questions for you.'

A laugh, sudden enough to rack her entire body, preceded Bulma raising her head to look straight into Zarbon's eyes. 'But I have no answers to give,' she chuckled wryly.

'You'd be wise to give them anyway,' Zarbon suggested cooly. He was in no mood for skirting around what he wanted to know. 'I'd rather not harm a pretty face.'

Another laugh, more forced than before. 'Pretty?' Bulma repeated back to him. 'That's a new one. You're nicer than the Saiyans.'

Bulma anticipated a quick retort from Zarbon- instead, what she heard instead was a long and drawn-out hiss. Looking up, she saw that Zarbon's face was so knotted and clenched that it was close to bursting apart. Crusted blood, framing his face like a painting, flaked off of his skin. 'By Saiyans- you aren't referring to _Vegeta_ , are you?' he breathed, his nostrils flaring like the flaps of a lit furnace. 'Because, if so, I am very interested in what you have to say.'

'And I'm interested in what happened to my friends,' Bulma said back quickly, 'and yet, answers elude me.'

Zarbon's face refused to drain itself of its tension. 'I assure you- _nothing_ will elude you for much longer if you don't tell me what I want to hear,' Zarbon intimated.

A look of discomfort appeared on Bulma's face and she began to move around on her knees; she was clothed in the same plain-colored and simple clothing that she had been wearing since escaping from the Saiyans, and while kneeling she had learned just how thinly they separated her body from the hard ground. 'You keep _implying_ that- that bad things will happen to me if I don't cooperate,' she spoke up, all the while keeping her gaze trained on her shifting knees below her. 'But I don't see anyone else who survived that _massacre_ around here. My friends and I were there at FP083, as I'm sure you know. You weren't.' She lifted her back towards Zarbon and tapped a finger to her head. 'No-one else knows what's up here- what happened at that base- but me. And you're going to mistreat your only witness?'

Zarbon fixed a dark look on her. 'And what of your friends?' He asked, feeling that he'd regained some control in their conversation. 'They were there. Whatever you know, they know too. You're interchangeable, at best.'

Bulma snorted. 'You think those two noticed everything that I did? You think they _think_ about what happened as much as I do?' Feeling bold, she pressed her hands to the ground and stood. 'I didn't misspeak earlier- no-one, not even those two, know what's in my head.'

To the side, Appule felt himself getting angry on behalf of his commander. _For a prisoner, she's certainly impudent!..._

'Don't tie yourself up in a knot, Appule,' Zarbon said, cutting through the purple's aliens thoughts. His voice, which had been strained for the past few minutes, had regained some of its previous calm. '

Abashed, Appule's attention jumped from Bulma to Zarbon. 'She's being openly flippant!-'

'I prefer my captives like this,' Zarbon informed him. 'Clear-minded enough to note that what works best for themselves works best for me. In other words, what works best for _everyone_.'

Bulma's brows inched down her face. 'That's very forthright of you to say.'

'My mood and my circumstances prevent me from being subtle,' Zarbon replied, swinging his gaze back to Bulma. 'And I'll be honest- I _detest_ using violence to obtain information.' He made a vaguely disgusted look. 'Bodily mutilation accompanied by probing questions produces fake memories, not real fact.'

'You're talking about torture, right?'

Zarbon's eyes widened. 'Yes, torture. I've used it so little that I even forgot there was a term for it! Haha!'

To Bulma's ears, Zarbon's laughs didn't sound natural, nor particularly happy, but she allowed the alien his moment before speaking again. 'So what I'm willing to divulge-'

'You'll divulge everything,' Zarbon said abruptly. 'Do that, and you won't die here.'

A cold look spread across Bulma's face. 'And why would I do that? You can't touch me, remember?'

'Incorrect,' Zarbon said, using an intolerable tone of voice that grated against Bulma's ears. 'You've singled yourself out for execution, dear- oh.' His face, mocking with its fake sincerity, hovered closer to her's. 'You didn't even realize that you were doing it, did you?' He gave her a hideous smirk, rife with smug satisfaction. 'I'll explain. If you know more than your two friends, then you're more dangerous to me. When the final report on today and the destruction of FP083 is written, I do not want someone _else's_ thoughts in it. I want _my own thoughts_ in it. You and your friends are valuable to me insofar as you all are my hapless passengers, beholden to _my_ narrative, and sacrificed in place of my myself to those who want to destroy me.' Zarbon paused, and half-turned away from Bulma. 'So, in a certain way, I do and don't care about you as a person. And as long as you are _alive_ and unwilling to tell me _everything_ , I couldn't care less about what happens to you as long as you're not _dying_ \- that is, until my plan calls for that, of course.'

Rage and hatred sprung to life on Bulma's face, and wormed together into a single unsteady expression. 'You're wrong! You know nothing about what happened!' she yelled, causing a few soldiers nearby to turn their heads to them. A quick wave from Appule swatted away their attention. 'You know nothing about what the Saiyans-'

'You think that, don't you?' Zarbon said, rounding back on Bulma and looming over her. To Bulma, he seemed to grow taller with every passing second. 'You think that I know nothing about what happened on FP083.' He narrowed his eyes, shining his concentrated disdain at her through his eyes like shadows thrown on a wall. 'The lucky and the unintelligent do not get to where I am- they do not ascend as high as I do and _hold_ this position for more than twenty years. I am the right-hand for the strongest man in the galaxy because my thirst for information, which enabled my ascendance through the ranks of the PTO in the first place, is _ravenous_. When Vegeta gave his account as to what happened on FP083- I can see from your eyes that you assumed as much happened- I did not swallow his information blindly. I pressed him, made him _refine his lie_ , and weaponized his narrative against him. I wondered: what other Saiyans could exist in the galaxy outside of those that we know? Oh- I see confusion in your eyes. Another fact you aren't aware of? The Saiyans are nearly extinct, my dear; their home planet was destroyed decades ago. So imagine my skepticism when Vegeta claims that he was attacked by Saiyans.' Zarbon made a point of looking over Bulma's appearance. 'I am not and do not claim to be an expert on Saiyan physiology, but I've dealt with many Saiyans over the course of my lifetime. Suffice to say, you are not one of them. You lack a tail. And you're far too weak.'

As an insult to Bulma, Zarbon let _weak_ hang in the air for a span of time. He savored the burning embers that were her eyes and continued. 'So meeting you, even though your two friends, as unlikely as it is, may still be Saiyans, confirms that Vegeta's claim of being attacked _exclusively_ by Saiyans is bullshit. He lied. A fact that became obvious even to my master when Vegeta vanished from the PTO entirely. With his lapdog Nappa, Vegeta either destroyed FP083 himself or did it with you and your friends' help- though, considering that he subsequently blamed the entire event on you and gave over a means to track your ship, that last interpretation seems unlikely. For all intents and purposes, it seemed that Vegeta threw you three under the metaphorical spaceship. Regardless of whatever relationship you had with him, and whatever the conditions were for you coming to FP083 in the first place… that must sting.'

'But that should be the end of things, right?' Zarbon said, making an amiable gesture with his hands. 'Exposing Vegeta as a liar should be enough to clear you and your friends' names and call off this invasion!... And, yet, an army still occupies this backwater, miserable planet. The total strength of this army is sufficient to wage offensives across entire sectors of the galaxy, and I've just _wasted it_ hunting for three random aliens. I have casualties and equipment losses to itemize. _Real costs_ were extracted on not just my army, but my _reputation._ If you think Vegeta's lies only caused problems for you, hah- haha-' Zarbon laughed, sharp and shallow. '-you'd be wrong. My name is plastered all over this whole rotten endeavor. And the PTO's not in the business of wasting resources aimlessly. So I can expect that returning with you three and nothing else will lead to my execution. Such is the price of incompetence in the PTO.'

Zarbon's eyes were distant for a time. 'I obviously wish to avoid this outcome. 'So; I thought of a plan. While the pretext for _my_ army coming here may be false- halfway across the galaxy, the real culprits of the crime we sought punishment for slipped away- by the time my business on this planet is finished, a reason for us coming here _will_ exist. My master expects _bodies. People to punish._ But, beyond that, he expects a _story_. He hates the Saiyans- his hatred propelled this entire operation, created to chase just _three_ _supposed Saiyans_ , into existence in the first place. And while you and your friends may not _be_ Saiyans, it is unarguable that you were _working with them_.' A smile, broad and ugly, smeared itself across Zarbon's transformed face. 'We have clear evidence that you fled FP083 at the same time that it was flattened. It is clear from what you've said that you three know Vegeta and Nappa better than almost any other person within the PTO, and furthermore, you three have an ambiguous reason for being at FP083 in the first place. I've had every tangible soldier and personnel roll of FP083 pulled, and _not a single one_ includes a description of someone who matches your appearance. I imagine the same is true for your two friends. So, to recap, you three fled a ruined base, knew Nappa and Vegeta well, and never existed on any PTO record. And without the Saiyans- who would no doubt hurt you with their testimony even if they were still around- it will be your word against my report… and, as you already know, your word means very little to me or anyone else.'

Zarbon spread his arms wide and gestured to everything- the land, the sky, the two suns, and not least the PTO- around him. 'With this information, and with everything else I've gathered here, I'll construct a narrative so good that my master will _chain himself to it._ I'll turn the Saiyans into a specter, attribute to them to every unknown threat that accosts the PTO- by the _Kais_ , I'll start a _crusade_ against them if he desires it. I'll push a race off the cliff edge of extinction and into the abyss of history if it saves my life. And it will start with _you_ -' Zarbon declared, pointing a finger at Bulma, '-you and your friends, who were the first Saiyans synthesizers to worship a near-dead warrior race. The first of a long line of dissidents who sought to replace my master, Frieza, with a brutal, rapacious species that would destroy every ounce of civility in the galaxy. The first, but _undoubtedly_ ,not the last.' He studied her face. After a time, he let out a long, deliberate exhale.

'So. I'll say this one last time,' Zarbon said, bringing his face inches away from Bulma's, 'do you have anything to say?'

Willful, brazen, and with her face turning red, Bulma kept her mouth closed shut. Her eyes, rigid as if glued to the back of their sockets, expressed what she had been communicating uninterrupted for the past few minutes- hatred.

Vaguely disappointed, Zarbon drew back his head. 'Hmm.' With a final look of disgust, he motioned Appule to take her. With the same look, he drilled into his second's thick purple head that what he had just heard was not to be repeated.

Bulma tried to shake off Appule's hands, but in the end, he succeeded in pulling her up and making her stand.

Zarbon studied her for a bit longer. 'So be it,' he said softly. 'Make peace with whatever deity you worship. My plan calls for you to die within the hour.'

As Appule led Bulma away, half pushing her, half carrying her, Zarbon observed her. Once turned away from him, she never once looked back and tried to throw one murderous glare at him- she simply trudged on without an ounce of attention paid to her executioner. It was unsettling, but it also made Zarbon feel more confident in his decision to kill her. _If she isn't looking at me, she's thinking of a plan. Far too dangerous to leave her alive. Far too dangerous by_ _ **far**_ _._

When Appule and Bulma finished melding into the surrounding crowd of PTO soldiers, Zarbon's interest turned to other matters. His attention moved away from his mind and the plan that would only become relevant if he survived the next few hours. Specifically, he looked out in the direction of where a former spire should be a burned out wasteland. _It's been more than a minute- several, in fact. Where is Burter?_

If Zarbon had to guess, there was a greater chance that someone in the Ginyu Force would try to kill him before mission's end than Frieza after everything was said and done. He knew that Ginyu's men should be interspersed around the planet by this point, and that Ginyu should be arriving here soon- but he didn't like the idea of laying the groundwork of his report with Ginyu with Burter still unaccounted for. For all Zarbon knew, the big blue idiot could have been hiding nearby, listening, and had run off to snitch to Ginyu once he had laid his plans bare. _was too indulgent with the prisoner… but_ _ **someone**_ _would have noticed if Burter had returned. He may have super speed, but he doesn't have super hearing._

After a minute spent scanning the horizon in the spire's direction- which, as a backdrop, was as green and featureless as anywhere else in the sky- Zarbon snarled and spun to some nearby soldiers. 'Any of you have a scouter?' Zarbon barked. He got a number of blank stares in return. 'Any of you? Come now- one of you-'

'Uh, sir?' A pasty and balding alien moved to the crowd's front. He cradled a scouter in his right hand. 'You were asking-'

Without a word Zarbon's swiped the scouter of the soldier's hand and began attaching it over his left eye. There was a split-second delay before the balding alien's eyes widened and he yelped. 'Sir! Your speed is incred-'

'Shut up!' Zarbon yelled. His attention was fixed on his scouter. 'I need quiet!' The surrounding chatter ceased, and Zarbon tapped a finger to the scouter's power button on its side. Numbers from the surrounding area began to show up on the scouter's glass display, but after a few seconds this process froze.

'Damn scouter,' Zarbon grumbled, repeatedly poking the main button on its side. 'It's not- damn, it seized up-'

The scouter, interrupting Zarbon mid-sentence, spontaneously exploded. The surrounding soldiers' expressions quickly changed from surprise to utter terror. Zarbon's expression changed just as fast from confusion to pure malice.

Furious, Zarbon strode up to the balding soldier, gripped him by his armor, and yanked him into the air. 'You gave me a defective scouter, you bastard!' He said, shaking the soldier back and forth. Above them, a cloud, the first of the day, cast a shadow over the area. 'You think you won't be killed for this! Well- you will! I've killed subordinates for less!'

'Sir!' The balding alien cried. 'Please, sir!- that was the first time the scouter was turned on this mission! It can't be broken!'

'You're lying!' Zarbon growled, shaking the soldier even harder. 'You're-'

A _crack_ , akin to a landmass snapping in two, ripped through the air, causing every person present to flinch and Zarbon to drop the soldier to the ground. Reacting faster than his soldiers, Zarbon turned towards the sound in time to see a blue smudge, screeching across the sky, pass over their heads and higher into the sky towards the red and steel-gray cloud.

Time slowed. Just before the moment of impact, Zarbon's perspective shifted, and he saw that the cloud above them wasn't really a cloud- it was a massive chunk of metal, burning red from falling through the atmosphere, and was close enough to smush Zarbon and his entire army into a paste. Then the blur hit the metal, and the force of the impact was strong enough to explode _something_. He wasn't really sure what happened, but fire and light consumed the sky, throwing the light on the ground into a riotous mess, and flinging down metallic debris, some small, some large, onto Zarbon's army.

When the first wave of metal fell like a shower of rain, Zarbon turned to face the origin of the blue blur's streak across the sky. With his heart beating fast enough to jump out of his chest, he was forced to wait until the light around him returned to a normal, vision-enabling level for him to see anything beyond his immediate environment.

He didn't have to wait long. Something smashed against the back of his skull, whipping his head and neck forward strong enough to pull his entire body to the ground. Disorienting light flooded his vision, blinding him, as he struggled through his wracking pain and rolled over. Even though he could see nothing once he was on his back, Zarbon heard the distinctive sound- _tapp_ \- of two feet touching down from flight onto the ground.

'Tsk, tsk…' a voice spoke. 'You should have asked for my name.'

The voice was unmistakable. It belonged to someone who should be dead. And Zarbon realized he was just as helpless as that blue blur Burter as soon as a kick lodged itself into his ribs and launched him gasping and heaving into the sky.

0o0o0

To Roshi's eyes, there was nothing unique about this patch of Hell. He had just spent Kai knows how long scanning the landscape below him for one specific troublemaker. Generic formations, such as plateaus, plains, and dark red lakes, became common enough for Roshi to stop noticing them after a while. The ridge he now descended to was no different- it was just as featureless as all the other ridges he had looked at today. This ridge sloped gently at its edges, hard near its center, towards the surrounding craggy plain. The bleached gray of the ground framed the browner, more jagged shape and its rise towards the sky. But, by itself, it was unremarkable. Its occupant, however, was another matter.

In response to his arrival, the cross-legged and seated figure, who resided at the center of the ridge's top, began to move, like an ancient guardian stirred to life by an intrepid explorer. Dirt and dust rolled off his black _gi_ , held taught to his body by a blood red _obi_ wrapped around his waist. Long, sinewy limbs uncurled and spread out, separating the figure from the ground. A billowing purple cloak, as dark as the rest of his clothing, filled the space behind him.

Steeling himself against the strong wind at the top of the ridge, Roshi suppressed an irrational, gripping pang. He couldn't shake the feeling that something of what he was watching was perverted. It was surreal; how could someone make an action as regular as standing foreboding?

When the figure straightened fully, and regarded Roshi with deep-set and formidable black eyes, Roshi kept his gaze steady. By seeing the figure's face, Roshi not only confirmed that this person was a Namekian- which he suspected as soon as he glimpsed the person's dark green, verging on green-brown skin- but also recognized _something_. He was surer than he'd ever been in death that this was not someone he had come across in life, and yet there was something familiar staring back at him.

Laughter, nervous and content-less, began to trickle out of Roshi's mouth. This was the most unsettled he'd been before a fight in a _long_ time.

The figure didn't react, as if he'd expected Roshi to do such a thing. 'So the Kais' lapdog finally reveals himself,' he said with a heavy, deep voice. 'I have to say- you certainly took your time getting here.'

Roshi corralled his laughter and forced an antagonistic smile to his face. 'Lapdog to _one_ Kai, actually,' he jabbed back. 'And, as for your other comment, perhaps you should have used more of your _ki_ ,' he suggested, his smile broadening. 'Burned your beacon a bit brighter.'

To this, the figure gave a laugh of his own, flashing the white, dagger-like canines hanging down in his mouth. 'I see you are not as inept as I'd assumed. So now I must assume that you are foolish- you willingly flew into a trap to fight me?'

'I've spoken to you for a grand total of thirty seconds,' Roshi said slowly, 'and in that time I've heard information come out of your mouth that no person in Hell should be capable of knowing. You're dangerous. I think I made the right decision in coming here.'

'And what do you hope to achieve by coming here?'

'To fight and kill you, of course.'

'Hah!' The figure let loose a harder, more cruel laugh. 'An ignorant claim. Do you know how many people said that to me while I was alive? Do you _want_ to know?'

'I'm sure there were many,' Roshi conceded, 'but you're dead, aren't you? Someone must have been right.'

The figure's expression darkened. 'I was always wary of talkers like yourself, and thus was never troubled by your type. My death was caused by someone who was the exact opposite of you- they were the farthest thing from a braggart.'

'Braggart, huh?' Roshi paused; his eyes seemed to search the contents of the figure's face. 'You're a Namekian- you're related to King Piccolo, aren't you? You sound similar to him.'

'In a way,' the figure admitted. 'I am Katas- but I doubt that name has any meaning to you, considering how long I've been dead.'

'Should I be cowering and begging at the mention of your name?'

Katas scoffed. 'As if I'd tell people my name right before killing them.'

'Oh? Did you just let something slip?'

Katas frowned from confusion, then annoyance. 'Ah. You've used my own voice to mock me. It's been a while since I've come across someone with as sharp a tongue as you.'

At that moment, with his robe-like black _gi_ , gelled back black hair, and black shades, Master Roshi made a strange contrast to the darkened and tall Namekian not a few feet away from him. 'If you want to put a name to that tongue, my name is Roshi, by the way,' he said.

Katas said nothing, and with an apparent shift of his mood, his face returned to a more neutral expression. 'Fighting you will do well to alleviate my boredom. I have nothing else left to do in this realm, after all.'

'Now, why would you go and tell me that?' Roshi said, smiling again. 'Never a smart move to admit you've done something.'

'Don't try to patronize me, child,' Katas rumbled dismissively. 'It's obvious that you're here because you sensed my interference in the realm outside this one- otherwise, why would you be looking around Hell for a particular _ki_? I knew everything I needed to know about you once I felt you enter this domain.'

A ghost of a smile appeared on Roshi's face. 'So we've come full circle!' As he finished his sentence, the wind picked up, and Roshi's _ki_ started to rise. 'I should thank you for humoring me, then! I didn't need to acquaint myself with the person I planned on pummelling into the bedrock of Hell itself, but it's a nice bonus!' A white aura, contained yet frenetic, blossomed into existence around him. 'But I will say this- once I break your spiritual container to a pulp, and _before_ my holy clobbering disperses your evil energy into common _air_ , you're going to tell me _exactly_ what you were doing earlier. Understand?'

Katas bent low to the ground, scoring his feet into the brown rock of the ridge. A dark brown and blue aura, bigger and brighter than Roshi's, took shape around him. 'And when you're lying broken at my feet, and _before_ I banish your soul from existence _forever_ , I'll learn what I want from you. Fair?'

'Fair.'

* * *

A/N: Woohoo! First chapter of the Ginyu Arc! Shouldn't be super long… but we'll see. We'll see. And it feels good to be writing again! Life was a bit hectic for a little bit there, but I'm pushing for the weekly updates again! Stay tuned!

Also, in terms of what my story does differently with the Namekians and their background… this was an important chapter in starting to reveal what's going on there Just FYI.

Last thing! Lionheart261, who writes a very cool DBZ fic called _Hermit_ , gave me some help in looking over this chapter. Throw some reviews his way!

Next week, some more throw-downs, and then a breather. See you then!

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** I try my best!

 **Guest:** And Zarbon's plan has. Pretty spectacularly, actually.

 **TienFan999:** Well said. I agree that the story's focus has gotten a bit scattershot, so I'm condensing some stuff and punting everything else directly unrelated to the current arc down the road. I've also done some tweaks to Nail and Piccolo's scene- curious as to your thoughts on that, too.

And thank you for the detailed review! You gave me a ton of stuff to keep in mind going forward. A writer is only as good as their willingness to experiment and improve.

 **Titanfire999:** What are your thoughts on this chapter, hmm? And, yeah, I'm compressing the narrative into chunks in the near future!

 **WilliamHDTV:** Thank you so much for the review! Thank you for your love for the new characters, Nappa, and everything else!

Your question as to Frieza is definitely RAFO, but I agree that him getting to Namek in time to fight would be a tough thing for him to do.

Cell's character would depend on who was sampled for his DNA, so it's really a question of who's on Earth. So far, he's two-for-three (compared to canon) for his genetic sources- both Namekians and Saiyans have been running around. Though it _seems_ that having a live Saiyan stuck in stasis in the lab might deviate Gero's plans for both Cell and the Androids ever-so-slightly… but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

As per Frieza's power and how well the humans would stack up if he arrived, that's going to be a very important question/thought/tension(?) going forward. Can't say anything more about it now, though, other than that it would be hard for the humans to win that hypothetical fight against Frieza on strength alone.


	62. The Enemy in Death

Ginyu

Chapter 62: The Enemy in Death

* * *

The two Saiyans, clambering out of a rocky dip in the land that separated two wider and larger spans of flat land, abruptly froze. The one in front ducked down to the ground and turned to his companion.

'You sense that?' Bardock asked while nodding back his head in the direction they were going.

Kakarot, eyes jumping towards the indicated direction, nodded. 'Hard to miss.'

'The fight's begun,' Bardock said, motioning Kakarot to crouch down next to him. 'Looks like he's going through with it, after all.'

'Which one are you talking about?'

'Both,' Bardock grunted, before swinging his body to face away from Kakarot. They were, thankfully, too far away to be caught in the present battle. 'Both could have done something to avoid this fight. Both did nothing.'

Kakarot grunted. 'One of them must be confident. Probably both.'

'I agree, though... ' Bardock's eyes continued to search the horizon. Beyond the flat section of gray plain in front of them, the sky turned pink and white. 'Judging from what I'm sensing right, that human must be more than confident. He's cocky.'

'Didn't you say earlier that he held back a significant chunk of his power while fighting you?'

'Doesn't matter,' Bardock said bluntly. 'I have to hope that he can't put up a real fight against that monster.'

'You _have_ to?' Kakarot questioned.

'Yeah. I don't want to be retroactively embarrassed when I sense that human was holding an entire attack force's worth of power when he fought me.'

Kakarot shot a look towards Bardock. 'Attack force's worth of power?'he repeated. 'What's that?'

'Saiyan term,' Bardock said vaguely. 'Or, probably, a PTO term given to us- I don't know.' he finished grouchily. 'You're grilling me on a decades-old saying, son.' He threw a look at Kakarot. 'Please don't.'

'Fine,' Kakarot said, relenting. 'So we just…'

'Sit here and wait.' Bardock flopped back onto his butt. 'We've got nothing else to do- might as well enjoy the show. And, after that… we do some more waiting.' He flashed a crooked grin at Kakarot. 'Get comfortable.'

0o0o0

When the signal came- which was nothing more than a blink and a shift in posture from both fighters- the co-mingling of white and darkened shades of blue and brown split apart. Launching himself forward, Roshi rammed into Katas head-on, forming a spear of white that pierced through the Namekian's surrounding dark and threw himself on the offensive. His smaller stature allowed him to move quicker at close-range, buzzing around Katas's body like a silhouetted bullet. After a series of quick blows to Katas's back- all of which were blocked by Katas's arms bending backward- Roshi hopped back on the ridge, releasing the tension his and Katas's aura had made in the air around them. A slow hiss of wind, like the world exhaling, sounded as he moved away.

When Katas turned around to Roshi, the expression he wore was similar to his more haughty ones from their conversation. 'You amuse me with your flitting around,' Katas mocked. 'Do you expect your speed to be an asset?'

'I expect a lot of things of mine to be an asset,' Roshi parried back, 'with my speed being one small, yet essential item.'

'Your blind confidence is cute,' Katas continued. 'How many battles did you fight before you died? Two? Three?'

Roshi flashed a brilliant smile. 'Now who's being cute?'

Katas drew back a leg in the ground, propping himself up as if to charge ahead. 'I wonder what you'll think in a few minutes…'

Having anticipated Katas's next move, Roshi tracked Katas speed away to his right even as his outline remained in place- but he was caught flat-footed when the Namekian appeared at his side, swinging a heavy elbow towards his ribs. Roshi barely dodged the blow by jumping to his right.

He moved a foot before he smacked into what felt like another person. This time, confused as well as surprised, Roshi wasn't fast enough to avoid a knee from crashing into his back and launching him towards where Katas's outline still stood. The blow was so well aimed that his body passed through Katas's afterimage and dispersed it.

When he landed and rolled to a stop, Roshi spent a few heartbeats, crouched, facing away from his opponent. He registered the sensation of blood rushing towards the forming bruises on his back. His heart thudded in his chest. 'I should have expected that, if King Piccolo knew an annoying technique, you'd know it, too,' Roshi said as he stood and patted the dirt off of his black _gi_. When he turned, his assumption was proven true- two copies of Katas were looking over at him with identical, amused smiles. 'I should also expect that, given that you're probably more experienced than King Piccolo, you know the drawbacks of the Multiform.'

Both copies arched an eyebrow. 'Drawbacks? No- no, no,' they said in unison, chuckling. 'There are no drawbacks to using this.'

'You're joking, right?' Roshi said, laughing. 'Your power is divided among every copy you have. You're twice as weak as you were before.'

'Oh, that quibble?' The copies' shared expression sharpened. Without any warning, they glowed and merged back together. 'Yes, I suppose that would be a drawback- under normal circumstances, that is,' Katas replied with one voice. 'This fight, however, does not fall into that category.'

Roshi took the break in fighting to dab at his mouth with his sleeve. It came back damp from a drop of blood. He realized that he had never bled while dead. He put that fact from his mind. 'I'd like to hear you elaborate on that,' he said, looking over to Katas.

'From our brief exchange, I've determined that this is not a fight. This is… more like you jumping around and trying to irritate me.'

Roshi snorted. 'You're more arrogant than King Piccolo.' He flared his _ki_ , not quite to his natural limit, but enough to demonstrate that he wasn't currently at his peak power. _No need for him to know about the Kaioken at this point, however…_ 'I could be hiding away any amount of power.'

'Perhaps. But the fact remains that your present level is laughably below mine.'

'Really?' Roshi's interest in their banter nudged up. 'How far below, exactly?'

'Far enough that you might die if I _sneeze_ on you,' Katas jeered. 'And that's _after_ accounting for whatever lock this realm puts on my power while I'm down here.'

Roshi's gaze on Katas was steady. 'You've noticed that, then,' he stated. 'Most people in Hell don't realize that their power is suppressed.'

'I am _not_ most people,' Katas rumbled, wrinkling his nose with disgust. 'The fact that you're here now proves that.' Before Roshi could respond, Katas went on. 'You know what? I've just decided- I'm going to do something highly irregular.'

Roshi narrowed his eyes. 'Irregular? Compared to what?'

'Compared to what I would have done while alive,' Katas replied. At the same time, he bent down to the ground and picked up a handful of dirt. 'The gap between us is big enough to be criminally _funny._ If I were to use my full power, or anything even approaching it, this fight would be over faster than the time-' he spread the fingers of his hand wide, letting dirt pour out and fall into the wind- 'it takes for my hand to empty.'

'What you're saying is very prideful,' Roshi noted. 'But, please, continue.'

Katas smiled, as if happy that his boasting was being noticed. 'I'm going to give myself a handicap. A sizable one, in fact, but large enough to make it a fair fight between us. I'll be about as strong as what I peg your maximum to be.' Katas paused. 'You can sense that the power I'm currently using is nowhere near my maximum, correct?'

'I can,' Roshi answered, not fond of where their conversation seemed to be going.

'Then I'm going to outright reveal what my maximum, is- I'm going to use the multiform as many times as necessary to equalize my power to your own. That way, all you'll need to do is multiply the strength of one of my copies by how many there are.'

'You don't need to explain basic math to me,' Roshi said, somewhat annoyed. 'I'm your opponent, not a child.'

Katas smirked. 'Forgive me. I just want to make sure you'll grasp what I want you to grasp.'

'Fine. I have one last question, then: why?'

'Why, what?'

'Why turn this into a circus act,' Roshi said. There was no amusement left in his voice; he looked decidedly unhappy. 'Never before has an opponent treated me with such disrespect. Frankly, I'm beginning to hate you. Do you see me as nothing more than a joke?'

'I think you'd prefer if I didn't answer that question,' Katas said without a drop of feeling in his voice. 'And as to your first question, I answered it earlier. I have nothing else to do in this realm. And doing anything less than what I'm about to do would make this painfully boring…' A dim light started to surround Katas as he curled his hands into fists and dug his feet into the ridge. 'As a _fighter_ , I'm sure you can understand this…'

The light grew too bright- shielding his eyes, Roshi looked away as the entire ridge was bathed in white. It was only like this for a few seconds, but during this time, Roshi's anxiety steadily grew. When the white light finally dispersed, and Roshi looked back towards Piccolo's side of the ridge- he nearly choked on his breath.

An army of copies, all wearing the slight smile of Katas, stared at him. Roshi counted them. He got a number at the same time as one of Katas's copies spoke.

'30.' With long, slow strides, one of the copies moved forward and separated himself from the larger crowd. 'There are thirty copies including me,' this copy repeated for the sake of clarity. 'So my total power is now distributed among thirty of me. I'll let that soak in.'

Roshi was thankful for his shades. Without them, Katas and his army of copies would have seen his eyes bulging out of their sockets. 'You must be very proud,' he said, maintaining a level of calm in his voice. 'Of your copies, that is. They're very impressive.'

'Immeasurably so. But, now then…'

Roshi, like before, anticipated Katas's rush before it occurred. With a burst of his own power, he sped forward and clashed forearm-to-forearm with the lead copy. The soundwave their clash caused, strong enough to send rocks skittering down the ridge's sides, indicated the resumption of combat.

To Roshi's horror, and just before the copy ducked underneath his guard and smashed him away, he realized that their powers were nearly equal.

0o0o0

Bulma was tipped off to something going wrong before she knew who or what was happening; prodded forward by Appule's occasional shoving, it became harder to move within the mass of soldiers. Bodies pressed tighter against her. As the space around her shrank, she grew more frightened. She didn't want to be trapped in place in any situation where she might need to run. She was still considered running.

Slowed to a near stop, she began to use her elbows and knees to push herself forward- which, of course, was a waste of her time, as everyone around her was stronger than her and could shrug off whatever meager strength she had.

Hands smacked painfully into her back. The force behind them would have staggered her if she wasn't pressed to the back of the soldier in front of her. 'Hey!' Appule yelled from over her shoulders. 'Keep moving!' There was anger laced with something else in his voice. 'Out of the crowd!'

She tried to turn around; she found she couldn't. Twisting her head back instead, she made eye contact with Appule.

The image of his eyes, simmering, burning, but most importantly, _fearful_ , burned into Bulma's memory even as the world around her flipped. She heard nothing while the ground beneath rolled and threw her and everyone else around her into the air. Something hard hit her head.

Bulma opened her eyes. She blinked and realized that her face was inches away from a dead soldier's ruptured abdomen. Guts spilled out.

 _Oh, Kami…_ Slowly- because, now, she felt a horrible pain radiating from the back of her skull- Bulma lifted her body inches off the ground and pushed herself away. Once she had scooted back a few feet from the repugnant corpse, she placed a hand to the back of her head. There was a bump; it was painful, but it felt like nothing more than a bruise. _Alright. So I can trust my brain on this one..._

She had been knocked unconscious. And, looking around for the first time since coming to, she saw what had caused that.

The land around her was broken. Ragged edges of rock and dirt jutted into the air, forming a haphazard maze. She couldn't see in any direction for several feet. And from what she could see…

She tore her attention away from her surroundings and focused on the ground underneath her hands. She was still on her hands and knees. The dirt and grass underneath her, thankfully, still looked normal. _Alright… Think, Bulma. That's the only thing you've got going for you right now. Thinking. Your mind. Think._

Someone must have attacked the PTO. And considering what she knew of current events., it didn't seem likely that it was someone she was friendly with. Yamcha and Tien had been captured. Nail had, presumably, either been defeated or fooled if she had been captured. Which left-

A hand patted her on the back. Under more normal circumstances, and if the pat had been any harder, she would have yelped and scrambled away. Instead, the pat felt familiar. Her expression blank, she turned her head.

'You did this,' Bulma deduced, staring at Bez crouching next to her. 'You attacked this army.'

Bez gave her a wild look; he patted her again, and after this, grabbed one of her arms. 'Funny,' he said quickly, before yanking her to her feet. 'Real funny.' Without letting her speak, he pulled her into a run and began navigating them through the maze. 'I'll go tell that to the green guy. I'm sure he'll laugh.'

'Green guy?' Bulma asked, feeling disoriented from running. Either that, or their conversation. 'He did this?'

'Sorry,' Bez said, glancing back at her, 'I misspoke. He's _still_ doing this.' Just as Bez said this, a blast of energy sounded in the not-too-far-off distance, sending a wave of rushing wind over them. 'Which makes it important that we get out of here as soon as possible.'

The farther they moved out, the less debris she saw, bodies or otherwise. It appeared that she was at the center of whatever attack had hit the area. Which meant… _hmm..._

'I don't understand,' Bulma muttered after some time spent being tugged along by Bez in silence.

Bez slowed, but did not stop, and glanced back at her again. 'What'd you say?'

'I don't understand why I'm alive,' Bulma repeated, louder this time. Her eyes focused on Bez. 'I don't-' She _really_ looked at Bez for the first time. He was injured- badly, actually. His armor looked like it had seen half a dozen fights by now; it was tattered and scorched in the places it still stubbornly clung on. The black jumpsuit underneath was much the same. As they ran, she saw bits and pieces of the armor's white coating flake and be swept into the wind, while frayed strands of black fluttered in the air around them. Beyond that, she saw bruises, cuts, scrapes- everything to indicate that he was in a lot of pain. She frowned.

'I don't understand,' Bulma repeated once more, struggling to piece together her thoughts.

'You're not thinking clearly,' Bez replied crisply. 'You were unconscious- right? No way you were awake for that entire first attack. Sudden waking or blacking out will scramble your brain.'

He may have been right. The bump on the back of her head didn't feel nearly as painful as before. She felt dizzy, too. But then her thoughts came together.

'I don't understand why you're here,' she asked. To this question, Bez stopped.

Bulma missed whatever initial look was on his face- before he finished turning his head, an arm gripped her left shoulder and yanked her backward. She yelped as that same arm curled and crushed around her abdomen. She was pinned.

Straining to keep himself upright, Appule worked Bulma's arms behind her and gripped her wrists with one hand. Relieved, and a little delirious from the associated adrenaline and pain he had felt over the past few minutes, he let out a long, exaggerated sigh. 'You don't know how much trouble you just saved me,' he said, looking over Bulma's shoulder to Bez. 'Do you _know_?'

Slowly, Bez's gaze moved from Bulma to Appule. 'I don't,' he admitted.

'My _life_. You just saved _my life_ ,' Appule stressed. 'I don't know what the hell is going on right now,' he said, tipping his head backward at the greater mass of rubble and chaos behind them, 'or if there will even be a PTO army on this planet at the end of this- but Zarbon would have flayed me alive if I had lost this one. So thanks.' A small, appreciative smile spread across Appule's cylindrical face. 'I didn't get your name-'

One quick punch knocked Appule away- his arm lost its tension and his grip on her slackened- and onto his back. He didn't stir once down. Blinking, Bulma tracked the outstretched fist to its owner, Bez, who looked down at Appule with a strange expression on his face. In a better state of mind, Bulma felt she could have identified it. For now, all she was certain of was that it was mixed.

'You ready to go again?' Bez asked without looking at her.

Bulma didn't answer. A second later, against her will, her legs crumpled beneath her. Hitting the ground with her butt felt more disconnected than it should have been. 'I don't feel great,' she uttered, in her best approximation of what was going through her body and mind.

Bez stepped in front of her. He had a sour look on his face. 'Alright, then…'

A few seconds passed where Bulma was aware of nothing more than jostled, untrackable movement. Eventually, she realized that she was being cradled in Bez's arms and that they were moving. Another soundwave flashed over them, and once it died away, Bulma heard Bez speak.

'I hope I didn't kill him,' Bez said flatly. Looking up, Bulma saw Bez was looking forward- it seemed he was thinking out loud as much as he was talking to her. 'His injuries were bad- bad enough that I was surprised he was able to chase after you and catch up with us. The amount of pain he must have been in… the amount of fear that must have pushed him... ' Bez closed his eyes and breathed out through his flat, squarish nose. 'He wouldn't deserve that. He doesn't deserve to die.'

Bulma, eyes glazed, let her neck relax and her head fall further back. Consciousness was proving tough to hold onto. 'He would have killed me if ordered to,' Bulma said. Her own voice sounded foreign and dreamy to her. And yet she was still holding a conversation.

'He's a PTO soldier, without a doubt.'

Again, Bulma felt there was something more to that sentence, but as she was, all she could do was note it and slip a little further into sleep. The bouncing of her body as Bez ran across the ground became normal, if not comfortable, and she felt her mind start to dip into sleep.

'For the record,' Bez said, his voice plucking her away from the wrapping warmth of sleep, 'I don't like you or your friends owing me anything. I feel just as uncomfortable as you right now.'

'Is that how you feel?' Bulma muttered, not bothering to open her eyes. 'I feel pretty comfortable right now.'

'You're not the one running,' Bez grumbled. 'But if you're okay… I'll keep my mouth shut and let you sleep.'

Bulma almost did that, but a niggling thought refused to let her until it was broached. 'I wouldn't worry about debts,' she said, her voice a low murmur now. A part of her mind wondered whether she could be heard over whatever chaos they had left behind. 'Personally, I would be more concerned with where we stand if I had any hope of leaving this planet unimprisoned.'

'You're still alive, aren't you?'

To that, Bulma said nothing. She let her usually active mind rest for a change and slept.

0o0o0

Perched high above the battlefield, Piccolo commanded an impressive vantage point of the area. Directly below him was the labor of his hard work; rows of rock and rubble rose and dipped across the entire plain. Once the strongest two- the ones he had fought- had been temporarily punted away, it was laughably easy to launch an attack at soldiers who were too slow to dodge and too weak to live. Flooding his energy beneath the ground had been a particularly good touch on his part; there was no better way to confuse a soon-to-be-extinguished army than to pull the rug out from under it.

But his perch had more important purposes- for the past few minutes, he had been tracking the passage of two people from the battlefield. It was only now, however, did he look far-off to his left and see, represented by one amorphous smudge in his vision, Bulma be carried away by an unknown alien.

He wasn't bothered by this development. At the very least she would now be unaffected by whatever he wished to do to what was left of this army. And he could easily track down and kill whoever had run off with her if necessary later on, though he doubted that he would need to. Not many PTO soldiers punched other PTO soldiers to the ground and ran off after. If he had to guess, an alien ally of the Earthlings had run off with her. _Cute_.

Regardless, Bulma leaving was for the best. If he was being honest, he hadn't known Bulma had been taken captive. He hadn't intended for her to be right smack-dab in the middle of his attack. But if he was being even more honest, he didn't care. He didn't move to defend her from his attack once he sensed her- not like that purple fool of a soldier with a tube for a head who had thrown himself between her and the attack and had been tossed halfway across the battlefield. Simply put, if Bulma had got in the way of his business, then the Earthlings would have to revive her. His revenge didn't have exemptions. Still, with her gone, he wouldn't have to answer any grating accusations later on.

' **HEY!** ' The voice that addressed Piccolo was scratchy and ragged.

 _Ah, yes._ A smirk tugged up on the demon's face. Eager, he turned back to the matter at hand.

Hanging in the air across from him, Burter, a self-proclaimed "pride" of whatever ridiculous force he was a part of, was bruised, battered, and bloodied to the point of turning his blue skin purple. His frustration might have enhanced the effect- Piccolo saw that the alien's face was the purplest part of his body by far.

'And what happened to you?' Piccolo asked, goading his opponent. 'You were so _calm_ before. So _smug_. What happened to your earlier bravado?'

Briefly, words eluded Burter as a long string of growls left his mouth. 'Don't you ignore me, or mock me, you… you!...' he forced through his teeth. 'You should be dead! I killed you!' Burter flexed his right leg up and down as if he was stomping the air. 'And, for sure, you shouldn't be this _strong!_ You're a cheat!'

Piccolo leaned into his grin. 'No more calm, then? No more smugness? Good to know. As for my power- you want to check that flimsy device on the side of your head again?' Piccolo mocked. 'What'd you call it? A scouter?'

'Grrr!...' Burter, against his better judgment, tapped the side of his scouter again and triple-checked the number flashing to his left eye. 55,000- the same as before. _But that's impossible! He was no more than 33,000 before! It doesn't make sense!_ _None of this makes sense! People this strong don't_ _ **exist**_ _in the galaxy without us knowing about it!'_

'Are you finished stewing?' Piccolo jeered into Burter's thoughts. He crossed his arms. 'Or do you need more time?'

Burter, his gaze steady on his opponent, bit back a hasty reply. _If the reading is accurate, I can't take this guy on my own… not without help._ Burter felt his fingernails stab into his palms. _This guy wouldn't be so haughty if someone from the Force was here to back me up. Jeice, Recoome, even puny Guldo could have been of some help… or the Captain, by himself, could have taken this guy_ _ **easy**_ _. He'd only need one strike._

A frown, more determined than dismayed, took hold of Burter's face. _But the Captain isn't here, not yet, and I need to survive until then. I just need-_

'Hyaaaagh!' A battle cry erupted from behind Piccolo- eyes narrowing, the demon spun around and edged back, avoiding a deranged and frantic swing from a battered Zarbon. Burter was just fast enough to see disappointment flicker onto Zarbon's angry, taut face, even as a green elbow swung from the right towards his head.

It was a rare opportunity, and if Burter hadn't been thinking about this exact circumstance, he would have failed to react in time. But he was thinking about it, and consequently, he rushed forward and crashed a knee into Piccolo's side, pushing the green fighter away.

'Zarbon, get behind him!' Burter rasped, even as he sped into flight and appeared behind the careening demon, one leg cocked. The first strike had neither the surprise or the strength to really stun Piccolo, however, and he righted in time to spin towards Burter and flash a grin. Before Burter could rocket out his leg, a different leg rocketed into him, crashing against his midsection and causing him to wheeze. A fist, followed by another, slammed into his armor, sloughing off chunks of white plating at a time. A third strike, intended for his dazed, bruised head, stopped just short; Zarbon had grappled Piccolo from behind, restraining him.

Fighting through his dizziness, Burter surged forward in response, knocking Piccolo's outstretched arm away and hammering a string of blows into Piccolo's body. They were more quick than heavy, in the style Burter had learned to fight, and jabbed at every possible place where the demon may have been injured. Burter was hoping to hit something vulnerable.

But this approach was lacking when facing an opponent who was significantly stronger than him, and did nothing more than annoy Piccolo. From the outside looking in, the whirlwind of blue hands, feet, and elbows pushing into Piccolo was impressive, but it was ended by a great tensing; Piccolo broke Zarbon's grip and surged forward, gripping Burter by his arm and tossing the blue soldier over and above his head. He swung him into Zarbon, fast and furious enough to sound a _dummph_ from their impact, and let go.

Traveling together, the two PTO soldiers plummeted down and crashed with a storm of dirt and dust. Looking down from above, Piccolo grinned.

0o0o0

Dashing across the jagged edge of the ridge, Roshi avoided a shower of energy blasts and threw a ball of white _ki_ up towards the darkened Namekian in the sky. The copy, surrounded by nothing except the gentle pink of Hell's sky, stopped his barrage and swung a leg across their body. His heel whacked the _ki_ ball out of the way and into the distance. The resulting far-off detonation, white and bright, indicated the strength of the blast.

On the ground, watching this, Roshi struggled to catch his breath. His mind was oddly bisected- half of him was terrified of this battle, of this opponent, while the other half was wildly and outrageously confident in his strength. He, of course, could fight at a much higher level than his present one. His mastery of the Kaioken made sure of that. But for all its benefits, he wasn't sure how far he could take the technique in this battle. Under King Kai's tutelage, he had taken the technique to untested heights- King Kai himself had said to him that he had never used the Kaioken with the same multipliers that he had. He achieved, over the many years he spent on King Kai's planet, a level of comfort with the Kaioken at two times, three times, five times, and finally ten times his own base power. Comfort enough to fight at that level for an extended fight, at least.

King Kai had told him to never go above the tenth level. He said that Roshi's prowess in using the Kaioken multipliers was already impressive enough, and that more gains would be achieved by increasing his base strength. He had done that to the best of his ability. He had reached peaks of strength he thought impossible while alive. King Kai had told him he was now strong enough to challenge all but the strongest in the galaxy.

Roshi's vision centered on his opponent. High in the air above him, separated from the twenty-nine copies that hung on one end of the ridge and watched, Katas moved his gaze from the explosion of white _ki_ to him. A soft, flickering white light covered the half of his body closest to the blast.

Roshi pouted. _The strongest the dead has to offer, and more than a match for me. Shame I'm not still alive._

The light faded away. Katas charged towards the ground.

Even as Roshi leaped to avoid a leg sweep and pivoted, slamming a fist into a shoulder block, his mind continued whirring. Uncertainty, he decided, drove his ambivalent approach to this fight. He was uncertain how far he could push the Kaioken. He was unsure of how much pain he would bring on himself by using it- and how much he'd be able to tolerate. But he _was_ certain that he would have to use it eventually, and that both perspectives would be needed to do what he planned to do. Caution and boldness in equal measures. A calculated risk, one that may hurt him significantly, but a necessary one.

Slipping, Roshi stumbled backward and received a heavy punch into his gut- his body bucked and hacked, and spat out saliva and blood onto Katas's shoulder. A final hit rammed into the bottom of his jaw, knocking his brain around his skull, and he stumbled further back, clutching his stomach. The blow dislodged his shades from his face: he heard them clank and land behind him and slide down one of the ridge's sides.

Roshi saw, through now too-bright vision, Katas regard the fluid on his _gi_ with mild disgust before using one hand to swipe most of it off. The coagulated mixture, red-white, hit the ground and splattered.

 _Hmm._ Roshi stared at the spot where his fluids hit the ground, and inhaled deeply through his nose. He had been waiting for the best moment to put his plan into action. The past few exchanges, however, made it clear- it was now or never.

Katas, somehow, must have sensed something then; creases filled his forehead just as Roshi finished inhaling. 'You're about to do something,' he said, as if stating a known fact. 'I see it in your eyes. I've seen it before. In the eyes of every one of my enemies when they realized the odds were stacked against them.' A pinched expression rose on the Namekian's face, and Katas glanced over to his copies, 'Long past, then, to end this-'

He didn't finish his sentence; His mind didn't even finish the thought. The blow from Roshi, when it came, was more crushing than Katas could have imagined. It swung right through him, shooting out a fist-sized section of his flesh like punched metal, before the copy's viability collapsed into itself and it disappeared. The twenty-nine other copies, alerted, saw a burst of red envelop their dispersed brother and an ever greater flame not too far off.

Every inch of him burning- in his mind, his body, his energy, his _focus_ \- Roshi retracted his fist through the swirling mist the copy had broken into. He had summoned the Kaioken and had used only the most basic times two level to dispatch his immediate enemy. But he would need far more than that for the twenty-nine others. So looked over to the twenty-nine others, and embraced pain.

' _Times Twenty.'_

No amount of training or preparation could have prepared him for the flood of pain that consumed him. It was worse, he remembered, while white-hot energy flashed through his mind, than the pain of death or the type that would have made him black out in life. His body was not failing- it was horribly empowered, had its senses heightened, and every part of it was made stronger, which only enhanced the acuteness and clarity of the pain that floored him. Mastering lower levels of the Kaioken had taken will- the mental energy used to block out the constant grinding and grating felt from the body that signified the technique doing damage to it. Now, at this level, it took everything he had to keep even a little part of his mind separated from the overwhelming and outrageous amount of pain he felt.

He struggled for no more than a split-second. It dragged on much longer in his mind. But the pervading, intense pain he felt did not grow, and because of that fact alone, his will rose to meet it and contained it. A little part of his mind had survived untouched.

It was all he needed. That little part put the plan into motion.

With a blistering flash of red, Roshi spun into motion. Leaving a trail of light in his wake, he appeared above and behind the mass of gathered copies. His superpowered senses showed him that the copies, moving far too slow, had not yet tracked him to where he was.

The moment he had been waiting for arrived then- they were unaware of where he was and what he was doing. Which meant they couldn't dodge.

Wreathed in curling, roiling red swirls of aura, Roshi punched his arms out to either side, palms open, and focused yellow _ki_ into his hands. This was another part that his training had not prepared for him- there was so much more energy available to him, and so much more risk if he didn't handle it properly. With as much care as he could, he began to pump yellow _ki_ out of his body. Two constructs- thick sheets of yellow- formed inches away from his hands, and strained to burgeon out further.

It took no more than maybe a second to charge his attack- the energy had nearly been too much, actually, and he had tightened the flow of his _ki_ before the constructs exploded in his hands. Below him, appearing to him to be in slow-motion, Katas's copies were still tracing his red outline in the sky towards him, and were grouping up together. They still didn't know where he was. His plan, kept alive by frightful energy and barely tolerable pain, was ready to go.

Appearing above the copies with a blink, Roshi threw the two constructs from his hands towards the ground. Once the sheets of yellow started sailing through the air, they expanded rapidly and curved, forming two halves of a hollow circle that danced downward. The halves, resembling walls, staked themselves into the ground and linked together, forming a 3-D tube, closed at the bottom by the ground, and open at the top where Roshi was. And in the center of that tube, hemmed in on all sides, were all twenty-nine of Katas's copies.

Roshi laughed, short and cuffed, which was the best he could manage with _everything_ the times twenty multiplier of the Kaioken brought. _Caution and boldness._ Then he tipped to the face the ground, lifted two sparkling, crackling hands high above and behind his head, and filled his lungs with whatever passed as air in Hell.

' _SCORCHING BLAST!'_

The hands swung down and released a heavy, wide attack, so laden with _ki_ that it didn't move any further than a few feet before exploding. Storms of energy roared down to the bottom of the tube loud enough to be heard from the heavens.

0o0o0

He had dropped the times twenty multiplier, and the Kaioken entirely, once the blast finished firing from his hands. Reverting to his base state was nearly as bad as entering the Kaioken in the first place- the whiplash from twenty times his power to this was strong enough to knock him unconscious. Again, it was a test of his will against the visceral experience of the Kaioken, and again, he edged by barely. He may have fallen a few feet in the air once he reverted, but he did not fall.

A good thing, too. Even after expelling every ounce of energy he could muster for that attack, the scene below him, penned by his yellow sheets of _ki_ , raged and crackled for some time after. He was made aware, again, that the power he possessed previously was truly unfathomable. Nearly unapproachable. Consuming.

His mind settled on consuming. At that level he had used, the Kaioken was consuming. It was fitting, then, that the power that rose to meet it was consuming, too.

Minutes after his attack, and with smoke trailing off the blackened, scorched ground, Roshi watched a single body, unmoving for some time, begin to stir. Its _gi_ was ripped, the skin was burned, blood wrapped around it, and dirt covered it- and yet the body rose, shaking off the dirt, dust, damage, and destruction thrust upon it as best it could.

Katas, turning, looking up at Roshi hanging in the air. In the same moment, the yellow constructs around him dispersed.

One unmitigated emotion dominated the Namekian's face. 'I saw you as nothing more than an _annoying_ , if not _clever_ , pest, but, now- you should have _stuck_ to being annoying,' Katas snarled, every part of him twitching with fury. Though he looked damaged and felt less powerful, neither of these observations prevented Katas's entire body from convulsing with unbridled power. 'Because what you just did was _not_ clever.'

Reflexively, a red aura burst into life around Roshi. He dipped back into the Kaioken at the times ten multiplier. From here, a place of relative comfort, he could prevent any further unnecessary damage to his body and judge how deep he had dug his grave.

Judging by the roar of energy that greeted him, which surprised him with not only its strength but its _depth_ , it had been dug very deep.

0o0o0

He wasn't sure how he had approached apparently unnoticed. To keep himself ahead of his pursuer, he had stopped trying to conceal his energy long ago. Anyone who was paying even the least bit of attention to the energy on this planet should have noticed his conspicuous power level from a distance. Perhaps they were distracted. Perhaps they were arrogant and didn't care to check. Either way, his objective, appearing as an oddly-shaped blotch due to the three bodies it encompassed, entered his sight as a slow-moving target. _Perfect._

With a burst of speed, he zoomed forward and rammed into a red soldier's back with his head. Tipped with _ki_ , his blow knocked the yelping soldier away and was strong enough to break his grip on the two bodies he carried. In the same fluid motion, Nail appeared in the place the soldier had held a few moments earlier, grabbed the two unconscious bodies in an identical fashion, and rocketed back into flight.

The entire motion had cost him a few seconds of his lead over his pursuer. But, to his relief- as he now moved slower with two un-aerodynamic bodies tucked under his arms- his pursuer stopped next to the soldier he had ambushed. He lingered there long enough for Nail's lead on them to become insurmountable. Mid-flight, he breathed a sigh of relief into the wind, and aimed himself towards where he sensed the other Namekians still lived.

He noted that fact. They still lived. He didn't allow himself to smile, but he worried that, if someone else was present, they would have seen something in his eyes.

0o0o0

Slowing, Recoome lowered himself to the ground. In a featureless plain, two red legs stuck out of the ground, twitching. Once he landed, he strode over to this strange landmark, gripped one leg, and yoinked up. Jeice, coughing and blinking dirt, swung helplessly from his arm.

When he saw Recoome, the eyes of the second-in-command of the Ginyu Force tried to leap out of their sockets. 'Bloody hell…' he muttered. 'What the hell happened? Why is everything upside down?'

Recoome hesitated, and deciding it was for the best, dropped Jeice. The red-skinned soldier landed on his back and started to cough again.

'Oh.' After rubbing his eyes, and staring out at the sky, Jeice frowned. 'Thanks, mate. I got turned around for a bit there. Can I get a hand?'

With a nod, Recoome extended him one. A moment later, both of them were standing. Considering that he had been buried upside-down in the ground about a minute earlier, Jeice resumed an air of competence amazingly quick. 'Well, I got got,' Jeice said, patting his armor off of any dirt. 'I assume you were chasing him?'

Recoome nodded. 'Captain sent me to intercept him. I did that, but then he pulled a sneaky one on me and rushed ahead. He's fast for sure- I couldn't catch up to him before he got to you.'

'I see,' Jeice murmured, frowning again. 'Bad luck on our parts.' Jeice looked up fully at Recoome, who was nearly twice as tall as him. 'Guess we'll- err.'

'What?'

Jeice's mouth opened, then closed. 'Well…'

'Well, what?' Recoome's voice was curious, but patient.

'Well… your hair, mate.'

Recoome's eyebrows lifted. 'My hair?'

Jeice reached up to his head and unclasped his scouter. 'Here,' he said, giving it to Recoome. 'Look at your reflection in the glass.'

Obliging, Recoome lifted the scouter and reflected the top of his head against its visor. In the center of his scalp, and reaching his forehead in the front, there was… nothing. No hair at all. All singed away to give him one of the ugliest haircuts Recoome has ever received. And Recoome, on account of his boxish head and unruly hair, had received _many_ ugly haircuts in his life.

Recoome processed this for a second. 'Huh. Must have been that green guy.' He shrugged and handed the scouter back to Jeice. 'It'll grow back,' he said, unfazed.

Jeice looked at him while he re-equipped his scouter. Specifically, he looked at the nonexistent hairline for his forehead. 'Right... well,' he said after a time, scratching his cheeks. 'My scouter says the bugger who fought you and jumped me is heading in the direction of the Captain,' he said after studying his scouter. 'I figure that we might as well meet up with the Captain, own up to our mistakes, and ask for forgiveness now instead of later.'

Recoome's gaze moved past Jeice and focused on the distance. His face was pinched. 'Can we wait until after the mission to tell the Captain?' Recoome suggested. 'Tell him when he's happy? I don't see why we need to tell him _right_ now.'

'Don't you remember the last time we pulled a stunt like that?' Jeice sniped, drawing back Recoome's attention. 'Captain damn near evicted us from the Force when he heard we had forgotten to kill that bureaucrat! Plus, the situation's changed now that we've lost those two. Captain'll probably have some new orders for us.' Jeice paused. 'I don't know about you, but I for one don't want to rush into battle with old orders.'

Recoome frowned. Recoome rarely frowned. 'I get that. I just don't like the Captain when he gets mad.'

'Listen, Recoome: as a fellow commanding officer,' Jeice said, puffing out his chest, 'I want the Captain to have every ounce of relevant information at his disposal so he can make the right calls! And telling him that we messed up is relevant information! He might have to plan another kidnapping operation, now! We need to give him the time to plan that!' And, besides: you really think he'll do anything bad towards us? We're his pride! We'll get a reprimand and nothing else- I guarantee it!'

'Alright, alright…' In a sign of defeat, Recoome's head dipped. 'Well, I guess you're right… Captain it is.'

'Aww, cheer up mate!' Jeice said, clapping an arm around Recoome's waist. It was about as high as he could reach comfortably. 'Captain'll see your sorry head and take some pity on us- we suffered for our loss already! I mean-' Jeice's mouth did a little dance at Recoome's expense '- just look at your hair!'

Before Recoome could frown again, Jeice continued. 'Tell you what: you won't have to say anything. Just leave all the explaining to good ol' Jeice- how about that? You stand in the back and you won't have to bleat a single word!'

As Jeice spoke longer, more and more of Recoome's usual grin returned to his face. As a sign of affection, he placed one massive hand on top of Jeice's head and patted him. 'That sounds okay,' he said, nodding slightly.

'Alright, then!' Jeice cheered. 'Off to the Captain- let's roll!'

0o0o0

Beneath him, surrounded by sprays of his own dark blue blood on the ground, the blue alien was as close to being pulp as any living person could be. Satisfied, Piccolo unlatched his hand from around his bruised neck and stood. This one had put up an honorable, if not futile fight. It was, at least, entertaining. And it was certainly better than what the other one had offered him.

Piccolo looked over his shoulder. He had left the green alien, more mangled from his previous injuries than the ones Piccolo had inflicted on him, ten feet deep in a cliffside in the distance. From here, he could see dust trailing up into the sky.

Beyond these two, there wasn't anything else of note left here. The army that had been marshaled on this plain had been decimated. Very few were left alive, and those that still lived would soon be dead. Along with the ship he assumed he had destroyed with his beam attack, he alone had defeated the bulk of the PTO invasion.

A wheeze reached Piccolo's pointed ears. With an air of finality, he turned back to the blue, barely living soldier at his feet. His eyes were shot with red and shrouded by flickering eyelids. Weakly, one of his hands raked across the ground.

Piccolo saw this and reconciled it with his previous thought. _So- I have no reason to stay here any longer._ He decided that he would check-up on the planet- the _kis_ and energies of everyone else running around- and finish up here once that was done.

A few seconds later, Piccolo grimaced. Two things he particularly didn't like were drawing closer to his slice of the planet. One was a powerful _ki_ , at a bare minimum stronger than the defeated soldier beneath him. Piccolo suspected that the person this _ki_ belonged to was the leader of whatever group the blue soldier had claimed to be a part of. For all of Piccolo's confidence in his newfound power, he didn't want to meet this _ki_ immediately. Too many unknowns. It would be better to withdraw for now and plan his next move.

Because of that, and because of the second thing he sensed. Not too far off, he recognized Nail's _ki_ rushing back to the Namekians. He was carrying what felt like an unconscious but alive Tien and Yamcha. _So his little journey was successful, then._

It wouldn't look good on Piccolo if he wasn't present with the other Namekians when Nail arrived. He-

Piccolo's hands shot to his temples. An aching, piercing jolt rushed through his thoughts, completely frazzled his thinking, and had passed on without any evidence of having happened. His feelings towards the Namekians- something wasn't right. His surge of energy on death's door, at the top of the spire-

A flare of _ki_ pushed away dirt and dust, and flew into the blue soldier's near-dead eyes. With a huff, Piccolo blasted off back towards the spire.

0o0o0

Both before and after Roshi and Katas- moving together, fists flying, with red and blue and brown colors splashing in the air around them- landed on the ridge before jumping back into the air, a quake shook the landscape of Hell. There was a key difference between these two, though. The quake that preceded them threw boulders twice their size tumbling down the side of the ridge; the quake that followed them collapsed the ridge entirely.

Rocketing forward, a shimmering Roshi chased Katas and blanketed him with an onslaught of red-tinged strikes and blows. The Namekian's blue-brown aura pulsed faster as his exertion increased- his limbs flashed in front of him to guard against his opponent's brutalizing offensive. A score of blows skidded across him and stretched his defense. Some rebounded painfully off of his forearms; some found their mark and twisted into his flesh.

Eventually, an opening came for Katas- Roshi overextended, lancing past him with all his force behind his right elbow. The Namekian pushed his _ki_ to his max, flaring his aura strong enough to flatten the ground around him, and threw his arm forward. His fist landed cleanly against Roshi's back.

He saw it. He felt it. But, somehow, immediately after this, the human's black-robed body vanished from Katas's sight. In the next instance, Roshi appeared behind Katas, muscles rippling and near-bursting, and thrust his hands into the Earth. Katas was half-turned to him when Roshi's legs slammed upward into his sides, bending him sideways and catapulting him into the air.

On the ground, Roshi pulled his hands out from the earth, throwing up a storm of small rocks past him. He bent low to the ground- and halted for a second, aura wobbling- before launching up into the sky after Katas.

The brief delay cost him his advantage- Roshi's spinning kick crashed resoundingly against one of Katas's legs, generating enough wind to stretch their _gis_ taut to their bodies. Their high-speed exchange resumed, with each fighter zipping around in the air fast enough for their auras to mix into the pink sky around them.

A blow landed against Roshi's abdomen, and for the first time, a heavy, stabbing pain shot through him. The shock of the unexpected hit threw him off- his next intended attack, a sideways swipe across Katas's chest, never materialized. He looked at his arms- veins swollen, with a red glow flickering on and off of them- and hesitated.

Then his instincts kicked back in, and his body moved. Shrouded in his own flickering red aura, Roshi thrust himself backward and avoided a speeding, dark-green fist aimed at his face. Boosting his Kaioken, Roshi zipped around to Katas's backside, hammered a number of kicks into the Namekian's back, and finished by firing a two-handed, point-blank blast of yellow-red _ki_.

A flare of blue-brown _ki_ buffeted Roshi, warping back his red aura, and froze his attack. The blast hung in the air, a foot away from either of them. It exploded there.

The world slowed down, then shook: a shockwave, large enough to reach all the way down to the ground and scoop layers of the land away, enveloped them and spit both of them out. Each one wrapped in their own _ki_ , they exited the mass of energy from opposite ends- Roshi careened further into the pink expanse that lorded over Hell, while Katas traveled a short distance before crashing deep into another nearby ridge. The sound of energy roiling and rock cracking filled the air.

Calling on his enhanced energy, Roshi painstakingly brought himself to a mid-air stop. Once this was done, his red aura blinked out, and he visibly sagged. Long, deep breaths began laboring in and out of his chest.

 _By the Kais…_ Roshi tried, and failed, to lift his twitching right arm. Looking closer, he saw tiny cuts and bruises spreading across it. King Kai hadn't exaggerated the toll prolonged use of the Kaioken- or short bursts of it at the higher levels- inflicted on the body. He was literally powering himself to death. At the rate he was going, his body would tear itself apart. Or spiritual container, or vessel- whatever it was, it wouldn't matter that his form in Otherworld was stronger and more durable than his living body. It had limits, just like a living body, and pressing up against them for too long would break them.

Roshi hadn't taken Katas seriously enough at the beginning. He had expected a tough fight, but he didn't think he would be straddling the line between existence and oblivion as much as Katas had boasted. He would give the Namekian that.

Huffing, Roshi found that he could use his left arm. He began loosening the ties and laces at the top of his _gi_. There came a time in some fights where your back was against your wall and any option you could think of looked like a better alternative than losing and probably dying. This, regrettably, was one of those times where he had no ready-to-go option. Roshi shrugged off his _gi_ from his left arm, and then agonizingly inched it down his uncooperative right one. Spasms raced up and down the limb- his right hand kept clasping and releasing the fabric, vice-like, like a broken clamp. Pain, enough to make Roshi hiss and bite and bleed the inside of his cheek, accompanied every cycle.

Eventually, with a toss, Roshi threw his black _gi_ over his shoulder. It fell half the distance to the ground and floated down the remainder. A pair of short black pants he wore underneath his _gi_ became the sole guardian of his decency. Disrobed, Roshi's chiseled physique- gratuitous, in his opinion, because even in his prime he had never looked _this_ good without a shirt- spasmed in some parts in a similar way to his right arm. Similarly, the surface of his chest and back was just as worn, cut, and exhausted as the rest of him was.

He couldn't risk anything more than one more use of the Kaioken, at any level- he wouldn't be able to _move_ , otherwise. A stillness settled on Roshi's mind. _So: one last move._

His gaze flickered down to where Katas had been gouged into a ridge. From a long, deep ditch in the earth, he saw the dark-green Namekian slowly hover out, his aura billowing down his limbs. _I have one move left, he has… three, maybe four. He's hurt, for sure_ , _but his power isn't reliant on him destroying his body- or spiritual container, or vessel-_

Roshi shook his head, trying to shake away his confusion. _Not- important… hmm…_ He looked at his right arm again. He examined the cuts and bruises, and the blood vessels swelling under the skin. Damage made to look real… but he knew it wasn't really. It was all appearance, no substance, maintained by whatever magic governed Otherworld and Hell. Dig deep enough into his body, and he'd be pop, like a balloon-

An idea, unprompted, rushed into his head fully formed. He had the Kaioken. He had his bulky, max-power form, something he hadn't used since he'd been alive, and he knew something about how souls worked in the afterlife. He knew that his body was wrapped around his soul, meant to protect it, and that this was true for any other person who was dead. Including his opponent.

As Katas moved closer to him- a neutral expression, shown whenever he wasn't actively avoiding or throwing strikes, was on the Namekian's face in place of his earlier anger- Roshi weighed his options. His back was against the wall. He could either go with this option, or most likely be erased from existence. It was an easy choice to make.

Growling from the back of his throat, Roshi hunched and raised his arms. He gathered himself, exhaled, and his muscles grew to twice their previous size. He gasped- the pain that he had pushed to the back of his mind momentarily slipped back to the front- and balled his fists even harder. Wounds opened up in his palms where his nails pressed into his skin, and he felt blood leak out of his fists.

To his relief, his spasming from earlier didn't return.

Katas was close enough now that Roshi saw one of his antennae flicker up and down. 'Another technique? Will this one finish the previous one's work and destroy what's left of you?' The Namekian brandished a taut, knowing grin.

Energy swirled around Roshi. His white aura, brighter than it was at the beginning of their fight, hummed in his ears. 'I hope,' Roshi said, his voice sounding as haggard as he felt, 'that the universe has forgotten about you. Be at peace.'

Katas's mouth curved. He braced himself.

Red swirls of light erupted out of nowhere, forming a red star in the pink sky, and Roshi surged forward, cocking back a massive arm. The first blow, traveling with enough velocity to shunt away the air around it, swiped through Katas's afterimage, violently dispersing it- and traveled further, slamming flush against Katas's guard. The Namekian's eyes bulged; the human's first move, like his own, had been to use an afterimage, and he had flown forward fast enough to catch him backpedaling.

With an emphatic _boom_ , Roshi's massive right arm swung up and wrenched Katas's arms up and above his head.

Katas saw Roshi's left arm, curled and sheathed in crimson. travel towards him, He saw it impact his chest, even as his knee swung up and rammed the arm to no effect. And he did and could do nothing as Roshi plunged into him. A great shudder swept over his body.

Roshi's arm, still wrapped in crimson, was suddenly pushed back- a blue-brown fog, thick, sprayed out of the fist-sized hole in Katas's chest. Katas made a weak face, grunted softly, and began to fall in the sky.

Roshi hit the ground first. His Kaioken had given out when Katas's _ki_ , expelled in all directions, had crashed against him and stunned him. A crash rung through the air, and his body formed a small crater. Katas's body landed a second later, softer, and made no crater.

The storm had ended abruptly. Without the sounds of their fight, Hell was quiet. The land around them, flattened and chipped, borne the scars of their fight. A thick, dark fog remained in the sky in a trail, tracking from where Katas had been impaled all the way to his resting spot on the ground. A cold wind blew over the area but did not disturb the fog.

Feeling cold, Roshi groaned, opened his eyes, and shivered. With some difficulty, he pushed himself into a sitting position. He looked around. Katas laid on the ground, unmoving, a few feet away from him. Roshi watched for any movement. He saw none.

With more difficulty, Roshi got to a kneeling position. From there, his will, pushing through his agonizing pain, forced himself to stand. Every part of him ached. Bruises, blood, and cuts, overlaid over sagging or twitching muscles, weighed on him. He felt heavy and his breaths were shallow. As he staggered over to Katas, he felt blood habitually separate from the tips of his fingers.

The Namekian's eyes were open, bright with life, but his lips quivered and shook without sound. He opened and closed his mouth slowly, but couldn't talk. He looked at Roshi.

Roshi looked back. He was tired, and he couldn't spare any time trying to guess the dying words of a long-dead fiend. What was happening to Katas- where his bodily container had been pierced, and his spiritual energy was slowly leaking out from it- could easily happen to Roshi if he lingered here. The atmosphere of Hell encouraged it- the weakening of the will, of the control one had over their strength and soul. His injuries were severe enough that he was in real danger here.

Yet… Roshi continued to watch Katas futilely shape his mouth. It was frustrating, on top of all the pain he felt. _The strongest opponent I've ever encountered. Strong enough to disregard the magical barriers between this realm and the next. And I will learn…_ _ **nothing**_ _from him. No explanation for what happened. For all my power, I was just barely able to defeat him._

 _Obliteration. That's what's happens in every close fight, right? It can never end with one side extending mercy or justice; it's always too close to take risks like that. Mercy can be rebuked. Justice can be punished. People die to make sure they can't steal victory at the last possible second._

Roshi flushed; he discovered that he was incredibly angry. _Damn him. He's dying, at least._

Dredging up the last remains of his _ki_ , Roshi resummoned his soft white aura. He wasn't going to bother trying to find his _gi_.

Katas looked at him, once more, appealing for something. Roshi, understanding this much at last, returned an empty stare and turned. He lifted into the pink sky a second later, heading for the thick yellow clouds beyond.

0o0o0

From the instant Roshi turned into a white speck in his clouded, deteriorating vision, his antennae began to twitch. Katas feebly twisted his neck to the left, resting his head on a flat, hard rock. At the bottom of his vision, he could see fog wafting away from his body.

No thoughts; no feelings. He was motivated by nothing more than a grasping, flailing compulsion. His antennae twitched faster. His eyes began to water.

There was no movement on the slope next to him for a long time. He couldn't move. Fog continued to trail away from his body. He watched. His antennae twitched.

'... What's happened to you?'

The voice was muted. Katas's antennae pulled his head up and to the right. King Piccolo, his face a mixture of pity, horror, and disgust, stood over him.

'Is this what the end is?' King Piccolo asked, distaste clear in his voice. His eyes were fixed on the gaping hole in the middle of Katas. There was emptiness, nothingness there- no substance. Around this hole, pieces of Katas were flaking away and condensing into fog. 'You melt into this infernal realm… even someone as great as you.'

A scornful, if tottering, smile gripped King Piccolo. He squatted down onto his heels next to Katas. 'All your self-proclaimed power. Your _strength_. For all your talk of the legacy you inherited and created- here you lay, dying.' King Piccolo grinned harder. 'You called me weak. You called me a _fool_. And yet you threw yourself at a stronger opponent- and for what? Your plan wasn't threatened. That human had no means to undo your work. No-one in this realm does, now- and yet, you fought him, and will die by his hand.' King Piccolo's confidence, in the face of a supposed ancestor who had denigrated him since their meeting, grew with every word that left his mouth. 'You fought for vanity. For _pride._ No goal, no purpose to it- just your arrogance. And while you did that, your "broken branch" hid and survived,' King Piccolo mocked, creeping closer to Katas. 'Someone _weak_ survived where you did not. And I will survive to reap the benefits of your designs, while your soul is purged from the fabric of reality. How does that make you _feel_?' King Piccolo taunted, jostling his antennae and staring down Katas. 'Come on- speak!'

Katas tried to. His mouth opened and closed, and no sound came out. His eyes looked tired. All the while, his antennae continued to twitch.

'Oh? You have nothing to say?' King Piccolo leaned over and examined the hole in Katas's body. 'You soon won't have the chance.' King Piccolo swiveled his attention back to Katas's face. 'Nothing? Really? Can you even admit that you were wrong?'

Katas's mouth had stopped moving. His eyes pleaded- or demanded something of King Piccolo. He couldn't tell. He didn't care.

King Piccolo slapped his hand across Katas's face, then gripped the darker Namekian by the bottom of his jaw. 'I'll help you,' King Piccolo said as he began moving Katas's mouth up and down. 'Go on, talk! Apologize! Admit you were a fool!' A different hand slapped Katas on the side of his head. 'Go on!' King Piccolo said, louder. 'Apologize! Apologize!' The slapping sped up, accompanying the growing volume of King Piccolo's voice. 'Apologize! _Apologize! Apologize or DIE!'_

A final slap cracked against Katas's head, more of an actual strike than a slap, and the darker Namekian's head rocked to the right. King Piccolo hovered over him, one hand still clamped around Katas's jaw, fuming. 'Dead yet!? Huh!?'

As expected, there was no verbal reply. Something _did_ respond, though- Katas began turning his head back to face King Piccolo. There was _pressure_ pushing against his hand. Vigor. _Life._

King Piccolo saw that a weak smile had taken hold of Katie's face. He saw his eyes. They were bright. They were _alive_. He thought of was his hatred for this stubborn and ancient Namekian, and then lost touch with the world.

With a flash of light, King Piccolo's color turned from green to white, features blurring together, and he was sucked into a single stretch of skin- the length of Katas's jaw where he had been touching the dying Namekian. The weak smile on Katas's face fled and was replaced by a much stronger one.

It finished quicker than it started. A final surge of white light flew into Katas, shaking him. The handprint on Katas's jaw glowed for a few seconds before fading away entirely.

For a time, Katas laid in that crater, motionless, excluding his twitching antennae. The hole in his body was gone; fog no longer trailed off of him. He was also alone.

 _Bliss._ He was in be pulled from the waters of non-existence, to grow his strength, to gain firsthand knowledge of a universe that had gone on without him for two hundred years- but most important of all, to be given a more complete perspective by his "broken branch", was rapturous. Katas could easily see it now- he _had_ been vain and arrogant to fight that human. His boredom in Hell had dulled his sense of self-preservation. As accused, he had fought for no particular reason other than for the fight itself. And that had been a mistake.

Perhaps it was good that this mistake had been made and learned from now. After all, he had called his spawn to him originally for this very occasion- to rescue him from the brink if needed. Better to have done this now and not later, after his efforts to free himself of his imprisonment had come to fruition. _But a time and place for that. Soon. Very soon._

Katas surged to his feet and took a deep breath. He stood a little taller, thought a little bit clearer, and felt more _whole_. He had missed this.

* * *

A/N: Heyo! Sorry about the delay. This chapter ended up being a longer one. Tuesday morning ain't that bad a replacement for Saturday, though, right? A lot of important things happened in this chapter, so I'm looking forward to what you guys think in the reviews!

Also, to clarify for the middle scene between Roshi and Katas, Roshi was able to do as much damage to Katas as he did because Katas was, for some portion of the attack, divided in power by his copies and unprepared to defend himself against a power of that magnitude.

Anyway, another week, another chapter! See you in a week or so's time!

power levels:

Nail: 45,000

Piccolo: 55,000

Burter: 47,000

Zarbon (transformed): 32,000

Katas: ~800,00 to 1,000,000 at full strength, suppressed by Hell

Roshi (base): 40,000

Roshi (Kaioken X10): 400,000

Roshi (Kaioken X15): 600,000

Roshi (Kaioken X20): 800,000

 **Reviews:**

 **Perfect Carnage:** The divider between this arc and the last is, admittedly, pretty flimsy. After writing this chapter, I kinda want to start the Ginyu Arc next chapter and put this and last chapter under Namek- this felt like a better cap to all the events of that arc than chapter 60.

Dunno. Gotta think about it.

 **TienFan999:** Thank you for the kind words! Every part of my story should, at a bare minimum, be doing two things, so I'm glad that scene did it!

As for the Namekians, I agree with what you've said- I like to stick to canon as much as possible except for the parts that diverge or change because of events within this story, obviously, or for parts that aren't fleshed out and have no greater purpose in the larger narrative. I.e., how the Namekians became irrelevant to the canon story and universe halfway through the Androids Saga. As the creators of the dragonballs and as powerful as they can be (along with some really interesting techniques), they have a lot of storytelling potential IMO. Hopefully, my story can bring that stuff out more.


	63. What We Make

Ginyu

Chapter 63: What We Make

* * *

A cold, frigid wind rolled across the ground, throwing biting snow into Launch's face. Her shoulder-length hair, intermixing strands of blue and yellow color, thrashed behind her. Undeterred, she flared her _ki_ , melting the ice forming the front of her body, and swung her head around to yell. 'JUST A LITTLE FARTHER!' she crooned through the storm. 'I SEE A CAVE!'

Behind her and several strides back, Suno and Chiaotzu struggled to follow in her footsteps. The snow cover this high up on the mountain was taller than Chiaotzu and went up to Suno's chest- they had no idea how Launch was traipsing forward at the speed that she was. They also didn't understand how, whereas they were fully padded and clothed for cold weather, Launch had nothing on except for a jacket and another pair of pants over her usual combat _gi_.

'I DON'T SEE ANYTHING!' Suno screamed back, feeling justifiably angry. No sane person, who was dragging themself through a snowstorm on a hunch, would force their friends to come along. Though, maybe Suno got it backward. Was she sane if she agreed to go with Launch in the first place?

A presence at Suno's side snapped her out of her thoughts. Warmth touched the right side of her body.

'IF SHE SEES A CAVE, I'M GOING INTO IT!' Chiaotzu said loudly as he passed her, looking much whiter than usual. His tunnel through the snow, which he dug by heating the area in front of him with his _ki_ , suddenly lurched forward in length. He started running.

Suno looked ahead- Launch's image was becoming more and more blurry as the length of the storm between them grew. Cursing under her breath, she used her _ki_ in a similar way that Chiaotzu was doing and plowed forward.

A few minutes later, Launch, followed quickly by Suno and Chiaotzu, tumbled into a cave. It was sloped and ran up into the mountain, shielding its interior from the snow and wind outside.

While her companions rubbed their hands together, Launch moved deeper into the cave, hiking up a small incline. Farther inside, there was little to no light, and Launch stopped at the precipice of total darkness. She looked into the darkness, noticed a glint, and reached in.

'Launch?' Chiaotzu asked, peering up at Launch's dim outline against the featureless black of the cave's interior. 'What are you doing up there?'

Launch rose, hesitated, and turned around. Glistening in her right hand was the six-star dragonball.

Chiaotzu's expression dropped. 'What?!'

'You absolute maniac,' Suno said, her outwardly angry face betraying how impressed she was at Launch. 'Made us walk up a mountain through a blizzard on a _hunch…_ and you were right.' She shook her head. 'How'd you find it? Kami told us the dragonball could be anywhere on this mountain.'

Launch's mouth dipped and bounced on her face. She had turned back around to face the deeper, too-dark-to-see part of the cave. 'I have many talents. Deduction, in the right conditions, being one of them.' Launch paused. 'Did you know that a yeti lives on this mountain?'

Suno shot a look at Launch's back. 'Really?'

'Really. I saw this particular yeti hauling around something shiny and orange once. Knew where she lived, too, because I tracked her one time to figure out where she might be stashing the dragonball.' Launch paused again. 'So, put two and two together…'

Chiaotzu's expression dropped in an entirely different way from earlier. 'Oh. This is that yeti's cave, then.'

'Yep.'

'Ah. Well… okay. Can we leave?' Suno asked hastily.

'Sure- you heard Kami,' Launch said, rubbing the dragonball with the corner of her jacket. A layer of frost had built up on its surface, making the inlaid stars and orange color seem distant. 'Things on Namek are dicey. The dragonballs need to be ready ASAP.'

'I'm not talking about the dragonball!' Suno snapped. 'I'm talking about the yeti!'

Launch came back over to them and put on a mocking face. 'What? Does the big bad yeti scare you? We could easily cream her if need be. We're probably- I don't know- three, four hundred times stronger than she is.'

'I don't care!' Suno stressed. This cave is small and dark and there's a pounding blizzard boxing us in from outside! I don't like the idea of being stuck in here with-'

A growl, low and drawn-out, suddenly rushed out from the deeper end of the cave. Launch, Suno, and Chiaotzu seized up.

'RUN!' And they dashed out of the cave, snow stinging their faces, and hurtled down the path they had come by.

0o0o0

On the side of a cliff, birds nestled into their nests and cowered. A pterodactyl, hoarding a prime platform halfway up to the cliff's top, preened and stretched its limbs. Since making its roost here, it had pushed out a sizable chunk of the inhabitants of the bird colony taking up the cliff-side. It was happy it had done so. It was a prideful dinosaur.

So unused to being challenged, the pterodactyl failed to notice a flabby-looking human roll himself over the edge of its platform.

Yajirobe patted himself down, and admired the majestic beast spread its wings. He muttered: 'Wow.'

At the sound of Yajirobe's voice, the dinosaur jumped. Its eyes shot to Yajirobe, studied him, and then in a show of what it thought of him, stepped forward and roared straight into Yajirobe's face. His clothes pressed back against his body, and all around him, birds, startled by the sound, swooped into the air and flew off.

Yajirobe wrinkled his nose and coughed.

A few seconds later, the pterodactyl was thrown off the edge of the platform and plummeted to the distant and foggy earth below. Holding his sword by the pommel he had swiped the dinosaur with, Yajirobe frowned and turned to its nest. After a moment spent looking, his hand latched onto a round object under the straw and thresh. He fished out the three-star dragonball.

'Nice!' he exclaimed to no-one. He looked over the nesting area once more, then turned and approached the platform's edge. 'Time to… err…' Yajirobe leaned forward to gaze down at the misty ground below. It was a long way down, and though he wasn't tired, he enjoyed climbing _down_ much less than climbing _up_. _Mr. Popo's gonna have to come get this dragonball eventually, and when they do, they'll be on that carpet. It wouldn't be much trouble for them to give me a ride back down..._

The more he pictured Mr. Popo riding in on his magic carpet, the wind and sun on the deity's back, the more Yajirobe grinned. 'Yeah… they won't mind…' he muttered as he sat down and reached for the satchel resting on his left hip. He pulled out a triangular-shaped rice ball, closed his eyes in anticipation, and bit into it.

0o0o0

Retu knocked three times on the plain brown door before his patience gave up. If he was still on crutches, he would have whacked whoever opened this door with them.

 _Hmm._ Standing on a porch in the middle of nowhere, somewhere on the outskirts of West City, Retu counted his blessings. Not needing crutches anymore, even if that deprived him a useful thing to whack people with, was a good thing. Overcoming his mental blocks were _good_. Realizing that he could use his _ki_ to walk without crutches was _good_. Reminding himself of these facts were _good_.

Didn't make him any less unhappy to not have crutches at this very moment, though. Sighing, Retu knocked on the door once more. If he didn't get a response in the next few seconds, he would just climb up onto the roof, consequences be damned-

'Excuse me?'

Retu's gaze jolted up. A middle-aged woman, who looked as displeased as her voice sounded, stood in the doorway, glaring at him. A double-barreled shotgun, gripped near the trigger with her right hand and held at the stock with her left, was pointed at a spot about a foot above and to the right of his head.

Retu immediately put on his best smile.

'Hi,' he began. 'Are you the owner of this house?'

The woman, without letting go of her glare, leaned out of the doorway and looked to her left and right, glancing at the open stretch of land, devoid of any structures of any kind, that marked this dirt road in either direction. 'I am,' she answered as she leaned back. 'How'd you get here?' she asked suspiciously.

'I came here by plane, which is in a capsule,' Retu lied. He had flown, but he didn't want to throw anything weird at an already unwelcoming homeowner. 'Speaking of- I'm a representative for Capsule Corp. in West City. You know- the company that makes capsules? We've recently taken an interest in your house- your roof, specifically. It's got- it's got an _interesting_ design- we have an interest in it. So, what I'm really saying is- can I go up on your roof?'

The look this woman gave him was… sticking with the theme, and was utterly unconvinced by his rambling, but to Retu's surprise, after a moment she made a face and nodded. 'Whatever,' she said, sounding bored. 'Do whatever you want out here- not like there's anything you could _do_ to _nothin'_.' Then the door slammed closed.

For a moment Retu stood on the porch, listening to the woman recede further into her house. Once he was sure he had actually been given permission, his face did a little dance and he backed away from the front door. After examining one side of the house, he flew upward.

Landing on the roof- which was slanted down at the edges and close to flat in the middle- Retu walked over to the house's brick chimney on the far side. Once there, he clambered on top of it, laid himself flat on it, squinted into its dark interior as best he could, and stuck a hand down it.

A second later, grunting, Retu straightened, holding the two-star dragonball in his hand. He lifted it, examined it against the day's light, and rubbed away streaks of orange by rubbing his thumb over its soot-covered exterior. 'How the heck did you get lodged in this woman's roof?...' he muttered to himself, rotating it in his hand.

Curious, he thought about the chances of this until he remembered he was… still on this person's roof. _Alright…_ As quietly as he could, he tiptoed to the roof's edge, slipped the dragonball into his backpack, and set off into the air. _I hope I don't give that woman too much paranoia… Mr. Brief better not direct me to another dragonball stuck at a place like this..._

0o0o0

A tray of tea, comprised of a white porcelain cup and kettle, was laid out in Baba's parlor on her favorite coffee table before her. Resting on her crystal ball a few feet away, hands folded, she looked over the thin wisps of vapor curling away from the cup. She liked her tea hot. If she didn't drink her tea soon, it would no longer be hot. _So…_ she unclasped one of her hands and reached for the tea… _I should drink it now…_

Her hand made it halfway to the cup when it halted, and cursing, Baba withdrew it and shook her head. _Curse my conscious! Never could drink tea without it being clear..._

She was all too aware of the events going on Earth at the moment- or, at least, as much as she needed to know. She wasn't sure _how_ exactly it had happened, but Kami was back alive, and that meant there was a mad dash among every person of importance on this planet for the dragonballs. To undo all the damage that invader had done, no doubt.

Baba had no interest in searching for some ham-fisted artifacts- she didn't think much of them in the first place. Made her job harder; or, more accurately, harder to justify doing when people tried to revive dead loved ones instead of using the skills of people like her to _truly_ commune with the dead. There was a certain grace or resolution you received when you got that final, emphatic message from a deceased… especially when that deceased could impart wise words without imbuing them in the annoying traits they had in life.

But she had woken up today from a vision- and this vision told her exactly where one of those seven dragonballs, which would be hunted to the ends of the Earth, would be. The one-star dragonball rested in a stream bed not far from her coven in the cave. And she may have been able to ignore this fact if she _also_ didn't know- she felt, _knew_ it like it was a rock lodged deep in her gut- that the current quest for the dragonballs was urgent. Potentially consequential. And, again, even though Baba didn't have the full measure of things, she knew enough to know that, somehow, every second counted.

She stared at her tea. The wisps of smoke were growing weaker. Scowling, Baba adjusted herself on her ball and swung her gaze across the room. 'Devilman!' she screamed.

One of the doors leading to her parlor swung open, and a- well, a man who looked like a Devil, black from his head to his toes with wings like a bat- stepped forward and kneeled. 'What is it that you require, Fortuneteller Baba?'

Baba scowled at him, too. 'Secure for me a dragonball! The one-star one, to be precise, is resting in a stream not far from here!' she barked, ramming her fist against the floating crystal ball she sat on. 'It should look like this, except that it's orange and has a star in it! Am I clear?'

'Crystal, Madam,' he replied without looking at her. 'I shall do so immediately.'

'And make sure to hand it off to Kami's assistant, Mr. Popo, when they come around!' Baba called out, extending a hand towards the open doorway Devilman had strode through. 'He'll be on a flying carpet!'

There was a backward wave of acknowledgment and the door closed. Baba frowned, and withdrew her hand. 'Oh… did I get that right?' she muttered to herself. 'Is Mr. Popo a genie? An attendant? A spiritual steward?' Pondering, Baba leaned forward, cupped the cup of tea, and sipped. Perfect temperature. 'Hmm… I'll have to ask Kami the next time I see him. Next time he dies then, hah!'

0o0o0

They had spent hours trudging through the wilderness, blind to where they should be going. Without a dragon radar, they were, at best, making guesses as to where a dragonball could be- at worse, they were fumbling around several hundred miles from the nearest one.

Today, however, was not a "worst" type of day, because when the sun began to dip in the sky, Gohan broke free of Chi-Chi's grasp, climbed on top of a familiar purple dragon that had appeared out of nowhere, and led everyone on a wild chase as the fledgling flew crazily through the sky with a toddler on its back- and when that dragon was caught by Chi-Chi on a hillside, and she wrestled him to the ground, Rayne, who was watching this from the sky above, noticed a glint coming from a run of boulders to her right.

A minute later, with Chi-Chi, Puar, Oolong, Gohan, and even his apparent dragon pet crowding behind her, Rayne pulled away from the ground with the four-star dragonball. 'Holy freakin' moly,' she said, eyes wide. 'I found- _we_ found it,' she landed on, turning to everyone else. 'The four-star ball, thanks to you two and your craziness,' she said, squatting and patting Icarus and Gohan on their heads. Gohan reached for the ball, like a child reaching for something to play with, and grateful, Rayne handed it over to him. With wonder, Gohan took the ball, set it in his lap, and stared at it.

Chi-Chi, arms still wrapped around Icarus, released her grip, and the dragon hopped away and sat next to Gohan, staring at the dragonball in the same way he was. She watched this, as did she watch Rayne, Puar, and Oolong make an ad hoc circle around Gohan and Icarus.

Rayne turned to Chi-Chi. Looking on them from only a few feet away, her gaze seemed much farther away than that. Rayne walked over. 'What are you thinking, Chi?'

'It's… funny,' Chi-Chi replied, speaking quietly enough so that only they-two could hear. Her gaze remained centered on the circle of people in front of her. 'The four-star dragonball has a history.'

'Meaning?'

Chi-Chi paused, and looked at Rayne. Her face was a mixture of joy and melancholy, and captivated with its ambiguity. 'Do you know who I named Gohan after?'

Rayne made a shrug of her shoulders.

'No? Then I'll have to tell you sometime. I-' Chi-Chi stopped, and spent a moment rubbing her hand across her cheek as if there was a tear was running down it. If one was there, Rayne hadn't noticed it, as her gaze had gradually drifted down to the ground as their conversation grew more… not what she had expected. Perhaps she was just a little out of it- she still couldn't believe she had found a dragonball without a dragon radar.

After a pause, Chi-Chi resumed. 'Just… things have a way of repeating, sometimes. I made this happen. And it's beautiful… and a little sad.' Chi-Chi shook her head. 'Sorry. I should stop rambling on.'

'You don't have to apologize, Chi-Chi,' Rayne said a little awkwardly, while staring down at the ground. 'It's okay if you're rambling. It's okay if you're a little sad… I think.'

'Yeah? You think?'

Rayne blushed. She had gotten better with this kind of stuff, but she still wasn't perfect. Not sure what to say to that, Rayne looked back to Chi-Chi- but she had resumed her distant look from earlier, and was staring away from her again. Taking this as a cue that their conversation was over, Rayne breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to gathering in front of them.

0o0o0

'You're joking.'

'Look at my face! I wish I was!'

'Shh! Quiet!' Mai flung her hands over Shu's mouth and dipped her head to the right. Together, they both looked and saw that Pilaf was still snoring away in his luxury, comically large king-size bed. 'Outside,' she whispered, and the two of them quickly exited the tent.

The forest around them was dense and creeping, which made seeing things in the dawn gloom harder. Pilaf's tent took up most of the clearing and had left little room for Shu and Mai's tents, or anything else, for that matter- they had been forced to put most of their expeditionary equipment in another clearing nearby.

Once Mai quietly dropped the flap to Pilaf's tent behind her, she rounded on Shu. 'You're _sure_ it was there?' she pressed him.

Shu, who looked visibly distressed, gave a vigorous nod. 'I swear!' he replied. 'Clear as day! Orange, same shape, heck, it even had all seven stars! It's the same one!'

'But that doesn't make sense! We couldn't find it for _months_ , and now it just appears out of thin air right mixed in with our stuff?'

'I know, I know! It's crazy! But it's there!'

Mai made a helpless sound of annoyance and wrapped her arms around her body. 'This is bad, bad!' she said, wiggling past Shu towards the edge of the clearing. 'We can't tell Pilaf we found the ball after _just_ telling him we lost it! It'd make us look like fools! He'd lose it!' She swung back around to Shu. 'He might even kill us!'

'Well,' Shu said slowly, wrinkling his nose, 'I don't think he would- I'm not even sure he could- _kill_ us-'

'And how do you know!?' Mai said, stepping up to Shu. 'He might already suspect that we _lied_ about when we had found out the ball had gone missing- maybe he knows it disappeared months ago and NOT LAST WEEK!'

Too stunned by Mai's outburst, Shu said nothing. He started trembling.

Mai saw this, and her face softened. 'Alright… alright,' she said, slowing her breathing. 'I think I got a little carried away. Let's go to the equipment, confirm with all certainty that it's back with our stuff, and go from there. We shouldn't panic. Okay?'

Shu nodded. 'Oh… okay.'

About a minute later, they stepped into a clearing bursting with supplies, crates, machinery, vehicles- everything they could possibly need while this deep into the wilderness. Immediately, Mai halted and extended an arm, stopping Shu as well. '...Who is that?' she asked, drawing her gaze to the far end of the camp.

Shu squinted- his vision for anything over thirty feet away wasn't very good. 'Yeah, what is that?'

'Who,' Mai corrected, unstrapping her pistols from their holsters on either side of her. 'That's definitely a person- and they're rummaging through our stuff.'

'Oh, jeez,' Shu muttered, pulling out his sword. 'I really need glasses.'

Mai huffed. 'Come on,' she said, leading Shu forward.

The person she saw under the shade of one of their tarps- who had their back to them and looked pitch-black in the darkness underneath- Mai discovered was _actually_ pitch-black in color, except for the white pants, white turban, and red sash and sleeveless vest they wore.

Mai stopped just before she went under the tarp and leveled her pistols. 'Freeze,' she said icily. 'You're rummaging through stuff that doesn't belong to you.'

Shu stopped at her side and brandished his sword in front of him. 'Yeah! Show yourself!'

The person rummaging through their stuff froze. The fingers on their right hand flexed and, out of nowhere, came to grip the seven-star dragonball. Mai's eyes hadn't finished widening before the person in front of her disappeared entirely.

The tip of Shu's sword hit the dirt. 'Where'd they-'

'Behind you,' an indescribably calm voice said to them.

Mai and Shu spun around. Hovering a few feet away and above them, the black-as-night thief stood on a floating carpet, was rigid as a board, had the dragonball in one hand, waved at them, and smiled. 'You have my thanks,' they said. Then, without any explanation, they simply disappeared.

For a long time after this, Mai and Shu frantically looked around and searched their surroundings, and for an even longer time after that, sat in the middle of that clearing in silence.

Finally, Shu made a noisy swallow, and said: 'Well- that solves our problem of what to tell Pilaf, I guess.'

'Yeah,' Mai said weakly, 'I guess it does.'

0o0o0

Balancing the meticulously detailed statue of Shenron- which was half as big as him- with both hands, Korin lumbered out of the main complex and onto the wider outside of the Lookout. The air was always brisk out here. Maybe it had something to do with this place's ambient energy; maybe it was just plain cold. Either way, Korin tightened his grip on his statue and huddled his arms a little bit closer to his body.

He never understood how he felt less at ease up here than Kami- his fur surely had to be warmer than what the Guardian wore.

Kami was standing near the Lookout's edge, opposite of the complex. He was in the same position Korin had left him in- one hand on his staff, one rubbing his forehead above his nose.

'Still have that headache?' Korin asked while he delicately placed the statue down behind Kami.

'Yes,' Kami replied glumly. When he turned to Korin, the cat saw that Kami's eyes were clenched shut in pain. 'It is… very debilitating.'

Korin frowned. 'Do you need to lie down?'

'No,' Kami said, waving away Korin's concerns. 'I can do so after this. First… I must make sure everything is properly attuned for the dragon.'

'Attuned?' Korin asked, singling out a word. 'I don't understand.'

'Things may have become… unaligned while I was dead,' Kami said. 'I am sorry if I am not explaining this well-'

'You aren't 100%, I get it,' Korin said. 'You're just checking to make sure everything is fine- that's the gist of it, right?'

Kami nodded. 'Yes, that is "the gist".' Kami took a deep breath, then opened his eyes and held out one of his hands inches away from the statue. 'This will only take a moment.'

The statue began to glow, and at the same time, a white, pure light started to emanate from Kami's outstretched palm. The two sources of light commingled for a brief time, then as quickly as they appeared, they separated and returned to their respective sources. When the light had fully dissipated, Kami took another deep breath and placed both his hands on his staff.

'So… everything good?' Korin asked.

'I made a change,' Kami said, before he turned and started to walk away to the Lookout's complex. 'You may place the statue back when you so wish.'

Korin glanced back at Kami. 'What? What'd you change?'

'I am now going to go rest,' Kami announced without interrupting his walk. Korin wasn't sure if he had heard his last question. 'Please- wake me when Mr. Popo summons the dragon.'

Korin watched as Kami receded. In different circumstances he would have chased after the Guardian and pestered him until he got an answer. But he would wait to ask the Guardian what exactly he had done until he felt better. _Kami gets a pass. He was dead not too long ago._

Another wind blew across the Lookout's surface, and feeling a chill, Korin tensed and swung back to face out to the sky. Something occurred to him. _Wait._ _Does he expect me to keep a tab on things while he's resting?_

Sighing, and with his staff in one hand, Korin strode past the statue of Shenron and came to the Lookout's very edge. 'How do I even do that?...'

Glancing around to make sure he was alone, Korin puffed out his chest, put his weight on his staff, and closed his eyes in the same way Kami had done so earlier. He tried to tune into the Lookout's energy to see if he could get a telepathic hold of Mr. Popo. At first, he felt nothing. At first.

 _Huh. I'm definitely feeling… something._

0o0o0

Seated in his lawn chair with his hands folded in his lap, King Kai was ruminating about his past- among other things, as his eyes traced flashes of red sparking across his planet and the heavy panting that followed- when something prodded against his mind. It took him a second to realize that he was being contacted. _'Who is this?' he asked, matter-of-fact._

Silence _. 'I know you're still there,'_ King Kai said, annoyed _. 'I can_ _ **sense**_ _you.'_

 _'...Who are you?'_ the voice asked, uncertain. _'You sound familiar.'_

 _'So we're playing that game, huh? Who put you up to this?'_ King Kai demanded. _'West Kai? East?'_

 _'Kais?... no. I'm… not really sure what I'm doing.'_

 _'This is a prank, right?'_ King Kai asserted. ' _Must be. Well, let me tell you- you started a war, my friend. I've got nothing better to do than to make your life a never-ending misery of goofs and gaffes! I'm going to_ _ **destroy**_ _you! You should have never called me!'_

 _'Wasn't trying to call you…'_ the voice muttered. _'Was trying to get ahold of someone collecting the dragonballs.'_

King Kai sat up in his chair. _'What'd you say? Dragonballs? Who is this? You're not Kami.'_

 _'Oh- wait!'_ the voice explained. _'You're King Kai, aren't you! Ah! Now it makes sense.'_

 _'Where's Kami? Who_ _ **are**_ _you?'_

 _'He's resting- and I'm Korin. I think you heard me earlier when you talked to Kami with Krillin.'_

 _'Korin, eh? I'll put that name to the voice, but listen- what's the situation with the dragonballs?'_

King Kai heard the sound of what he thought was a shrug. _'Not sure._ ' Korin answered.' _I was trying to figure that out when I accidentally started talking to you.'_

 _'So- you don't have the dragonballs ready yet?_ '

 _'Not yet, no._ '

' _Okay, okay,'_ King Kai sighed. ' _That's not ideal.'_

 _'You gonna elaborate on that?'_

 _'I've been checking in on Namek every hour or so- judging from how things are going right now, we're going to have to make use of the Earth's dragonballs soon. Like, real soon.'_

 _'That bad?'_

 _'If I'm right- and I'm hoping I'm not- yes.'_

 _'I see.'_

Some time passed before King Kai spoke again. ' _Korin, can you do everything Kami can? Are you able to talk to everyone on Earth, coordinate things, stuff like that?'_ he asked.

 _'I can try, at least.'_

Korin heard King Kai grunt. _'That'll have to do, then,'_ the galactic deity said. _'Contact me when everything is ready on your end. And, crossing my fingers that I don't have to, I'll relay to you any relevant events on Namek if they occur.'_

 _'Got it.'_

0o0o0

With a show of strength, Piccolo landed on top of the spire shrouded in his deep blue aura. He doubted that, when a few Namekians exited from the hall soon after, any one of them could tell how rattled he was beneath the swaths of blue that surrounded him.

 _Which is for the best._ His heart was still thrumming in his chest, unceasing since it had kicked into a frenzy a few minutes past. Whatever joy he had felt earlier while obliterating his enemies had turned bitter in his mouth. A nagging sense of _wrongness_ refused to leave him, or his thoughts, whenever he thought of the Namekians. And, now, with only his blue aura separating him from them… it was too much. Too many thoughts and feelings, unbeckoned, uncalled, filled his mind. None of it made any sense. _These people… feel..._

Through the blue haze surrounding him, Piccolo saw one of the Namekians approach. Unconsciously, his aura flickered and waned. It was the one who had spoken to him before- _Moori. I've… never heard that name before… and yet…_

'Piccolo?' Moori said, as if he didn't know who he was talking to. The elder's gaze searched him up and down. 'You are Piccolo?'

'Have you lost your mind?' Piccolo growled, baring his fanged canines. 'Going senile like Guru-'

Piccolo's mouth clamped shut. His confusion, written clearly on his face, now matched that of Moori's. He muttered under his breath and turned away.

Moori grabbed his arm, and forced him to look back. 'Guru died- and you did not meet him before that happened,' Moori said, his eyes just as prodding as his statement. 'Nail would have no reason to tell you this happened, nor could have the humans informed you- _so how do you know of Guru_?'

Piccolo's mouth opened and closed. His mind was rallying around an answer he couldn't express. A feeling that he felt he didn't feel.

'You have done a terrible thing,' Moori muttered, letting his grip slide off of Piccolo's arm. 'And you do not even comprehend it.' A nervous laugh rustled from the elder. 'You… you don't even know. You are ignorant.'

In a different, more despondent tone of voice, Moori asked: 'If you didn't know, how did you do this? How?'

'I don't answer to you,' Piccolo grated, stepping back. 'I... ' Again, Piccolo's mouth opened and closed. A look of helplessness was glued to his face. '...' Abruptly, Piccolo turned and walked. He came to the edge of the spire's top, from where he could look out on the rolling green and blue of the land all around them, sat, and appeared to meditate.

Moori, feeling more like a specter who could only look onto events instead of an actual living being, watched Piccolo do this. Behind him, he could sense unrestrained unease among his kin. Chewing the inside of his mouth, he turned and moved towards them.

'He said nothing,' Tsuno said bitterly, standing at the head of the group. 'He does not know. But you _do_ , Moori. What are you hiding from us?' The other Namekians nodded assiduously with Tsuno's line of questioning. ' _What has happened to him?_ '

'I am hiding nothing,' Moori denied, frowning. 'I would never hide anything from you all-'

'And yet you know something,' Tsuno said, stepping closer. His eyes were burning. 'But you do not say it.'

Moori hesitated. He sought something in the unfriendly faces of his kin, and sighed. 'Perhaps you see it as hiding,' Moori said. 'For me, it is… a problem of expression. Piccolo has done something only Guru had ever seen- and I am still struggling to accommodate the experience and knowledge Guru gave me before he passed. I have a sense of what Piccolo did, but not yet know how to explain it.'

'What is that sense, then?' Tsuno pressed.

'The sense is what you observed. What Piccolo did to Leera… I am certain that it is irreversible.'

Something flashed in Tsuno's eyes. 'That- that may be-'

Before Tsuno could go on, a _clunk_ sounded from the other side of the spire's top. Not five feet from Piccolo- who, it seemed, was oblivious or uncaring to this event- did Bez, carrying Bulma, crumple onto the ground.

Moori made immediate eye contact with Dende. The younger Namekian nodded and advanced towards them. Moori appraised Tsuno, recognized the elder suspending their discussion from a shift in his posture and a softening in his expression, and together, they strode over to Bez and Bulma.

Dende already had his hands over Bulma when he arrived. Green bands radiated from his palms and lapped against Bulma's skin. She was, judging by her appearance, far less injured than the person who had carried her here. Moori's gaze turned to Bez and registered how maimed- with his armor almost gone, dried blood caking every open inch of his body, and bruises crowding on his skin- the purple alien looked.

'Dende, why aren't you healing him first?' Tsuno asked, pointing a finger towards Bez.

'I told him to heal her first,' Bez said, holding a hand over one of his arms and grimacing. 'She had a head injury. More worried about that than anything else.'

Tsuno looked over Bez. 'You are in horrible pain,' he stated instead of asking.

'I'm pretty friggin' tired, but beyond that, I won't die. I can wait.'

The two Namekian elders exchanged a glance of disbelief. 'How did you fly up here in this condition?' Moori asked.

A distant grin wrapped itself around Bez's face. 'That's a story I'll tell one day,' he mused.

At this moment, Dende leaned away from Bulma. 'I have healed her to the best of my abilities- but I think she will not be awake for some time.' Dende paused, and wiped a sleeve across his forehead. Sweat beaded on his face. 'I wish I could have done more.'

'It appears that you have already done too much,' Moori cautioned, acting like a parent towards Dende- which, even though Dende originated from Guru and not him, was a role he had to grow more accustomed to with Guru gone. _Now that I think about it… I'll have to do that one day. Lay new Namekians. What an odd concept..._

'It is my burden to bear,' Dende said. 'No-one else can do what I can.' Even as he said this, he moved over to Bez. The purple alien was too concerned with managing his own pain to pay attention to their conversation.

'You are a child,' Tsuno said quietly.

Dende didn't respond. He grit his teeth and waves of green lapped against Bez.

Another sound rolled across the spire. Moori and Tsuno spun. Behind them, with much more grace and control than Bez had managed, Nail landed and placed Tien and Yamcha's unconscious bodies on the ground. Ignoring some minor injuries, they looked largely unharmed.

A pang of anxiety hit Moori. Abruptly, he said: 'I want you to take the Namekians inside, Tsuno.'

Tsuno balked at him. 'Why?'

'For all the success current events show… I will need to talk to Nail about what we witnessed.' His gaze swept over to the other Namekians. 'What we _all_ witnessed. And this discussion would be best if held not in front of the others.'

'Truthfully?' Tsuno asked, skepticism clear in his voice. 'Or do you want to divulge information to Nail that you do not wish to divulge to me or the others.'

'Things have not changed since earlier. I cannot explain what happened. That will only come with time.'

'So you say.'

'You trust me?'

'Right now, not much.'

A standoff occurred between them, each one staring at the other, refusing to back down. In the end, something in Moori's gaze- pleading, or desperation- won out.

Frowning, Tsuno walked away. After exchanging a few words with the other Namekians, as a group, they entered the hall. Relieved, Moori walked over to Nail.

Nail had watched all this. 'You dismissed the other Namekians,' he observed as the last of his kin filed into the hall. 'You might have lied. Either way, I imagine you have a reason for moving them inside.'

Moori's frown from earlier returned, and was twice as pronounced. 'I am going to ask you a question, Nail- did you notice if anyone was missing when you arrived?

Nail's attention flickered back over to the entrance of the hall. His features pinched after a moment. 'Leera,' Nail said. 'Leera wasn't present. Where is he?'

Moori didn't reply. Nail looked back over to him- the grand elder was as pale as death. 'Something has happened,' Moori said, eyes unbudging from Piccolo, who ignored them from the far side of the spire.

'I don't appreciate your cryptic messaging,' Nail remarked sharply. 'Speak clearly to me.'

'I am trying the best I can,' Moori said in a strained voice. 'I cannot explain what happened- only describe it. Piccolo… took in Leera.'

Nail's mouth twisted. '"Took in"? What does that mean?'

Moori took a deep breath. 'Piccolo was dying. Leera approached and laid a hand on him while waiting for Dende to rush over. And, then… light. Leera's form blurred away, turned into white light, and flowed into Piccolo's body. His wounds healed in a matter of seconds, and by the end of it, no trace of Leera even having existed remained. He was… gone. Utterly.'

Nail's face was expressionless. 'You are describing something familiar to me. A technique taught to me by Guru when I was tasked to be the protector of our people.' Nail looked over towards Piccolo, then back to Moori. 'A technique to be used in only the direst of circumstances- that is what Guru said. Only when total obliteration threatened us. And, even then, it was to be used with extreme caution.' Nail halted. 'I am sure you know the conditions- you have Guru's knowledge available to you. Once the technique is performed, its products are permanent. Two Namekians bonded together through the technique can never uncouple. They become one body, and nearly one spirit and mind.'

'I am aware,' Moori said.

'So it seems that Leera knew of this technique, and that he consented with Piccolo-'

'No! Leera did not know of this technique!' Moori burst in whispers. 'And, furthermore, it is impossible that he could have consented in the short amount of time he was in contact with Piccolo! What Piccolo did was something else entirely- something a Namekian hasn't done in centuries! Something atrocious!'

Nail appraised Moori. 'It now sounds like you understand what happened.'

'... I understand what I just said, and nothing more,' Moori stated. 'It, at least, accords with the terror I've felt since it happened- whatever Piccolo did, it was regarded by Guru as… monstrous. The associations in Guru's knowledge are clear. It is a horribly evil act to _consume_ a Namekian soul in the way that Piccolo did.'

Things went quiet between them. They both glanced over and saw that Piccolo had not moved from his meditative sitting position.

'There are other consequences beyond this, of course. Consequences I'm sure you've noticed,' Moori said after a time, shifting gears.

Nail's gaze turned back to Moori. 'It was obvious from the moment I arrived. Piccolo's strength surpasses mine now.'

'Then you are aware of the threat he poses.'

'I was always aware.' Nail pointedly looked at Moori. 'I would have killed him if allowed to when he first rushed here. I cannot do that now.'

Moori let that sentence hang in the air. 'This may be for the best.'

Nail rounded on Moori, sudden anger in his voice. '"For the best"? After all you've said? He could go about doing what he did to Leera, to all of us-'

Fighting against his own anxiety, Moori calmly raised a hand and silenced Nail. 'I do not think he could, or even would, do that.'

'What makes you think that?'

Moori's features deepened. 'For one, he did what he did to Leera on death's door, and not before. Once you left, if he was in control of this technique, he could have used it at his leisure on us. He did not. Thus, I do not think he can control it. I also do not think he used it consciously with Leera. It, perhaps, triggered because he was near death. Second… I realize now that I had a revealing conversation with him earlier. He was not pleased with what he had done, nor did he even seem to understand it- he was distressed, and could not explain why he knew things only Leera would have known. His knowledge of what he did lags, and I think that upsets him. Judging from how unsettled he was, I do not think this will change in the immediate future.'

'Hmm.' Nail's eyes lifted to the green sky. High, high above him, he could red specks galloping across the atmosphere. 'You've thought a lot about this.'

'You should probably kill him if given the chance, still.'

Nail tilted his head down. 'I guess I'll say it again: after everything you just said? You make it sound like he's not a present worry.'

' _Present_ , yes. Just because he cannot control his technique and is distressed by it now does not guarantee that this will be the case in the future. Monsters are not born. They are made.'

'He is, as much as I dislike him, not a monster now.'

'And in twenty years? Thirty? Is it guaranteed this will still be true then?'

'No. I understand, then, and I agree.'

'You need not say that if you do not agree.' Moori searched for something in his mind. 'And do not let him touch you.'

Nail looked over Moori's shoulder. 'Dende is coming over.'

'Then we have spoken enough for now.'

0o0o0

Everything in Yamcha's consciousness lagged once Burter slammed the back of his head- and then he found his eyes were open, staring up at a familiar green face and sky. 'Dende,' he murmured.

The young Namekian, despite the visible signs of exhaustion creasing his face and wetting his skin, managed a weak smile. 'Nice to see you, too,' he said, before leaning back and taking in a lungful's worth of air.

Yamcha sat up. Once he did, a hand clapped him on the back. 'Miracles still happen,' Tien said cheerily, sitting to his right.

A grin appeared on Yamcha's face. 'You're unusually chipper.'

'Didn't think the next time I'd see you would be on this side of death,' Tien disclosed. 'At least, that was my thought as I lost consciousness…'

'I rescued you both,' Nail cut in about as unenthusiastic a manner as they would have expected. He was standing over them next to Dende. 'So I wouldn't call it a miracle.'

'It was you?' Yamcha asked, swinging his gaze to Nail. 'So- did you defeat the guy who knocked us out, too?'

'The red, short one?'

'We were attacked by a blue, tall one,' Tien replied, frowning.

'The red soldier took you two,' a voice spoke up. Bez entered into their circle. 'The blue soldier flew off. I saw everything from nearby.'

'You got away?' Yamcha asked, awed.

Bez's eyes darted away and back to them. 'Sort of… they lost track of me. Most of them.'

'Most?'

'Another time-' Bez replied. 'It's… not important.'

Tien looked around. 'Where's Bulma?'

Bez moved to the side- behind him, on the other side of the spire, Bulma was lying on the ground. 'She's still knocked out, but she's fine otherwise.'

'She got knocked out?' Yamcha questioned. Concern hardened his face. 'What happened?'

'I rescued her from the PTO,' Bez said, stiffening. _I shouldn't speculate… not now. Too many unknowns…_ 'She'd been captured.'

'She was with the invaders?' Nail asked, furrowing his face in thought. 'When I left to rescue you two, she was with the Namekians- which means-'

Nail turned to the far end of the spire's top. 'Piccolo!' he called out. 'Come over here!.'

While Piccolo walked over, with Bez's help, Yamcha and Tien got to their feet. They examined each other- none of them had anything close to a full set of PTO armor on anymore. Led by Bez, they all disrobed what remained of the white plating and stripped down to their boots and black jumpsuit. What remained of their white gloves were peeled off as well.

'So are we finally ready, then?' Piccolo said as he joined them, running his eyes over the two humans and the purple alien.

Nail shot Piccolo a look. 'Did you know that one of the humans, Bulma, who had been with the Namekians, was captured?'

Piccolo returned Nail's look. 'No.'

'How did she get whisked away from the Namekians without you knowing? Do you know what a group of soldiers could have done to my people while you weren't paying attention?' Nail growled through his teeth. 'More innocent blood could have been spilled. You were tasked to _protect_ them.'

'And I did,' Piccolo snarled back. 'Count them up if you like.'

Nail made a face- a dark, displaced face. 'And what if I found a single one was missing? What if one is gone- and you're to blame?'

Something flashed across Piccolo's body, in his hands and legs and face, that was akin to a jolt or bolt shocking his body. For the first time in Yamcha's and Tien's living memories, the prideful would-be King of Earth looked… shaken. To his core.

He quickly regained his composure, however. 'This is beneath me,' Piccolo huffed. 'We should be discussing what we're going to do next.'

'I saw you decimate a PTO army,' Bez revealed, assured that most, if not everyone present, was aligned against Piccolo at the moment. _And Bulma was in the middle of that army._ 'Shouldn't our work be done?'

In a show of contempt, Piccolo lifted his head and bared his fangs. 'If you were paying any attention beyond that, you would have known that there are still... ' Piccolo dropped off mid-sentence. His antennae twitched. 'Four. Four significant powers left on this planet.'

'What?' Nail asked. 'Why did you stop?'

Piccolo looked away. 'I thought… I thought there were five. I was mistaken. It's not important- either way, a group of powers is still on this planet and are probably intent on fighting us. So _I_ intend to intercept this group of powers and kill them.'

Unseen by Piccolo, whose gaze was briefly turned away from the group, Nail appeared to severely scrutinize Piccolo. The moment passed, however, and Nail resumed his inexpressive veneer from earlier. 'Then we shall do so together. There is a vacated village a few miles away- it would be best if we fought what remains of the PTO there instead of here. Enough fighting has taken place here among my kin. I do not want to run the risk of any more collateral damage.'

'Fine by me,' Piccolo rumbled. 'I'll be better able to fulfill our deal without having to care for weak Namekians jumping in.'

At the mention or their deal, Nail gave Piccolo a strange look- this time, Piccolo noticed, and from apparent discomfort, turned away and walked to the edge of the spire. 'Soon my part will be finished,' he said without looking back at Nail or the others. 'When that happens, Nail, I expect you to fulfill yours.'

A surge of _ki_ , enough to force Tien, Yamcha, and Bez to stagger back, bathed Piccolo. 'And one last thing-' Piccolo dictated as he was wrapped in dark blue streaks, '-make sure not to get in my way.' The color pooled at his feet and propelled him into the sky, and Piccolo flew into the distance.

Nail alone stood rigid throughout this, unaffected by the whipping of energy across and through him. When the wind died down, Tien, Yamcha, and Bez lowered their arms from their faces and relaxed their poses.

'...Woah,' Yamcha muttered. 'That was…'

'A message,' Tien completed Yamcha's sentence. He was grimacing. 'He wanted to make it clear the distance between him and us.'

'How did he get that strong?'

Tien's head swung to Nail. 'Was this part of your deal?'

Nail continued to stare off in the direction Piccolo had left by. 'My deal was to ensure Piccolo would fight alongside us until the end. It did not include making him stronger.' He paused, and looked at them. 'Are you coming with us?'

Yamcha, Tien, and Bez glanced at each other. 'You really think we'd be any help?' Bez asked.

'I _know_ I'd be of help,' Tien said, stepping forward. 'Battles come down to a few moves, a few people, sometimes. I intend to be the difference if need be.'

'Besides,' Yamcha said as he stepped up next to Tien. He raised and clenched his hand into a fist. 'We've come this far. Why wouldn't we fight in the final battle of Namek?'

A corner of Tien's mouth arched up, and he turned to Yamcha. 'Final, huh? You say it with such certainty.'

'Call it a gut feeling,' Yamcha said, grinning similarly to Tien. 'So…' Both Yamcha and Tien glanced over to Bez. 'What were you saying earlier?'

A wild look rushed across Bez's face. 'Well, it's not like I can say no now,' he said, advancing in the same manner as Tien and Yamcha had. 'You've boxed me in,' he said with fake scorn.

'We're _monsters_ ,' Yamcha joked.

While Yamcha and Bez chuckled- and Tien was, admittedly, amazed that Yamcha was chuckling with someone who he had wanted to kill in cold blood just a few months ago- another thought popped into Tien's mind. 'What about the dragonballs?' he asked.

Nail looked at him. 'What about them?'

'Are they ready? And what wishes will they be used for?'

'Moori informed me the Earth's dragonballs will be ready soon. When that occurs, he will communicate with the proper people to carry out our planned wishes.'

'Which are?'

'It is my understanding Moori will move the planet first,' Nail informed them. 'There are still ships in the planet's orbit. Moori desires to wipe Namek off whatever map the PTO put it on to ensure no further invasions occur.'

'And the second wish?' Yamcha asked.

'He will direct the Earth to revive your friend Krillin- if the situation demands it. Otherwise, he will use the wish to revive everyone who has died in the invasion.'

Bez looked dead-on at Nail. 'You mean just the Namekians, right?'

'Are you serious?' Nail replied, audibly annoyed. 'Do you think we're going to revive people who slaughtered villages? Enough of this- are you ready?'

Tien, Yamcha, and Bez exchanged looks. 'As ready as we'll ever be,' Tien replied.

'Come, then-' Nail said, lighting his own _ki_ and lifting off the ground. 'We should not leave Piccolo unsupervised for long.' With a blast of his white _ki_ , he zoomed off. After a second, Yamcha, Tien, and Bez rushed after him.

0o0o0

As they approached, a sense of dread washed over Jeice and Recoome- the land was deformed, broken up, and from the sky, it was clear that various remains of a PTO army were strewn across the land. Broken scouters and armor. Bodies. Limbs.

Jeice and Recoome had seen grislier scenes on the occasions when the Force had been called in to wrap up planet-wide purges against an organized and competent fighting force- but this wasn't supposed to be a bloodbath. This operation included retrieving three renegades. So far, to achieve that goal, an entire PTO army had died.

Both of them had an unspoken fear in the back of their minds when they were faced with the raw carnage covering the land. This fear, with everything it entailed, was realized once they spotted the Captain. He was kneeling and bent, rigid, over a shape half-buried in the ground. The instant their boots _tapped_ down, they realized who was beneath Ginyu.

Burter.

To their left, they saw Guldo standing by himself, looking lost among so much emptiness. Seeing them, he approached. 'You- you guys are okay?' he asked, his four eyes unsteady in their sockets. 'You're not hurt, are you?'

'Guldo… he can't be dead,' Jeice said in a quiet voice. 'He _can't_. What's going on?'

Guldo sniffled. 'When we arrived, we spent a few minutes looking… until we found Burter. He was dead- Captain said his ribs were broken. Said one of those ribs pierced a lung and filled it with blood. Right after this, the Captain pushed me, told me to back away.' Guldo looked back over to Ginyu's silent prostration. 'He's been like that ever since.'

'How long ago was that?' Jeice whispered.

'Half an hour ago.'

This realization hit Jeice and Recoome like a galactic hammer- _he's been like this for half an hour?_ It was an amazingly sad testament to the Captain's capacity to grieve. No one else would have given Burter the mourning he deserved. Jeice, overwhelmed, crossed his arms and turned his head to one side, trying to hide the nascent streams of tears springing from his eyes.

Recoome, his comrade, a giant of a man, had gone even farther; he had unabashedly shed a tear and let it roll all the way down his face.

Guldo saw all of this, and at the same time he felt such a profound and salient experience of sadness and his own mortality, he found himself a little bit jealous of Jeice and Recoome's emotional prowess.

This is how they were for a time. There was nothing they could do except stand there and try to match the sorrow they saw from their Captain. They aimed to be like him, in all things.

Eventually, Ginyu lifted his head and turn it to them. His face looked like it had been pulled back over his skull. 'Jeice, Recoome- there's someone nearby. Please-' Ginyu shook his head. '-Please retrieve them.'

As best they could in their current state, Jeice and Recoome clicked their heels, saluted their Captain, and stiffened their lips. They found a reading on their scouters and flew over to a ridge in the earth to the west.

Guldo said nothing as Ginyu returned to his earlier pose, and was dead silent when Recoome and Jeice brought back a familiar face.

Zarbon was set down on the ground, held by Jeice and Recoome on either side of him. The commander of a now-defunct army couldn't stand on his own. Blood dripped slowly off of every part of him that pointed towards the ground.

To Guldo, Jeice, and Recoome's shock, Ginyu stood and wheeled to them- or, more specifically, Zarbon. Whatever strain that was on his face earlier was gone. Pure, unfiltered, inconsiderate fury lived in it now.

'Why do you _live_?' Ginyu said to Zarbon, his voice overflowing with suspicion and malice.

Zarbon, whose head was resting on his chest, was unable to lift it and look at Ginyu. 'I… I don't know,' he said in a weak voice. 'I should be dead-'

'Yes, _you should_ ,' Ginyu snarled. 'Do you know what you've done? Do you?'

Weakly, Zarbon shook his head. It popped into his mind that he was in Ginyu's position not too long ago. _Things change._

'Your incompetence killed one of my _men_!' Ginyu screamed, loud enough to blow loose strands of Zarbon's hair away from his face. 'For thirty years, the Ginyu Force- its record, its honor- had remained unblemished! _YOU ENDED THAT!_ ''

Spit literally impacted Zarbon's face. He could feel the heat of hatred radiating off of Ginyu. And, yet, maybe because he agreed that he should have been dead, and because he had experienced such unbearable and unreal pain already, and because he considered anything between now and his eventual, true death inconsequential, he chuckled.

'I would hardly call your record… "unblemished",' he managed, his eyes barely making out the upturned dirt below him. 'And, to pin this on me… how we got trounced… how men handpicked by me, men I _trusted_ , were cut down, slaughtered… to say that I caused all tha- AAUUUGHK!'

Ginyu rammed a fist into Zarbon's chest, breaking ribs and causing Zarbon to lurch and hack out blood and saliva. 'Shut up,' he snarled. 'Stupid assholes don't talk. They get talked to.' With a gesture, Ginyu got Jeice and Recoome to wrench the shaking alien off the ground and hold him upright. For a moment, it looked like Ginyu was going to ram another blow into Zarbon, but ultimately, he stepped back. He stood, unmoving.

'I've decided,' Ginyu announced. He stepped closer to Zarbon and cupped the alien by his jaw and yanked it up so he could see into Zarbon's eyes.

'I was going to wait until the end of the mission for this- but you've brought this on yourself,' Ginyu said, making sure to enunciate every word. 'You, stupid, _moronic_ asshole. That means you need to be talked to. But there are other stupid assholes on this planet who need to be talked to, too, if the empty-handedness of my men is anything to judge by.'

A few feet away, thinking they could not get any more stressed, Recoome and Jeice got more stressed.

Ginyu stared into Zarbon's bloodshot eyes. He let the head drop back down.

'So let's take a trip, shall we?'

* * *

A/N: Hey all- thought this was going to be a shorter chapter. Looks like I got goof on my face.

As for the content, we're getting a needed glimpse of Earth in this chapter before the final (maybe?) showdown on Namek kicks off. And sorry again for the delay on this chapter- I would really like to get a chapter out a week over the summer, but so far, that's been tough for me to achieve. Doesn't mean I won't stop trying, though.

 **Reviews:**

 **LWexe:** Roshi had to do something badass while dead, right?

 **Rowan Citrian:** Glad you enjoyed it! Wonder what your thoughts are on this chapter, then…

And I answered your question via PM, but just so everyone is 100% on the same page as me- Leera, one of the Namekian elders, was absorbed!

 **Cityracer said this:**

I have finally managed to read the story to the end, and what a ride it has been. I have been thinking about how to structure this review for a while now, and I'm going to share some basic thoughts and then list my pros and cons in detail.

I originally found this story after looking for a story that had Yamcha as a useful character. Seeing that this story had a lot of favorites and followers, I decided to give it a try. At first, I thought it was good, but it didn't stand out. Still, it was worth reading. By around chapter 12, this really began to change for the better. It was clearly ahead of the pack, and it only continued to improve. At this point, it is likely the best fanfiction I've ever read. I am a big fan.

Pros:

\- Unique Abilities: I really enjoyed that you made your own abilities up. They all feel natural and well made. Even something as simple as the Ki sensing candle was enough to get me excited. My favorite technique was Chi-Chi's fire technique, just because we see Ki used differently than usual. I also like the fact that the Wolf Fang Fist is actually useful in this story.

\- Kakarot: I really enjoyed his portrayal. At first, he was a fairly simplistic psychopath. However, as his character arc progressed, he slowly became great. At this point, Kakarot is my favorite character in the story. I hope he has more of a role to play in the future.

\- Everyone has a place: One of my least favorite parts of the main series is that everyone except the strongest person basically did nothing. I really like that you've spent the time to give everyone a use. It really adds to the tension and the sense of danger.

\- Bold risk taking: it would've been really easy to stick close to canon. I appreciate that you were willing to go your own way and truly make the story your own.

Cons:

\- Krillin-centric: I get this prevailing sense that Krillin is the main character. He seems to be getting to do all the cool things. He climbed Korin tower first, he got the Ultra Divine Water, he trained with Kami, and he gets to learn the Kaio-ken first. Very much like canon Goku.

Additional Thoughts:

I just want to share some random thoughts I had while reading. I wish the power pole was utilized as a weapon, it's one of my favorite fantasy weapons of all time. I secretly hope Yamcha and Bulma don't end up together, even if Vegeta doesn't become good and stay on earth. I just never thought that their relationship was very good. Although, I do think Yamcha should end up with someone. I also hope that we eventually have Goten in this story, as he is one of my favorite characters (alongside Yamcha).

Lastly, I would like to share my idea for a lighthearted, comedic moment. So, Bulma's power level should be higher after having to get used to three times earth's gravity, maybe from about 5 to 15. So, when she gets back to earth, some pervert is hitting on her. Bulma is mad, so she slaps the pervert and sends them slamming into a brick wall, breaking it. That would be hilarious.

 **I said this:**

Love, love, _love_ this review. Thank you so much for writing it. My detailed feedback, lovingly written:

Interesting how you talk about followers and favorites as a reason for looking into this fic. I was talking with my sister the other day and she mentioned how important those two stats are for getting the popularity ball rolling for a fic.

I would love to hear more specifically where/when/and why the story started to change from something that was good to something that stood out. Also would love to hear any recommendations as to what could be down for the first ten or so chapters to make them match the quality of the rest of the fic. I do worry sometimes that the first parts of this fic are a little uneven and could be improved to make the entry into this beast a bit easier/ more accessible for newcomers.

Best fanfiction you've ever read? Hot dang. I am so incredibly honored.

Fanfic authors should write their own moves/attacks/techniques more! It adds such an indelible mark to a story if you create this unique, badass moment that only exists in that one fic. I'm really glad you remembered Chi-Chi's fire technique at the 24th WMT that way- that was, in addition to making a technique that frames well with her background and provides for an inventive and interesting fight, definitely my intent.

I will totally own up to the fact that I wasn't exactly sure how to characterize Kakarot in a complex way at the beginning of this fic. Luckily, I found out that putting him in a room with Chi-Chi and other characters fleshes out his character in a much more interesting way than him sulking in the forest or acting like a straight up maniac. He was the basis for my rule of thumb- characterize characters by placing them with other characters. As for his future role in this story… we'll see!

I loved expanding the fighter bench in this story. Getting a bunch more guys (and girls!) onto the frontline makes it harder for the reader to figure out what's going to happen next (which you pointed out). Also gives me a lot more interesting tools as a writer to play around with in setting up fights and advancing the story. This approach can make group fights a little harder to write (and more often!) sometimes, but at the end of the day, and judging by your review, I think I made the right choice to do it.

Personally, I don't get the appeal of writing a story that adheres to canon like glue with only one or two changes. And even stories that have consequential divergences still end up feeling like a rehash. For me, the world and lore of DBZ is way too fun to not play around with concepts that were either kinda there or dropped in canon. IMO, it makes a more engaging story, and keeps me more engaged, when the story takes some wild (though logical) departures from canon.

Totally get the thing about Krillin. In some ways, he was my stand-in for Goku's parts in this story, which, looking back, I could have divvied up a bit better in Dragon Ball. But there will be… changes going forward. What I'm talking about will be very explicit soon.

I haven't given the power pole a proper role in this story yet… I'll have to think about what function and what limitations it might have. As a tool, it could aid in some very inventive fights...

Your comment on Bulma/Yamcha made me think about their characterizations and their relationship in this story… I don't want to divulge what my thinking on this ended up being, but I hope what I ultimately give you is satisfying.

I am definitely going to incorporate that gag with Bulma and her newfound strength. Perhaps not in the way you described it, but using it to freak out people (and combining it with what others perceive as an already imposing personality) would be fantastic. I am so glad you brought that fact up.

Alright, people: write more reviews like Cityracer! You'll get a whole chunk of the bottom of the chapter dedicated to you!


	64. What We Made

Ginyu

Chapter 64: What We Made

* * *

They proceeded through the sky in a line- Nail in front, followed by Tien and Yamcha. Bez, as he preferred, headed up the rear. He needed the space to think.

It wasn't too long ago he was in the PTO, scraping by mission-to-mission, trying not to think about what that scraping entailed. It wasn't too long ago that he was killing others to keep himself alive. Hell, he may have done that last one in the past day- it was impossible to tell how much time had passed on a planet where the sun- really, suns- never sets.

Bez examined his hands. Cui's blood, dark red and flaky, could still be found in dried splotches up and down his arms. With a frown, Bez started to rub the patches out of his jumpsuit.

It also wasn't too long ago that he was rushing into battle alongside former enemies, or saving someone by putting his life in danger. He had, somehow, done both incredibly selfish and altruistic, even marytyrical, acts as of late. They belonged to him.

He was, and always had been, amazed and horrified by his ability to change.

If he was being totally, truthfully honest with himself- his recent actions were changing him, or at least pushing him back to who he was before the PTO and their ships appeared above his home planet's orbit, rained down ordinance from the sky, and hunted his people down one by one like the cruel monsters they are. But whether or not he could hold onto what he became once he finished that shift was another question entirely.

 _Yamcha had said he felt this battle would be the last. So what comes after that, then?_

'Should I come back later?'

Bez blinked and focused his attention forward- Yamcha, head half-turned to him, had pulled back from the others and was hovering in front of him and a little to his left. His short, spiky hair, unresisting the wind, was blown back and across the right side of his face. Bez made a small gesture with his head and the human moved further back to fly side-by-side with him.

'What were you thinking about just now?' Yamcha asked, moving his gaze back to Tien and Nail further in front of them. When Bez didn't respond, Yamcha hummed. 'Not in the mood to talk about it?'

'Can I ask you a question?' Bez asked abruptly. 'What do you plan to do once your business is finished on this planet? After you've fulfilled your pledge to protect the Namekians?'

'After? Well, once that's done, I'll return to my home on Earth, and go back to living my life- a normal life, or at least more normal than what I'm living through right now.'

Bez's expression darkened. 'I see.'

Yamcha glanced to him and refocused his gaze forward. 'I take it that your thinking's been centered on this topic. What comes after.'

'Some of it, yes.'

Yamcha chuckled. 'You could have said that to my original question.' Before Bez could respond, he went on: 'Are you still committed to the plan you told us on the shuttle? The one where you get dropped off at a backwater planet far away from the galactic mainstream and the PTO, and try to live out a quiet life?'

'I don't know.'

Yamcha hummed again. 'You're moving in the right direction then, because, personally, I think that was a crummy plan.'

Bez tilted his head sideways and shot Yamcha a look. 'Why do you say that?'

'Well,' Yamcha brushing his gaze over to the ground, 'I can get why you'd want to hide out on a planet where the PTO won't be, but let me ask you this- have you ever considered Earth?'

'Your home planet?' Bez asked quietly.

'It's got good food, friendly people, a mostly stressless pace of life, those sorts of things,' Yamcha continued. 'It would be easy to lay low there and you'd have fun doing so, too. And, the way I see it, once we're done here, you'll be a wanted man anywhere else in the galaxy, same as us. Even if the PTO isn't on a far-flung planet now, who's to say that won't change in the future? Shouldn't be too hard for them to overrun, in your words, a "backwater planet". But, no Earth-' Yamcha shook his head, smiling, '-not a chance of that happening. My friends and I would fight tooth-and-nail against anyone who tried to take our planet away from us. So… that might make it one of the safest planets in the galaxy, and the best place for you to hide.'

Quiet fell on them. Bez made a face and looked away. 'Is that an offer?'

'It's an invitation,' Yamcha clarified. 'An expression of our goodwill. For, well- for everything you've done for us. For saving us, fighting alongside us.' Yamcha's gaze stretched forward. 'Not many people would have fought as much as you, or as hard as you, for people they didn't know. Doing so meant that you placed a lot of trust in us. Considering everything… you've helped us, time and time again when others wouldn't have.' Yamcha paused. 'That includes saving Bulma. Twice. More than anything else, Tien and I are thankful for that, and I'm sure she is, too, considering, well- you know.'

There was a slight edge to Yamcha's last sentence, and Bez remembered something that he had thought of earlier. He looked ahead- Piccolo, as he had been for their entire flight, was nowhere to be seen.

'Piccolo nearly killed Bulma,' Bez said in a low voice, curling and uncurling his fingers. 'He threw an attack into the middle of the PTO army that had captured her and blew it to pieces. I was too far away to do anything when it went down- I could only rush in after and retrieve her.' He glanced over to Yamcha, and saw the dead seriousness in his eyes. 'It's a miracle that she survived.'

Yamcha held Bez's gaze, closed his eyes, and let out a heavy breath. 'I figured as much,' he said with a steady voice. 'Or, rather, Tien figured as much and told me. But thank you for confirming that. Makes things as clear as they're going to be.'

Bez looked towards the ground. 'I didn't put everything together until I heard you and Tien address Piccolo. When I saw him attacking the PTO, I thought he might have been one of the Namekians. Is he- will he be an issue in the upcoming battle?'

Yamcha's hair waved in the wind. 'We can trust him, for now,' he said. 'Beyond that? Who knows.' Yamcha opened his eyes and focused his attention on Bez again. 'But we can't kill him. Otherwise, we'll lose what we came here to get and just got back- our dragonballs.'

'I see,' Bez murmured. 'So you can't do anything to him.'

'We can talk to him,' Yamcha countered. 'See what he has to say. Neither Tien or I have talked to him since he died on Earth. Judging by what he's done so far on Namek, it doesn't seem like he's changed much… but maybe, even with his added strength, when we get back to Earth, he'll be… complacent. I hope.'

'I hope so, too.'

'Hmm.' Yamcha's head lifted. 'I think we're almost there. Do you mind?-'

'Go ahead,' Bez said, guessing what Yamcha was going to say. 'Rejoin Tien.'

With a nod, Yamcha flew ahead and did so.

A few minutes later, the vacated village came into focus on the low horizon. Bez watched Tien and Yamcha take the lead from Nail and land first. They landed in the village's center and faced to the east. Bez also… felt- or realized, or determined, or whatever word worked best to describe his spontaneously developed ability to sense energy without a scouter- that Piccolo was in the village as well.

When he descended after Nail, Bez saw up close Tien and Yamcha, in a line, ready for anything that may come from over the horizon, and he couldn't quite suppress a thought on what he saw. _These humans are strange… and the universe is better for it._

0o0o0

Once he had landed among the eerie, empty buildings of the village, pushing away dirt and dust in low rolls across the ground, and decloaked himself of his blue aura, Piccolo staggered over to one of the buildings and leaned against it with his hand. He knew he should have been on the lookout for the arrival of those four significant powers- but he could do nothing else but screw his eyes shut, grit his teeth, and try to get a grip on his thoughts.

It was beyond distraction now- his entire conscious seemed plagued. The chaotic buzz grinding through his mind, nipping at the edges of his thoughts and spreading to every sense he possessed, had grown over the past hour. Using meditation earlier to quell it had done nothing. A mess of feelings and impressions swam through his mind, unprompted and alien, every time he looked or even thought of one of those maddening Namekians. It was like he had just been born again, forced to listen to his father's embedded last words and compulsions played over and over again in his mind, except that this time, there was no order or apparent origin to anything he experienced. Hatred, warmth, crushing apathy, and scenes wholly alien to him- it all came and went as it pleased, oblivious to his existence.

Shuddering, Piccolo walked further on, leaning on buildings as he went. Nothing of the earlier euphoria he had felt towards his strength remained. His legs felt leaden and his arms felt weak, and his head bobbed up and down against his chest, flinging his antennae in every possible direction. And the sweat- by the Kais, he was drenched in it.

He began to doubt whether he had actually flown here. He felt closer to unconsciousness than whatever torture he was putting himself through at the moment.

'What are you doing here?'

He turned. A monster- a hulking, dark-green monster, with fangs as large as his arms and antennae- towered over him and drew closer, casting his shadow over Piccolo. The light from two of Namek's three suns melted back, pushed away by the depthless darkness growing all around him.

Piccolo should have been fearful. Instead, he closed his eyes, shook his head, and looked again. There was no looming, frightening green apparition in front of him. It was only Nail, inexpressive as usual, who glared at him. Piccolo's antennae went limp.

The Namekian warrior ran his eyes up and down him and stepped closer. 'What's wrong with you?' Nail accosted him. 'And why are you over here, leaning against this wall?'

Grimacing, and trying his best to focus on Nail's real and present image, Piccolo raised a hand to his head and began to probe his face. 'I… feel ill. Something isn't right.' He moved closer to the wall, and in the process, he moved a step closer to Nail. '... I don't know why.'

'You flew here.'

Piccolo's hearing caught something- lifting his head, he noticed that Nail had retreated a step. 'So?'

'You were well enough to decimate a PTO army not too long ago, and judging by what I sensed, you flew here without trouble. I am not too proud to admit- though I _detest_ the fact- that you are now stronger than me. So, to clarify-' Nail's gaze sharpened, '-what do you mean, _"something isn't right"_?'

Piccolo's head dipped again. 'Like I said, I don't know…'

The aural ambiance of the surrounding village floated in and out of their conversation at times. Piccolo heard footsteps not too far off.

'What do you see when you look at me? What do you _feel?_ ' Nail asked point-blank.

'What?' Piccolo said, annoyed. He hadn't raised his head towards Nail. 'What are you talking about?' he growled.

'Do it. Look at me.'

Piccolo hesitated. He clenched his teeth. 'I see… you. I see Nail.'

' _Do it!_ '

Startled, Piccolo looked at Nail- and saw. Everything unexplained that had riveted his mind drew to Nail's image and swarmed it. A single point where every plague of his descended onto. The process, consciously, was incomprehensible, but centering his confusion outward and not inward gave his mind a needed respite.

'What do you see?' Nail's voice floated over to him, its character altered and filtered, yet still distinguishable as his own.

Piccolo withdrew his hand from his face. 'I wouldn't describe it.'

'Wouldn't or couldn't?'

'Both.' Piccolo stared at Nail. 'Shapes, flashes, tricks of light and color…' he said after some time. 'Nothing makes sense. It's… madness. Or maddening. I don't know which yet.'

There was a subtle shift in Nail's posture, observable even through the passing phenomenon pooling around his position. Piccolo sensed something he hadn't sensed before in Nail.

'His name was Leera,' Nail stated.

A sharp breath rushed into Piccolo's lungs. Nail's outline, mostly hidden behind whatever hallucination or experience gripped Piccolo, became crisper. 'What did you say?' Piccolo breathed.

Nail made a gesture with his head. Things weren't clear enough yet- because, _yes_ , Piccolo realized, whatever stood between Nail and himself was thinning- to catch what Nail had done or what he had meant. 'Pull yourself together quickly,' The Namekian warrior said, turning, 'if not for our sake, then for your own. They're almost here.'

The spot in Piccolo's conscious world where nonsense reigned followed in Nail's wake. It was as if he simply tugged along Piccolo's confusion behind him.

After a span of time spent focused on the withdrawing and weakening chaos, Piccolo, with finality, heard Nail's faint footsteps recede. For an even longer time after that, Piccolo palmed the name given to him in his mind, turning it back and forth as if there was something more to what he thought he knew of it. There wasn't. It was just a name. A name he had never heard before. And yet it spoke to him like nothing else before it.

 _Just a name._ And Piccolo loathed to admit that it steadied him, somehow. He felt no cold patches of sweat on his skin; he moved away from the wall and stood to his full height. His power, back to bubbling at the very bottom of his consciousness, felt cool pressed against his mind. He took a deep breath, and made his first step back to the others.

His last step halted him on the edge of the village's center and open gathering space, where nothing but short, crimped blue grass grew. Piccolo had rejoined late, it seemed- to his left, he spied Nail, with Yamcha, Tien, and Bez standing in a line behind him, facing down a near-identical arrangement of people opposite of him.

A purple alien, three soldiers behind him- one red skinned and short, one red-haired and tall, one short, stubby and green- returned Nail's appraising look- _no. Something is different. They look more on edge. The one in front…_ _ **two**_ _in front..._

The tall, imposing purple alien with bulging veins and two jutting head spikes- the one that, after checking his memory, Piccolo identified as the strongest and most dangerous enemy left- stood over a fifth person. Someone familiar. Narrowing his eyes, Piccolo noted the green skin and blue hair of the person who kneeled on the ground and visibly struggled to breathe. It was the one who had given him his first true fight on Namek- and the first he had dominated later on.

 _I didn't know he was still alive. Then again, I didn't check before to see whether he was dead, either._

While Piccolo reflected on this, the two groups noticed him. The purple alien, in particular, turned towards him. Piccolo recognized mania on his face.

'There you are!' the purple alien said, sounding both relieved and impatient. 'Well, then-'

With a strained grin, he violently yanked the bruised and battered person below off his feet and pushed him several feet in Piccolo's direction. 'Go on- fight him! Finish your fight, Zarbon!' The grin trembled away and was replaced by something much darker. ' _You_ _started it_ , _after all_!'

0o0o0

According to their scouters, the highest readings on this planet had conveniently congregated in one spot for them. Not a single person in the Ginyu Force confused convenience for ease, however. One of their own had died this day. Every single one of them was in unfamiliar territory. And even worse- the leader of their metaphorical ship seemed the most lost of them all.

Jeice, who had served in the Ginyu Force for thirty years without ever having doubted his Captain, was now doing so.

'Recoome,' he whispered to the red giant to his right. They both stood behind and to the right of Ginyu and Zarbon. The latter swayed on his feet. 'The Captain, he's…'

'Not right,' Recoome replied, finishing Jeice's thought.

'Burter's death must've really set him off.'

'Yeah. He didn't even introduce us with our poses.'

They watched as Ginyu prodded Zarbon forward further. Half a dozen times the green alien looked like he would collapse, but every time, Ginyu was behind him, holding him by the roots of his messy and undone green hair. 'This… this bloody is hard to watch,' Jeice muttered. 'I mean, I cared about Burter, loved him as much as everyone else- he was- he was all our _brother_ \- but, this…'

Zarbon was halfway done with his trek when he stopped. Weak trembling rocked his legs; it looked like he could walk no further.

A swift boot to his back proved otherwise. Zarbon stumbled forward a few feet and just began to regain his balance when Ginyu kicked him again and knocked him decisively to the ground. Blades of blue grass spurted out from under Zarbon's body, and Jeice watched the wind take one beyond the village's limits.

' _Get_ _ **up**_ _!'_ Ginyu growled as he gripped Zarbon by his shoulders and wrenched the beaten man to his feet.'You stop when I tell you to stop! You _die_ when I tell you to die! _I command you!_ '

Jeice exchanged a look with first Recoome, then Guldo to his right. They both looked to be as concerned as he was. 'Captain,' he said, stepping forward, 'if I may, as your lieutenant-'

'Can it, Jeice!' Ginyu barked at him, twisting his head towards him, veins bulging on his neck. 'If I want your advice, I'll ask for it! Right now!-' Ginyu swung his gaze back around to his front and squared it on someone several strides away, '-right now, I speak to _him_! No one else!'

Unfazed by Ginyu's and everyone else's eyes on him, Piccolo studied Zarbon. There was no deception at play here- the near-dead man before him, who didn't seem capable of throwing a punch, let alone staying conscious, was just as spent as he appeared. 'Who are you?' the Namekian asked in an even and steady voice, turning his gaze on Ginyu.

'Ah!' Ginyu exclaimed, sweeping his arms over him as if he was introducing something rarified. At least, that's what Piccolo thought he was doing, because the end result ended up being something far more unsettling than what was probably intended. Ginyu's shaking and coiled arms only added to Piccolo's impression of him as a person who'd lost a key part of their sanity. 'I am Captain Ginyu, of the Ginyu Force. The people behind me are my men, and this _worm_ ,' he said, casting his eyes down to Zarbon and nudging him in his side for good measure, 'is Zarbon. He is, I understand, someone you've met before. If not in person, then through their plans- you know that he was the commander of this operation, do you not?'

Piccolo's eyes flickered back and forth between the two soldiers. 'Was?'

A grin stretched itself on Ginyu's face. 'Let me explain. You see, this was his plan,' Ginyu said, shifting his gaze towards Nail, Yamcha, Tien, and Bez to his right. 'He was given the task of securing- three of you, if I remember correctly. Rogue Saiyans had supposedly destroyed a base of our ours; PTO property, just so we're clear. This information was told to Zarbon by an arguably rogue Saiyan- and Zarbon, like the naive fool that he is, believed this Saiyan's word! _He_ _lapped it up like an Arlian-_

'Captain!' Jeice exclaimed. 'Language!'

'You do know,' Tien spoke up, fixing a stare on Ginyu, 'that we couldn't care less about any of this. You still attacked us. If you think explaining away-'

'Oh, no, no!' Ginyu raised his hands and opened them towards Tien as if to discourage him from his interpretation. 'I'm not trying to justify or explain anything! I don't _need_ to justify anything to you scum; I just want to make it clear- to you all- that Zarbon is, perhaps, the most incompetent officer in the PTO. Not to mention the slimiest- and I've met a lot of disgusting officers in my time, hah!'

Ginyu turned to his men, faux-laughing, and to his credit, he did manage to get Recoome, Jeice, and Guldo awkwardly laughing with him. Once he turned back to Piccolo and the others, however, Jeice shot a hurt look to Recoome and Guldo. Closer to Ginyu and laid up at his feet, Zarbon barely stirred.

'And do you know _why_ Zarbon is incompetent, and slimy, and every other quality seen in a bad officer?' Ginyu asked in a manner indicating that he didn't expect- or even want- anyone to answer him. 'It all comes down to _cowardice._ You see, Zarbon didn't have the _guts_ to tell Lord Frieza the facts of the situation once he learned them. There are none and _never were_ any Saiyans on Namek.

Behind him, Recoome furrowed his brows. 'The Captain didn't tell us that before,' he said, swinging his head to Jeice. 'I thought those two-' he indicated Tien and Yamcha with his eyes, '-were Saiyans?'

'I don't know what's true,' Jeice muttered back. 'Captain… like I said, he's not right…'

'Zarbon _knew_ this!' Ginyu continued. 'From the moment he laid his eyes on the supposed Saiyans, and _saw_ that they didn't have tails, he should have realized that he was here on a lie! He's a charlatan!'

'I… never knew…'

Ginyu, along with about eight other heads, peered down at Zarbon wriggling at Ginyu's feet. His head was propped inches off the ground in a desperate and painful attempt to give himself some dignity. 'I couldn't know… for sure…' Zarbon continued, sounding like his voice would give out any second. 'And… I would _never_ lie… to Lord Frie- Frie- Frieza…'

With mocking care, Ginyu placed the sole of his boot on Zarbon's head and pushed down. 'Shush...' he tutted, rubbing Zarbon's face into the dirt. 'You had your chance with him. And, now, your failures become my burden, my boredom, and…' Ginyu's face twisted, and the veins across his head pulsed, '...my burnishing.'

'I think the word you're looking for is "beckoning", Captain,' Jeice called out.

'Thank you, Jeice,' Ginyu said, waving a backward hand to him. 'Yes- I need to clean up your mess now, Zarbon. A mess that includes wasted time and resources on the part of the PTO. A mess...' Ginyu blinked back sudden tears. '...a mess that killed one of my men. You have forced me to lead while bereaved. Which is why I am now standing over you, pushing your face into the _mud_. So!-' Ginyu reached down, grabbed Zarbon by his shoulders, and pulled him to his feet, and with a shove, thrust him towards Piccolo. 'Go on and finish your fight already! You can't disobey a direct order, _can you_?'

Zarbon stumbled forward a few steps and halted again. He swayed in place, tangled hair banging against his head, and broke into a coughing fit.

Just a few feet away now, Piccolo moved his gaze from Zarbon to Ginyu. 'So I did kill one of you, then. Thought I messed that up,' Piccolo said casually.

'He admits it!' Ginyu exclaimed, looking back to his men. They were, judging the expressions on their faces, facing a mix of emotions at the moment. 'The _gall_ on this one! Has he never heard of our formidable force? How we descended to planets thought unconquerable and liquidated them in a fortnight! Ignorance!' Ginyu raised his voice, chiming like a clock, 'Ignorance of the gravest magnitude! To strike down one of our own without knowing what harm you've brought on yourself- _ignorance of by the soon-to-be-deceased_!'

Halfway through this diatribe, and apparently unnoticed by Ginyu, Piccolo's gaze hopped away to the other soldiers of the Ginyu Force. They made an odd team- what with their differing heights, colors, and body shapes. It was almost like they had been picked on those characteristics alone so to create an eye-catching bouquet of men. Of course, there was more to them than just appearance. Their strength was unknown, and consequently, he didn't know how much of a threat they might be to him.

'You, along with that insufferable _traitor_ Zarbon, has stained us! Stained _me!_ '

 _I'm certain that I can beat them on my own._ Piccolo watched one of Ginyu's men make eye contact with him before glancing away. _But it's another matter entirely if they attack me together, or try to help him…_ HIs gaze skipped back to Ginyu.

He wasn't looking at him. ' _Yes!_ ' Ginyu yelled, balling up a fist and holding it out in front of him like a weapon. 'Finish!'

Something flashed in the corner of Piccolo's vision. Hastily stepping back, the Namekian avoided a horizontal leg sweep aimed for his ankles. Mildly surprised, he noted Zarbon, wobbling in an attempt to stay upright, slowly retract his leg. From that one motion he was sorely out of breath.

'Are you trying to kill yourself?' Piccolo demanded, glaring at Zarbon. He had no concern for his enemies; he just felt angry that he was being forced to deal with such an asinine fighter. 'You know you can't beat me- and that would be true even if you weren't grievously injured!'

Huffing, Zarbon slowly worked his hands up from his thighs, then his sides, before lifting them clear of his body entirely. 'I… don't live unless I do this one thing,' he managed, wheezing from somewhere deep in his throat after every word or two. 'Unless I kill you. Your death ensures my survival… which is all I hope to get at this point. A few more hours, days.' He swayed again, but steadied himself, and said: 'So… fight and die to me. Or I'll fight and die to you.' Baring his teeth, Zarbon clenched his hands into fists and titled his entire body towards Piccolo like a rocket. ' _Bring it on!_ '

0o0o0

All the other dragonballs they had collected so far were either given to him by open hands or resisted by greedy ones- but the dragonball he faced now was personless- it sat alone amidst nothing but grains of tan sand, a small, two-story beach house, and the sound of waves lapping against the land.

Mr. Popo cast their gaze to the building. The dull pink paint on its walls looked faded, and the screen door was detached from the wood at one of its hinges and listed out of the doorway. The place looked abandoned, and seemed to have been for a couple of years now.

There were many places like this on Earth. Places left behind by the wandering of people and the passage of time. Places like this always reminded Mr. Popo of the Lookout; both spoke of the promise of things to pass, no matter how far away in the future that might be. Perhaps, one day, Mr. Popo would ask Kami to let him travel the Earth to find a few more places like this.

Another day, though. With a bounce in their step, Mr. Popo stepped off of their carpet, bent over, and retrieved the five-star dragonball from its sandy bed. He wiped it off, and once back on his carpet, Mr. Popo placed it among its six siblings. Seven dragonballs, now. The quest, which had taken him far less time than usual thanks to the assistance he received from friendly faces, new and old, was done.

Smiling, Mr. Popo, their carpet, and the dragonballs then faded away from sight, blurring into the clear blue skies that framed the horizon in every direction.

A few seconds after this, a round shape beneath the sand began to stir. Two flippers, then a shell, and finally a head popped out of the ground, slow-moving and heavy-lidded. The turtle looked from the horizon to the spot where the dragonball had laid just a few minutes ago, closed its eyes, and began to resubmerge itself in the sand.

0o0o0

In one fluid motion, Piccolo stepped forward, ducked underneath one of Zarbon's slow-moving arms, and lightly tapped the soldier's chest. Zarbon fell back like a sack of bricks.

 _Nothing honorable in this_. Piccolo watched Zarbon writhe on the ground- the man could barely do that. _There's no pleasure, either. Just… embarrassing to him, and insulting to me._

'This is pitiful,' Piccolo announced, frowning at Ginyu. 'I can understand if you want to kill this man- but having him fight me is a waste of everyone's time.'

'And you can't say the same about _wasting the life of my man, Burter!?'_ Ginyu shouted back. ' _How you cut down a soldier in the prime of his life- for what? So you could die here, to me and the rest of my men, on this Frieza-forsaken planet!'_

Piccolo glanced over to Nail and the others. None of them moved- but Piccolo saw the look in Nail's eyes. He understood.

'Nothing to say!? Nothing at all!?' Ginyu continued. 'Well, GOOD! SO! GO ON, AND!-'

Ginyu's borderline screams were cut off as Piccolo, zooming ahead like a bolt of lightning, collided into the purple alien. A great shockwave trampled over the area, and together, they tore a trench through and out of the village.

0o0o0

Beneath him and locked in his grip, Ginyu flailed in every direction as Piccolo used the purple's alien body to plow through the ground. They churned up dirt and crashed through buildings, turning hardened white walls into chunks and powder, until they found themselves in the plain surrounding the village. At this moment, Piccolo wrenched Ginyu out of the ground, slammed a fist against the bottom of Ginyu's jaw, and as the purple alien stretched out, Piccolo pivoted backward in the air and started to charge a point-blank blast of yellow _ki_ in his right hand.

A sudden presence brushed against the back. Spinning, Piccolo blocked a strike from Recoome and used its momentum to surge further back and slam an elbow into GInyu's chest. Though turned away, he sensed Ginyu propel further away from him.

A split-second of hesitation set in among Piccolo. Jeice and Recoome were closing in on him, each one trying to separate him from their Captain. Piccolo doubted he'd be able to use another one of their attacks to lead into an attack on Ginyu, and he would undoubtedly lose a 3 on 1 fight. What he needed-

'NAIL!' Piccolo roared, catching Jeice's fist and twisting, throwing the red-skinned soldier over him as he tilted and blocked a strike from Recoome with his shins. 'I NEED!-'

A blur of red and tan- Recoome- rushed over Piccolo, inches away from his skin, with Nail in pursuit. 'FOCUS ON GINYU!' He roared, before flipping and smashing Jeice down to the ground and bursting up, slamming his arms into Recoome's midsection from above and sending him hurtling down as well.

Piccolo glanced down- he saw Jeice's impact with the ground form a small crater, with Recoome's about to do the same- and focused forward, putting on a burst of speed to catch up with his target. Ginyu, just then getting a bearing on his surroundings, was wide-eyed as Piccolo's fist slammed through his unguarded body and propelled him further away from the village.

0o0o0

Bez watched as, in rapid succession, five people screeched forward in his vision, chasing after one another as they blitzed through the abandoned village and out of sight. Their untrackable speed, as well as the sheer line of destruction they formed as they traveled beyond the village's limits, made Bez gape.

'One left.' Bez's attention snapped back to closer matters. Next to him, Tien and Yamcha were sizing up the last person left. 'Against three of us,' Tien continued, his voice lowering. 'You sense him pretty clearly, Yamcha?'

Yamcha nodded. 'His power is in our ballpark- which is concerning.' He looked over to Tien. 'They wouldn't have left him alone in a fight he couldn't win. He must have some trick hidden up his sleeve.'

'Only one way to find out,' Tien said, lowering himself to the ground. Pebbles began to kick away from the two human fighters. 'Yamcha, try to go around him- and Bez,' he said, whipping his head to the left and staring down Bez, 'Get into the air. Try and keep an eye on him and box him in.'

No discussion was needed- Bez nodded, as did Yamcha, and together, the three of them sighted Guldo and burst into action. Yamcha veered to the right, Bez blasted into the sky, and Tien charged straight forward.

It happened- it happened before anyone knew what was happening. At the same exact time, Bez was flung sideways in the air, Tien crashed into a Namekian building that wasn't there a moment before, and Yamcha was knocked back, gasping, onto the ground.

With a pulse of energy, the rubble atop of Tien exploded out, and the human stood and scanned his surroundings. 'What was that?!' he yelled out to Bez, who had just steadied himself in the air.

'I don't know!' Bez called down. 'It came out of nowhere!' He glanced away to some other spot on the ground. 'He's gone!' he added.

'What?' Tien shouted, twisting his head towards where Guldo had been, before a blow connected with his back. Tumbling, he rolled out of the rubble and fell into a ditch that, again, hadn't been there a few seconds ago. Farther behind him, Yamcha rocked inexplicably halfway through getting up as if he'd been smacked down to the ground, and above, Bez got flung even further away from the village.

At that instant, Guldo, panting, appeared in the village's central clearing. He quickly paled and swung his head around. 'Crap!' he yelled, running off in a seemingly random direction. 'Crap, crap, _crap_!'

On one knee, Yamcha spotted the retreating alien and rushed forward, aiming a fist at his back. But when just a few feet away from Guldo, the alien crossed into the denser mix of buildings surrounding the central clearing and vanished. Yamcha, expecting to deaden his momentum by hitting his opponent, tripped and fell into a sloppy roll. Once stopped, he spent a second frantically studying his surroundings before standing.

'He disappeared!' he broadly yelled after turning, unable to see Tien or Bez and unsure if they could even hear him.

'You almost got me, you foolish little man…' Yamcha's eyes widened and he spun, looking for a voice. No-one was behind him. 'You've gotten yourself into quite a mess,' the voice continued, this time from Yamcha's left. When he whipped around, however, like before, there was no-one there. 'A _deadly_ one… for not a single soul who has challenged the Mighty Guldo has survived the encounter, and I doubt _you_ will be the one to change that…'

The voice was now coming from every direction, and Yamcha, on reflex, called on his _ki_ and kicked his blue-white aura into life around him. 'Where are you!?' He roared above his aura's pulsing. 'Show yourself!'

'...No…' the voice muttered. 'No, I don't think I'll do that.' Inexplicably, Yamcha felt a crushing pain, akin to someone punching him, blare on his right leg. He fell to one knee, gasping, and felt another phantom blow seize his back. Spasming, Yamcha fell face first to the ground, hands raking through the dirt.

'...D- damn it,' Yamcha forced through grit teeth, pushing himself inches off of the ground. Faintly, he could make out a thin black line on his leg. Blood welled out of it and trickled onto the blue grass he laid on. _'Damn it!_ '

0o0o0

The last inexplicable force that hit him, sending him careening across the sky, had nearly swatted Bez out of the air. It took all his willpower- and his power- to steady himself feet above a small lake that adjourned the village.

Parts of his body stung. Bez examined one of his arms, and saw red splotches typically seen from _ki_ burns pattern it. _How'd these get here? I didn't_ _ **see**_ _anything._ He flexed the arm, grimacing from the pain he elicited. _And, yet… I'm injured. Whatever this is- Tien was right. This guy is dangerous._

As soon as he was sure he wasn't anything more than minorly damaged, Bez flew back into place above the village. When he parked himself high above the village's central clearing, he observed two things happen in rapid succession. He watched Tien get knocked back into the ditch, clutching one of his arms- and saw movement before and after this event. Thinking that he might have seen something on the edge of his vision, Bez pushed himself further into the air, angled himself to better face the village, and blinked.

Somehow, in that time, a massive thing of rock, shaped into a pointed pillar, had appeared out of nowhere and nothing below him- and was screaming towards him like an arrow. Bez had no time to do anything except desperately lurch himself to the side in the hope that he would avoid it. He was mostly successful.

Rock gashed into his side, flipping him around in the air and sending streaks of blood in the air. Pain flooded Bez's system and random static crowded his vision. His senses scattered, he, alongside the pillar, plummeted to the earth, and they landed just a few feet away from each other. The pillar, piercing deep, staked itself in the ground with a slant.

Bez took a moment to steady his breath while his senses returned to him. Gritting his teeth, he moved his right arm to his gaping wound, pressed down on it, and sat up to look at it. To his relief, it was deep but thin, and by tearing off a section of his jumpsuit from the bottom of his legs, he was able to stuff it and largely stop the bleeding.

He cautiously moved the hand away from his side. Caring about the wound's (likely) future chance of being infected and cumulative blood loss later on was not his immediate concern. Standing, he spotted Tien down in that same ditch he had seemingly been trapped in for the past few minutes and helped him up.

Once standing, Bez was able to see the many nascent bruises spreading across Tien's body. His face must have conveyed his confusion, because Tien's gaze was locked on him. 'Somehow, even though we can't track him moving _at all_ ,' Tien growled, 'he's hitting us. _Hard._ ' He glanced down at the wound in Bez's side. 'He's… going to kill us at this rate.'

Bez swept his gaze towards the buildings- the white, eerie structures that surrounded the clearing were ominous without a single person living in them. _Though..._

'Where's he even coming from?' Tien muttered at his side.

Two thoughts connected in Bez's minds. 'He's hiding in the houses between attacks,' Bez uttered. 'That's it.'

'We need to get rid of them, then.' Tien looked towards the sky. 'I… I think I have-'

An explosion, followed by a wall of air and the ground shaking underneath their feet, ruptured from deeper within the village. Detritus rushed up and sat in the air, casting shadows over that entire side of the battle.

Tien's eyes tracked from the sky to the ground. 'Nevermind,' he said. 'Yamcha might have beat us to it.' Together, they dashed off into the shadows.

0o0o0

Even as he prepared his attack, Nail saw Piccolo pursue Ginyu from the area. He even spent a crucial second turning his head in their direction to confirm this.

It was a calculated risk. When he turned back to Jeice and Recoome several yards below him, each struggling to worm themselves out of a shared crater, he saw that they were totally unprepared for another attack. But he wanted to make sure Piccolo and Ginyu had enough time to get away so they wouldn't be caught up in his next attack. Piccolo needed space for his fight, and Nail needed space for his own, after all.

Energy pressed against both his palms. With a rare, small smirk on his face, Nail drew both his hands above his head, tilted, and thrust them together towards the PTO soldiers.

The ensuing white-pink blast, large enough to form a crater big enough to take away the outer edge of the village on this side of it, enveloped Jeice and Recoome's form and blew Nail higher up into the sky with its pure force. Nearby trees flattened to the ground, sometimes at the expense of some village buildings, and grass blades of every shape and size were sheared from the surrounding land and curled up and back, filling the entire area with tiny blue specs.

They were an annoyance to Nail. With a wave of his hand, a wave of _ki_ rode forth and cleared a path down to the center of the blast's detonation. Just before reaching that point, however, the _ki_ stopped and broke apart horizontally.

Recoome, his massive arms held over him like great beams of rock, stood like a statue in the middle of the crater. After a second, Jeice stepped out from behind the giant's protective stature, glaring up at Nail. They were both, ignoring some minor scuffs and scrapes in their armor, unharmed.

'You're a quick one, aren't you?' Jeice called out as Nail lowered himself closer to the ground. 'Seizing the initiative after jumping us and getting us all tangled up. _Very_ smart. But Recoome here is made out of stronger stuff than some planets, mate. And _no-one_ gets the jump on a Ginyu Force member, let alone _two_ , more than twice.'

Nail frowned down at them. 'An… odd place to draw the line. It's okay for me to "jump you" once or twice, but not three times?'

The posture of the PTO soldiers' shifted- Recoome lowered his guard, while Jeice stood up taller- and Nail, his eyes flicking between the two, reminded himself of his plan.

'Jump us once, shame on you,' Jeice said, moving further away from Recoome.

'Jump us twice, shame on us,' Recoome continued, moving towards the other edge of the crater.

'But jump us thrice- that's shame on the Captain-' Jeice paused, both verbally and physically, filling the air with tension. 'And no-one shames the Captain.'

No more than a second passed after Jeice finished did the three figures blur away from their positions. A series of impacts sounded in the air before Nail, arms locked in a cross-block, absorbed a blow from one of Recoome's massive fists and skidded backward in the air. The Namekian glanced over to his right and spotted Jeice rushing through the air to his right to flank him. Smirking, Nail's outline blurred away.

A green leg smashed against Jeice's chest in the next instant, producing a high-pitched _braahm_ that threw red-skinned soldier several feet back through the air. While Jeice recovered, Nail shifted to his right and throttled a hand bearing a ball of pink _ki_. Once braced, he spun, aimed it at a charging Recoome with leveled arms, and fired.

The giant was caught unprepared as the blast smashed into him and detonated, spilling pink light across and past his body. Nail followed this up by swinging his attention back towards Jeice, who had just regained his bearings, and engaging him in a quick exchange. After a few skidding blows, Nail swung underneath a clumsy punch and rammed his shoulder into Jeice's gut. As a reward for his efforts, he heard a satisfying _craaaack_ sound from Jeice's armor, and his strike launched the soldier higher up into the air.

Nail wrenched his gaze from Jeice and spotted a wide fist zooming for his head. With admirable grace, he grabbed the limb, roped around it like a bar, pressed his feet to Recoome's shoulders, and exploded off of the man, using the man as a gigantic springboard. For a parting gift, as he twisted away, he threw another blast of _ki_ down at Recoome and blanketed him with another explosion of pink _ki_.

 _A few more strikes!_ Mid-flight, Nail refocused himself and looked further ahead to Jeice, who was still being carried by the force of Nail's last blow. Pushing himself to his limit, Nail wrapped himself in his white aura and moved even faster through the sky. _A few more strikes like that is all I need to even this!_

As he closed in, Jeice's body became more refined, and Nail could see the scuffed and uneven sheen of his cracked armor, the odd white V resting against the orange circle on his chestplate, and his arm bent back at an odd angle-

Nail had the breath knocked out of him as that arm lurched forward and rammed into his gut, finding its mark in the middle of his open midriff. His momentum came to a halt and reversed, as Jeice sank a number of additional blows into Nail's body. By the time the red-skinned soldier was done, Nail was actively flying away to avoid another strike from Jeice.

Who, of course, was the wrong person to avoid. Nail felt like his entire body was snapped in two as Recoome, tendons bunching under his skin, soared through the air from below and cheered: 'RECOOME KICK!'

The giant punted him into the green sky above them as if he was a ball. Nail had no pretense of control as the strike sent him, spinning madly, far higher up than he would have liked.

Not to mention the pain. The kick spread pure agony through his blood, sinking into his muscles and bones and souring them. Once stationary again and with his vision clear of spinning, Nail panted and oriented himself downward. He held off on using his regeneration so as to not waste his energy on healing excruciating, but insignificant damage.

Below, Jeice and Recoome had regrouped and floated side-by-side. Both of them looked ready to go another round. But just before Recoome charged up at Nail, Jeice held up a hand. 'Recoome, hold on. Did you notice what he was doing before?'

Even though he was far up in the sky, Nail, like any other Namekian, had exceptional hearing. And he spat a particularly bad Namekian curse once he realized what Jeice was broaching.

Recoome, flattening his features, turned to Jeice. 'What's that?'

'He was keeping us apart. Using different attacks for each of us. He charged me and pelted you with energy attacks.'

'He was, huh? Doing that to-'

'Play to our weaknesses,' Jeice concluded, smiling. 'And we just figured out his little ruse. He's buggered. Scouter tells me we've got a small edge on him, even _if_ either of us was fighting him alone.'

Above them, Nail's cursing gave way to silence. He charged _ki_ attacks in both hands.

The next confrontation, when it came just a few seconds later, ended up where everybody thought it would- Nail, pinned down by Jeice's long-distance energy harassment, was bottled into a constant fist-fight with Recoome. With every freakish blow that crashed into his guard, and with every blast from Jeice that he was forced to avoid by rushing back towards Recoome, Nail felt a little bit more of his energy diminish without any proportionate decrease for his opponents. He was lucky to have scored a few early blows that gave him an early lead on damage- but if things didn't change soon, and fast, he would be joining his deceased kin decades earlier than he had hoped.

0o0o0

Piccolo's pursuit of Ginyu, aided by his initial surprise, continued to deliver blow-after-blow against the unprepared alien. Ginyu's body seemed to meld around Piccolo's blows, as he pushed both his speed and his strength further and further than what he had used previously. He was confident that, as he came closer and closer to where he felt his maximum was, his strikes became more assured and decisive.

Ginyu certainly didn't give him any resistance. Since receiving the first blow, the Captain of the Ginyu Force had been pummeled by Piccolo across plains, plateaus, lakes, and oceans, at each stage utterly incapable of defending himself. This journey gave Piccolo more than enough time to decide what he wanted to do- and when he reached an abrupt cliffside, he made his move.

He bombarded Ginyu with blows up until his last strike- after holding back for a second, he whipped his leg across Ginyu's body, sinking his leg into his side and spinning him around so that he crashed into the cliffside face-first. The strength behind his blow created a crater ten times as wide as Ginyu's length.

At the same time, Piccolo turned sideways, faced Ginyu with the right side of his body, and extended the pointer finger from his right hand. With a blip of _ki_ at its tip, Piccolo rapidly traced the finger through the air across a single vertical plane like a paintbrush, leaving behind in its wake a thin strand of yellow. Another idea he, regrettably, had to credit to his time spent at King Kai's. Piccolo had seen very little of King Kai's instruction for whatever move he had intended to teach them before running out of time, but he remembered the gist of it- call on the world's ambient energy in all living things and focus it into a single strike. Simple in concept, hard in execution, as King Kai had described it.

He planned to do nothing of the sort now, nor did he have any desire to do so in the future, but he had remembered the notion of a construct involved with collecting that ambient _ki_ in the first place. The collected _ki_ had to be gathered far enough away from the user so as to not interfere with the crucial energies of the body, spirit, and soul. Piccolo never learned how to use this technique (nor, if he remembered correctly, had Krillin), but he had practiced manipulating his _ki_ outside of his body in preparation.

He finished threading the air with his finger. In front of him, a symmetrical web of yellow lines filled the space between himself and Ginyu, glowing with the telltale strength of imbued _ki._ Thin arcs jumped between individual lines- which annoyed Piccolo, because this signified that his control over the technique wasn't quite perfect yet.

He shrugged it lifted his traced finger parallel to the glistening, 2-D web. _Something to improve on once this is done._

No dollop of _ki_ was left on his finger's tip, and the web of _ki_ , up until this point fixed, glowed with growing intensity. Without bending it at any place except where it connected to his hand, Piccolo swung down his finger to point at Ginyu like a monarch condemning someone to die.

 _'Lightfall.'_

The lines, as if unshackled from occupying a single plain, rushed towards Ginyu, forming a 3-D mass of stranded light. From each line that stretched out, a number of smaller blasts budded off, spun towards Ginyu, and exploded. The purple alien had been stuck in the rock up until this point- now, he was kept there by the increasing stream of tiny energy blasts striking him.

Piccolo, one hand held behind his back and one lifted, was anything but the picture of calm he projected- to control as many blasts that were being launched, he had to exercise as much focus as possible over them to ensure a steady, increasing stream of blasts that grew stronger as the attack went on. Still, facing the storm of energy that smothered Ginyu and threw light, energy, and wind in every possible direction, Piccolo appeared to be the only sure thing amidst the growing chaos that ate more and more of the cliffside. His _gi_ may have been tugged and pushed by the wind, but he was not.

It ended, as Piccolo planned, at full strength- the lines of light and the blasts they spawned grew to a maddening, wracking, incomprehensible peak, radiating waves of light and energy from the central target across the cliffside, and then gave out. Just as quickly as the attack had powered up to its full destructive capacity, it ceased.

Piccolo immediately relaxed his posture. Sweat would have been staining his _gi_ if it weren't for the residual heat of the attack evaporating it off his skin. He stood there, still unmoving, and waited.

He appeared first as shadow, then as a shape. Piccolo expected the man to be severely damaged, if not unable to fight. But when Ginyu finally emerged, smoke wrapped around him like thick rolls of cloth, his throat closed up and choked him with his arrogance.

Not a single scratch covered Ginyu's body. There was nothing left of his white armor, and more of his black jumpsuit was gone than present, and yet, Piccolo could see no actual damage. Tensing, he took in a deep breath and held it in his lungs.

Ginyu, with the air of a god, fully separated himself from the cliffside, turned, and floated closer to Piccolo. The Namekian noted that Ginyu's scouter, partially blocked from sight by the purple's alien left hand, was intact. 'You look shocked,' he noted in a calm voice. 'Are you shocked?'

'... I won't deny it,' Piccolo said finally. 'I knocked you across what felt like half the planet- and for what? I was wrong to think this fight would be easy.'

Ginyu held his gaze on Piccolo, seemingly thinking on what Piccolo had said last. 'My power level was,' he said, changing topics, 'the last time it was measured, clocked around 120,000. Does that number mean anything to you?'

'Nothing at all,' Piccolo retorted. 'I couldn't care less, to be honest.' Piccolo's mouth arched, and he leaned into his bravado- ignoring how much dread he felt beneath the veneer. 'Your man, Burter, began to talk about power levels once he started losing.'

Ginyu laughed- Or Piccolo thought it was a laugh, judging by Ginyu's face and not by the stunted sound he vocalized. 'That sounds like something Burter would do. But the difference between myself and Burter-' Ginyu's tone darkened, '-who you cut down, brutally, shaming me-, and his tone shifted right back, '-is that I do not use power levels to determine my own worth. Burter would always use them to justify his impressive _speed_ , at some points even claiming to be the "Fastest in the Universe", or some hogwash like that.' Ginyu paused, and shook his head as if amused. 'Putting aside his childish, inaccurate, and now _defunct_ views, he was nonetheless fooled by the security power levels gave him. But I recognize their pitfalls and, inversely, their more effective aim- why use something to build yourself up when instead you can use it to tear someone down?'

Piccolo, doing his best to ignore the sweat rolling down the back of his neck, had an idea of where Ginyu was going, but still, he asked: 'And what, exactly, does tearing someone down look like?'

'I'll tell you. My scouter, as I'm sure you've guessed, in addition to measuring my own, also measures the power level of others. And you, my green, _disrespectful_ pest, have a power level of 55,000. So, needless to say-' Ginyu tipped his head back, and looked at Piccolo down the front of his face, '-120,000 outclasses 55,000 by a _wide_ margin.'

It could have been true. But Piccolo was acquainted with bluffing as a tactic in fights, and so far, though Ginyu has matched him blow-for-blow, he'd be able to keep up with him- even if his last attack had done seemingly nothing. _I'm still warming up_... _without a doubt. I thought I was dead once before- and I came back stronger._

'I have a policy of not believing an opponent's words until they've been proven by action,' Piccolo declared. 'So,' he growled, pushing his back foot further behind him in the air and raising his guard,' Come-'

 _PHOOOOOM._ A shockwave, preceded by a great rush of wind, buffeted Piccolo, throwing him back and forcing him to throw up his guard.

He was lucky, because a force crashed against it a split-second later.

From in between the cracks of his guard- and just beneath where a horn had stabbed straight through one of his arms, sending a mist of purple blood into the air- Ginyu half-smiled, half-glared at him. 'You should _listen_ when I speak. My words _are_ action!'

* * *

A/N: Alright! Things are heating up! If you're enjoying this fic, make sure to follow, favorite, write a review (even if it's only a few words), ding that bell, smash that subscribe button- you know, the usual!

Also! To give a glimpse of what's going on with this fic behind the scenes; I recently had a big-think-day and planned out, more or less, the specifics of this arc's end and the broad outline of the next. I am… extremely excited to show you what I've got planned. After this arc and the next concludes, this story is _really_ going to hit on some long-burning plotlines… and I could not be more excited to write them. Probably the most excited I've ever been to write for this story yet. So get pumped! I certainly am.

More also! 2-year anniversary of this fic came and went! Guess it's old enough now to string together simple sentences! More seriously, when/if I ever have a reason to put out a special chapter to commemorate something like this, it would most likely be published as a separate "one-shot" fic for this story, unless the special chapter was intimately connected to the fic's center plot. You may or may not have some ideas as to what hypothetical chapter would receive this treatment...

(one more edit! This chapter pushed this story above the 500k mark! Half a million words! crazy!).

 **Reviews:**

 **Rowan Citrian:** Dunno how humans are going to keep up with Piccolo [ ;) ]. They've definitely been thinking about it, though.

Dunno what's going to happen with Zarbon [ ;) ].

 **Legendary-mech:** Nice to see you again, Legend! And thanks a ton for all the reviews. To address your question about the dragonballs because the others are answered by the text; to be honest, I struggled a bit with using Namek's dragonballs across in a believable way in order to set up the arc ending that I wanted. Using them in a totally rational way would defuse a lot of the tension the story had been building up in the way I'd constructed it, so I had to wring out some slightly suboptimal wishes. I tried to get there primarily by setting up the Namekians as a difficult negotiating partner; what with their stubbornness to leave their planet to save their butts, their desire to hold onto the wishes initially to keep them as an ace in the hole, etc.

In terms of them not knowing how strong Piccolo might be, that's a fair point. They were really rolling the dice with him. But, in the scene you're describing in Chapter 56, the Namekians also needed to give their consent. Moori had an interest in meeting Piccolo, so he agreed to the wish to revive him and bring him to Namek. I can't really get into _why_ Moori had an interest in talking to Piccolo at this point, but bear in mind that that reason is going to be given soon.

I'll totally own up that the way I went wasn't the best it could have been, but, hopefully, the arc's ending will justify the set-up. Besides; since when in canon did everyone always make the best possible wish at every juncture, of if they did, how much deliberation was needed to get there ;)?

 **TienFan99:** Okay- this is pretty meaty! I like this! Thank you! And don't feel the need to write out long reviews if they're taxing! Whatever you can jot down works!

I see what you mean about the tone set by the first 10-odd chapters. The story shifted between a dragonball-esque feel and some dark moments pretty frequently. Same goes for the convenient comic scenes. Your feedback has me thinking that, if I ever did a rewrite of the first couple chapters, I would alter the pulse of the comedy (to where it lacks in the beginning, builds towards the end, and then levels off again as the confrontation with Kakarot looms) and lean less into edginess with Kakarot. I also think a lot can be achieved if, in those scenes, Kakarot is depicted with a more distant, detached angle so as to give his chunk of the story a bit more wiggle room for interpretation- and considering that my characterization of him was fairly simple in the first place in those chapters, there wouldn't be much lost by doing that. That, coupled with some tuning of the characters and set pieces would probably go a long way to prettying up the front side of this fic.

 **Cityracer:** Another meaty review! Thank you! And, as I said to TienFan99 above you, don't push yourself to write a long review if it's taxing! A few lines will do!

I had the idea for the last chapter that panning back to the Earth while the dragonballs were being hunted down would be a good way to ease everyone over there back into the story. We can't be on Namek forever, after all… or can we?

Mai, Shu, and Pilaf, too, were characters I've been thinking of introducing back into the story for a while. I've got some ideas, especially considering that I totally skipped over their arc in dragonball.

The stuff with Kami/Nail is, as you've guessed, going to be impactful… but, dang, that's still a couple of chapters off. Gotta keep my mouth shut. But the accidental merge- well, was it accidental? Thinking emoji?

I'm glad you liked the Ginyu scene. I really tried to go for a weird mix of humor and grief. I felt it very Ginyu Force for everyone to crowd around a grieving Ginyu and then make a show of who can come closest to matching how upset he is.

I'm sure there's a good Ginyu Force fic out there. I've actually thought of making a fic like that before!

Zarbon's hanging around, still, for sure…

See what I said to TienFan99 above- also, yeah, I think fixing up those character actions and capabilities would be better. I definitely depicted Rayne as a tad bit too competent in the beginning before I got a firmer handle on who she was as a character. Other reviewers have also pointed out how everyone acts an adult earlier in the story when they're 12, 13, 14. I don't think at that point as a writer I knew how to write non-perfect characters who don't make the right decision in every situation. If I ever have to do a redo of the first couple chapters, I'll have to write out everyone's ages on a sheet of paper and glance at it occasionally to remind myself of how young everyone is.

But I think you hit something with Master Roshi. Introducing such a specific personality and set of quirks- where he goes so far as to dress up at a tournament to push his students to train harder- helped me write more "flawed", or at least, "edged" characters.

I answered your question about other fics, so: review done!

 **TheJayANater:** TheJayANater did me a great service by bringing to my attention that I had mistakenly updated Chapter 43 with Chapter 55. So, that was fixed. Give 'em a hand! I really hope you were the only person to suffer that confusion.

 **Anonymous:** Oh man… Naruto has such a wacky and strange universe packed with so many characters that I think managing a story of that breadth would be too much for me to handle… but your compliment for this fic was very kind. I try my best to make it the best!


	65. Pride of Heaven and Earth

Ginyu

Chapter 65: Pride of Heaven and Earth

* * *

Wobbling precariously on his hands and with weights tied to his legs, Krillin labored across the grass of King Kai's planet. A burning crimson aura dogged him, licking across his skin and the ground and coloring everything in his vision- the ground, mostly- red. As concentrated as he was in circumnavigating the planet, he wouldn't have noticed a hulking dinosaur creeping up on him, much less the unimposing Kai who did and whacked him across the back with a familiar bamboo stick. Krillin lost his concentration and his grasp of the Kaioken, and like a pile of loose stones, he and his weights toppled over.

'Hey!' Krillin yelled, most of his body trapped under a pile of weights. 'What was that for!?'

King Kai, avoiding Krillin's gaze from under his round shades, used his stick to slide the weights off of Krillin. 'You need to rest,' he said bluntly. 'Won't be too long now.'

Krillin's eyes widened. 'You mean?...'

'You're on deck for resurrection, yes.'

'Oh.' Krillin relaxed and seemed to meld back into the pile. 'Guess it's time, then.'

As King Kai continued to slide weights off of Krillin, freeing him one-by-one, thoughts swirled in the human's head. 'King Kai,' Krillin asked tentatively, 'how bad are things on Namek?'

'Bad enough that you need to go,' King Kai replied. With his free hand, he adjusted his shades. 'I haven't confirmed it with the Namekians' leader, Moori, yet, but I'm almost certain that you'll be needed.'

Krillin remained motionless as King Kai moved more and more weights off of him. 'I see. So… this will be it, then,' Krillin said, as he wiggled out of the pile of weights and stood. King Kai still kept his bamboo stick raised off of the ground. 'My training is complete.'

King Kai snorted. 'Sorry,' he apologized, rubbing a hand under his jaw. 'That was rude of me. "Complete" is the wrong word. Just because you're being brought back to life doesn't mean you've mastered everything I offer.'

Krillin's mouth stretched to one side, grinning. 'I guess there were some things I could have spent more time on.'

'You _barely_ managed to figure out how to use the Kaioken.'

'Meanie.'

Smiling beatifically to match the playful expression of his student's face, King Kai tapped one of Krillin's shoulders with his bamboo stick. 'Sorry again. To make up for my teasing, I'll give you a compliment. You were a much better student than Piccolo.'

'Well, that makes sense,' Krillin said, brushing off the compliment. 'I've been a student under someone as far back as I can remember. If I wasn't better than the brooding green guy whose arrogance is only surpassed by his disdain for other people, then, well- something went _very_ wrong in my life.'

King Kai blinked. 'Cutting.'

Krillin chuckled- and then he, as well as his expression, paused.

'What about Roshi?'

Just as Krillin said this, a rush of wind broke over them. To their right, preceded by curls of white, Roshi landed on the planet. Even though he was standing easily, everything about his bloodied, burned, and mangled appearance made it look like he had been torn apart and pieced back together.

'Speak of the devil...' Krillin mouthed, squinting at Roshi through the wind.

King Kai's arms dropped to his sides. 'Jeez,' he called out. 'What the heck happened to you?'

'I found the guy,' Roshi called back as he moved over to them. Judging by the way he moved, he was still feeling the battle that had painted him from head to toe. 'Beat him into nothing.' He halted feet away from them both and pointedly looked at King Kai. 'Like I was supposed to, right?'

Krillin saw King Kai make a quick gesture with his head. 'Right- but we can talk about that later,' the Kai replied. 'As for now-' he turned, and seemed to present Krillin, 'we need to say our goodbyes. Our common friend here is about to be revived.'

One of Roshi's eyebrows raised. 'Really? My timing is better than I thought.' As he said this, Roshi quickly surveyed their surroundings. 'So, judging by the absence of a certain person… I assume Piccolo has been revived too, then?'

'He has.' King Kai folded his hands behind him. Either his bamboo stick had dispersed into nothing or it was laid flat against his back. 'Brought to Namek- which is, apparently, the planet his father originated from. Also houses his father's people, the Namekians.'

' _Really?_ ' Roshi thought on this. 'So his father wasn't originally from Earth? He was an alien?... ' He grinned. 'Guess it makes sense, considering what you told me about Kakarot.'

Krillin threw a look at Roshi. 'You know about that?'

'I know pretty much everything that's gone on on Earth thanks to King Kai,' Roshi told him with a smile. 'What- you think I wouldn't keep a tab on my students with the celestial equivalent of a CCTV camera available to me 24/7?'

'I'm a lot more than a CCTV camera!' King Kai complained. 'And I'm not available to you "24/7"! We have ground rules!'

Roshi laughed. 'Regardless; I feel a bit better about losing to King Piccolo now knowing this. Failing against an alien isn't something to get worked up about…' he eyes darted from King Kai to Krillin to back again. 'Although I'm curious… why was Piccolo revived on Namek?'

'It's a long story,' King Kai replied, shelving his earlier annoyance while assuming a more serious tone. 'All you need to know is that there's a pitched battle being fought there that Krillin will be joining soon.'

'And Piccolo's helping?'

'He is.'

Roshi nodded. 'That's all I can ask for, then. So-' Roshi paused. 'Krillin?'

King Kai turned and saw what had interrupted Roshi. Krillin just… stared at Roshi, as if he was viewing something great and powerful and _terrible_. At first, he thought Krillin was fixated on the physical cost wrought across Roshi's body. But King Kai could _draw_ the line present between Krillin and Roshi's eyes.

'King Kai,' Krillin finally said, 'I request that Roshi be revived and sent to Namek in my place.'

'-Uhh, what?' King Kai choked out. He coughed a few times into his arm. 'Where'd that come from?'

'Krillin-' Roshi's gaze was unflinching. '-you don't mean that. You _can't_ mean that. You- you think _I_ should-'

' _Alright_ ,' King Kai forced out, taking a step back away from them He wanted nothing to do with the energy he felt rising off of both of them. 'I think this is an issue that _doesn't_ involve me, and considering that I need to set things in motion myself…' King Kai calmly walked over to his house, opened the door, and turned back to them. 'It doesn't matter which one of you goes, .' He then strode past the door and shut it behind him. 'And don't interrupt me by knocking!' his voice yelled out from one of the house's open windows. 'I'll come out when I'm good and ready!'

0o0o0

' _Moori? Hello?'_

 _'Yes?'_

 _'King Kai here. Just checking in. The dragonballs are just about ready on Earth. I'm ready to receive your wishes.'_

 _'That is good to hear. I may begin at any time, then?'_

 _'Go ahead.'_

 _'Well- first wish, I ask that the Earth's dragon be used to move our planet, Namek, to an entirely different spot in the galaxy. This spot must have the same or be close to the local solar conditions that Namek presently has- this new spot for Namek must receive roughly the same levels of light and heat as Namek receives now._

 _'... okay.'_

 _'Second wish, I ask that your warrior, Krillin, be revived on Namek to help us in our fight. I assume these two wishes can be done?'_

King Kai, in their telepathic venue, dragged out his silence. _'You want those wishes done in that exact order?'_

 _'Yes. Is there any reason not to?'_

 _'Well… reviving Krillin first, in case the battle doesn't go well-'_

 _'Namek was hit by some weapon from orbit earlier,'_ Moori interrupted him. ' _If Piccolo hadn't been present to defend us, I and the remaining Namekians would have_ _ **died**_ _. The incident emphasized that we know nothing about the capabilities of the people attacking us from space, I do_ _ **not**_ _wish to risk another attack like that.'_

 _'But- I can look into the space around you-'_

 _'King Kai, you were not a party to the deal I made with the humans,'_ Moori said sternly. _'It is not in your power to alter it… these were the wishes agreed upon. And I have reasons for doing this that even an all-knowing being as yourself may not be aware of. Do as I ask.'_

King Kai sighed. _'Alright. I'll get… probably Krillin… to you with the second wish.'_

 _'Probably?'_

 _'...'_

 _'...'_

 _'...'_

 _'King Kai?'_

0o0o0

' _This has been a_ _ **day**_ _.'_

Two hands already gripped around his staff, Korin nonetheless tightened his grip around it and shot his head towards the sky. ' _King Kai? Is that you?'_

 _'Who else would it be, dummy?'_

 _'...'_

 _'Sorry_ ,' Korin heard the sound of something being rummaged through on King Kai's end. ' _Today has gone from a normal day to a stressful one very quickly.'_

 _'... I was trying to get in contact with you, actually, but I was having trouble-'_

 _'Alright, enough of that,' King Kai trampled on._ ' _I need to know- are the Earth's dragonballs ready?'_

 _'Mr. Popo has gathered them all and arranged them into a tidy pile behind me, so yes.'_

 _'Mr. Popo?'_

 _'They're an assistant of Kami. And I thought this was urgent!'_

 _'Yes! Yes- it is. Okay… Korin. I need you to-'_

 _'...Yes?'_

 _'...'_

 _'You're not speaking.'_

 _'I_ _ **know**_ _I'm not speaking,'_ King Kai snapped. ' _I'm… thinking.'_

 _'About?'_

 _'... Okay. Korin, don't tell anyone I told you this- but I'm modifying the order of the wishes given to us by our Namekian friends. It'll be our little secret- you can keep a secret, right?'_

 _'Depends on the secret. I assume you have a reason for doing this.'_

 _'I do! The Namekians, they're being a little… annoying. They're not optimizing their wishes.'_

 _'You're not going to_ _ **change**_ _the wishes, are you?'_

 _'No! I wouldn't do that- all I want you to do is to fulfill their second wish first and their first wish second. No tricks. Nothing else.'_

 _'What's your reasoning?'_

King Kai sighed. _'They- the Namekians- they don't see things as well as I can from up here- they don't understand what they're facing. It's like what I said to you before- things look_ _ **bad**_ _on Namek. Their leader, Moori, is concerned with whatever threat the PTO poses from space- which, if he had listened to me, he would have learned that Piccolo, more or less, neutralized that immediate threat. Everything the PTO has left is either useless in orbit or fighting on the planet… for the moment.'_

 _'For the moment?'_

 _'I agree absolutely with Moori's wish to move Namek,'_ King Kai admitted. ' _but… not now. It can be fulfilled as the second wish while guaranteeing things don't get too bad on Namek with the first. See what I mean_?'

' _I do. I guess, considering that… if I do this, what are the chances that I ever meet a Namekian, besides Kami or Piccolo?_

 _'Well, I'm not a fortune teller, but I am omniscient for one-fourth of the galaxy, so I'd put them pretty darn low.'_

 _'Then it's alright with me- it's not like they can hear, see, and talk to everyone at a whim, unlike some people_ _.'_

 _'...'_

 _'What?'_

 _'Was that aimed at me?'_

 _'No.'_

 _'I felt like that was aimed at me. Are you mad because I didn't keep you in the loop on what was going on until just now?''_

 _'Not at all, and if I'm mad at you later- well, you'll probably never hear of it. I've found you to be pretty uncommunicative.'_

 _'Are you ready to hear the wishes or not?'_

 _'Go ahead.'_

0o0o0

With a deep breath, Korin opened his eyes and turned away from the Lookout's edge. Mr. Popo's gaze was fixed on him. 'I know what the wishes will be, Mr. Popo,' Korin said. 'Are you ready to begin?'

Several feet across the Lookout, Mr. Popo stood much like a servant waiting on a command. 'I am,' they replied placidly, hands folded behind their back. Next to Mr. Popo was their carpet, on which seven dragonballs were neatly stacked. 'Shall I fetch Kami?'

'Err…' Korin frowned in thought. _I know he wanted me to wake him… but he really seemed like he was suffering before. And doing this on my own shouldn't be too hard. I just need to word the wishes correctly._ 'He's resting,' Korin said aloud. 'It would be best not to wake him.'

One corner of Mr. Popo's mouth curved up. 'You are prepared to go alone?'

'I take it that Kami does not keep you around to question him,' Korin bristled. 'And, to your answer your question- _yes_.'

Mr. Popo, now smiling, dipped their head. 'Very well. I shall summon the dragon.'

Korin's staff made soft thumps across the tiles of the Lookout as he moved closer to Mr. Popo and the dragonballs. Once at their side, Korin gave a final nod to Mr. Popo, and seeing this, the Earth's attendant spread his hands wide above the dragonballs. 'Shenron, Almighty Dragon; come forth and grant our wishes!' they said in a clear, crisp voice.

Light and sound flickered, then caught, and a great wave of sensation rushed out from the seven glowing dragonballs and passed over both of them. After a second wave, coinciding with a growing cover of dark-as-night clouds, a golden line shot into the air, twisted in every possible direction. A vague shape took hold in the sky, became more defined and greener, and once a formidable tangle had formed high above the Lookout, the leading golden line stopped and transformed itself into a head. With whiskers streaming past his features, Shenron swung down to them.

'I AM THE ETERNAL DRAGON,' he rumbled, shaking the tiles underneath Korin and Mr. Popo's feet. Korin leaned on his staff to keep his balance- Mr. Popo didn't even flinch. 'SPEAK YOUR WISH AND I SHALL GRANT IT.'

It was Mr. Popo's turn to nod- clenching his staff tighter, Korin stepped forward and gazed up at the dragon. It would never _not_ be intimidating to relay a wish to such an awesome sight. 'Dragon,' he said with forced calm, 'I request that the human named Krillin be revived on Planet Namek.'

Shenron's eyes glowed briefly. 'THAT WISH CANNOT BE DONE IN ITS UTTERED FORM.'

Korin glanced back at Mr. Popo. 'Meaning?' he asked of Shenron.

'TWO CONDITIONS MUST BE SATISFIED TO FULFILL THE WISH. ONE; BECAUSE THE ONE NAMED KRILLIN HAD HIS BODY FULLY DESTROYED ON THE MORTAL PLANE, AND SEEMED TO HAVE SUBSEQUENTLY REGAINED IN THE AFTERLIFE, REVIVING HIM WOULD PLACE WITH HIS BODY IN THE AFTERLIFE. AS SUCH, IT WOULD REQUIRE A SECOND WISH TO MOVE HIM FROM THE AFTERLIFE TO PLANET NAMEK. THEREFORE, YOUR WISH MUST ONLY INCLUDE A DESIRE TO REVIVE HIM WITHOUT ANY MENTION OF LOCATION IF TO BE CONSIDERED ONE WISH.'

Scrunching his face, Korin thought on this. He knew he couldn't use two wishes to revive Krillin. 'Is it possible for someone who is revived in the afterlife to make their way to a specific planet on the mortal plane by themself?' he asked.

'IT IS,' Shenrom answered. 'WHILE I DO NOT INTIMATELY KNOW THE WORKINGS OF THE AFTERLIFE, EVERY PLANET IN THE MORTAL PLANE HAS A GATE THROUGH WHICH DEAD SOULS MOVE THROUGH TO THE AFTERLIFE. THE ONE NAMED KRILLIN, IF ALIVE, SHOULD HAVE NO DIFFICULTY FINDING NAMEK'S GATE IN THE AFTERLIFE AND PASSING THROUGH IT.'

Korin thought on this more. It wasn't optimal, but Krillin's convenience would have to be sacrificed if he was going to get everything asked of him from the dragon. And he really wanted to avoid King Kai screaming at him if he could.

'That condition is acceptable,' Korin informed Shenron. 'As for the other one?'

'SECOND; THE ONE NAMED KRILLIN IS… DISTRACTED.'

'What do you mean?'

'I… LACK THE WORDS TO EXPRESS IT.'

Korin threw a confused look at Mr. Popo. 'Can you clarify what he's trying to say?'

'All Shenron can do is simply state the status of the wish's target if the wish cannot be fulfilled,' Mr. Popo calmly explained. 'As for why the wish cannot be fulfilled, it is my understanding that, whenever wishes are used to revive a deceased person, the deceased is informed of the wish's intent to revive them. It appears that Krillin is too preoccupied at the moment to grant his consent to be revived.'

Korin blankly stared at Mr. Popo. '...Why is that a thing?'

A thin smile rose on Mr. Popo's face. 'We may be working with what appears as magic, but Kami was careful to make sure that careful rules dictated its use. One rule he created was that wishes with the dragonballs could never be used to violate another person's will. Thus, they cannot be used to alter a person's character or desires- you can't make any given person kinder or have them fall in love with you- unless the person in question agrees for this wish to occur. This is true of wishes targeted at the person asking for the wish, though in that case, that person deciding to utter their wish in the first place, if given not under duress, conveys their consent for the wish to take place. So, for this regard, dragonballs can only change circumstances with consideration to the desires of individual people. The choice of revival offered to Krillin requires a willful acceptance on his part. Thus, if Krillin does not give his consent, Shenron can do nothing.'

Korin furrowed his brows. 'Must it be explicit? Does he have to literally say "yes"?'

'As part of the power granted to him, Shenron can determine whether a person's internal state is compatible with a wish affecting them,' Mr. Popo explained. 'All it requires is that Krillin feels okay with being revived.'

'THE ONE NAMED KRILLIN HAS BEEN REVIVED.'

Korin and Mr. Popo swung their heads towards the dragon. 'What?' Korin exclaimed. 'Really? But you said-'

'I WILL REPEAT MYSELF ONLY ONCE; THE ONE NAMED KRILLIN HAS BEEN REVIVED. WHAT IS YOUR SECOND AND FINAL WISH?'

Korin gulped. _Brisk as always, this one_. 'Alright... for my second wish, I ask that the planet Namek be moved to a spot in the galaxy with the most similar local solar conditions to what Namek has now.'

Like before, Shenron's eyes glowed before speaking. 'FULFILLING THAT WISH WILL TAKE TIME,' he informed them. 'THE GALAXY IS A VERY LARGE PLACE, AND WHILE I MAY NOT FIND AN EXACT MATCH OF NAMEK'S SOLAR CONDITIONS, DETERMINING THE CLOSEST THING TO THAT WILL DEMAND A SIGNIFICANT AND LENGTHY INVESTMENT OF EFFORT.'

'That is permissible,' Korin said. 'You may take as much time as needed.'

'THEN I SHALL BEGIN IMMEDIATELY.' Shenron said, before his eyes began to glow again. Korin sensed, even though Shenron remained physically present, that his attention had moved far away from their present circumstances. As such, Korin let out a sigh of relief and turned to Mr. Popo.

'Good thing I followed King Kai's advice, huh?' he said conversationally. 'Who knows how long Krillin would have been stuck behind this monstrous wish!'

Mr. Popo cocked their head. 'King Kai? And who is that?'

'Oh, you... nevermind.' Korin pressed his fingers into his forehead. 'I think I'm going to follow Kami's lead and take a rest myself. I've had too much stress for one day already…'

0o0o0

Once the noise from King Kai's house had died down, Krillin and Roshi were left alone, standing a few feet away from the single tree that grew on King Kai's planet. The leaves that grew on it were green and wide, and in the time both of them had been here, not a single one had ever fallen from any branch.

Neither of them did notice one sag and fall, coming undone at its stem, and drift slowly to the ground. They might as well have been in a tunnel, with either one blocking the way the other wanted to go.

For a time, Roshi's face looked anguished, a striking contrast to Krillin's own displayed determination. Eventually, however, Roshi gathered himself and pinched his face into something more battleworthy. 'Reviving me is impossible with the Earth's dragonballs. We _both_ know that. I've died twice-'

'King Kai doesn't know that,' Krillin shot back, holding his ground. 'He might even think of a way around it. Maybe, if he put your soul into another body-'

'Stop,' Roshi commanded, holding out a hand and covering half his face with a hand. 'Please, stop. What you're saying is insane- and it pains me to hear it. I don't know what's going through your mind, but as to what's going through mine- please, for my sake, _stop_.'

'You don't have to accept this,' Krillin clung on stubbornly, his face twitching faster and faster. His eyes glistened. 'You could be the hero on Namek, the hero I _know_ that you are, and then rejoin everyone on Earth-'

Roshi gripped Krillin by his shoulders. 'Krillin, listen-'

'What!? Do you-'

Before Krillin could say anymore, Roshi's arms pulled on him and drew him into a hug. It was such a smooth and deft movement that Krillin wasn't aware it had happened until his face was pressed against Roshi's chest. Reassurance glided through his body, filling his heart, his blood, and his mind with an unapproachable calm. The man had always been a rock to him. Even in death, this remained true.

After a time spent together like this, each one hugging the other underneath a near-perfect tree with green leaves, they separated, and Roshi began. 'I'm going to say this with as much kindness and truth as possible, Krillin, because I see that you need both right now. But you need to understand- I am no longer your master. Certainly not _old_ enough in the afterlife to be one, anyway,' he said, gesturing to his youthful appearance. 'And, when I was- how long has it been now? 5 years? How old were you then? 15, 16?'

'15,' Krillin confirmed, his voice small. He found that he couldn't look at Roshi- he looked away and stared at King Kai's house instead.

'You were still growing into the man I see now. You were impressionable. You were, on occasions, brash,' Roshi said with a small, glinting smile on his face. 'But you were, most importantly, _young_. And I had trained you for years- since you were 12, if my math and my brain are correct. You… idolized me, right?'

Wordless, Krillin nodded.

Roshi registered this. 'I was your teacher,' he said wistfully. 'And a good teacher will do that to their students. I was by no means perfect. But, looking at you now, I think I understand the extent of how far that goes. How _deep_ it went. The life we might have had together, if we had both survived King Piccolo, might have outgrown that relationship, one day. You were close to surpassing me before he arrived. And you certainly surpassed the peaks of my strength in life since then.' Roshi shook his head. 'Maybe…'

'... Maybe, once you, and Yamcha, and Rayne, and Chi-Chi, and Launch truly outgrew me, as you were all destined to do, and became warriors and teachers in your own rights… maybe I would have continued on as what I was.' Roshi made a wry face. 'The Turtle Hermit would have stayed on his island with his shells and his magazines and have continued to teach every young and bright-eyed student that set foot on his shore. He would have watched those students of his grow stronger, supplant him in the way that every great student eventually does with their master. And,' Roshi glanced away, his gaze distant, 'he probably would have been content. Not overjoyed, but content. Before you and everyone else came along to study under him, Krillin, he was considering... '

A focus returned to Roshi's eyes, and judging by his stop-and-start mouth, he struggled to express something. 'I died at the age of three hundred and twenty-three,' he half-said, half-sighed. 'A length longer than three human lifetimes. I saw people I cared about- family, students, some even more cherished than that- die and move on to another existence even as I stubbornly clung to life. Did I ever tell you how- or even _why_ \- I lived to be that old?'

Krillin's face was wide, hanging on every word said. He silently urged Roshi to go on.

'Sometime around my 80th birthday, I was trudging through a forest far away from any settlement with my sister, Baba. She had pulled me along on some crazy trek based on some vision she had experienced- mind you, my sister is older than me, and with my own mortality bearing down on me, I was half-convinced that I was leading a 90-year old woman suffering from dementia straight into a premature death in the wilderness.' A distant smirk appeared on Roshi's face. 'That, even at the age of 80, was a youthful error in judgment. If I have learned _anything_ about my sister in the time since then, it is that she is never one to do something without absolute certainty in the end result. It was in this case I learned that first hand.'

'At some point into our expedition, no different from any other day so far, we broke into a clearing. Sweaty and stained by the day's heat, we were looking for a suitable place to pitch our tent for the night. But in the twilight's glow of the encroaching night, she found it- the plant that had dominated her dreams for months, taunting her with the promise of untold life. Still skeptical of her, I tried to keep her cautious; I wanted her to wait a week or even a few months to make sure she had actually found what she was looking for and not something that would poison her- but-' Roshi laughed. 'Again, a youthful error in my judgment.'

'That very night, she brewed the plant into tea, drank it, and fell into a deep sleep. Deep enough that she didn't come out of it for a few days, and during that time, I had to grapple with whether I was spending my days standing watch over a dying woman and doing nothing. But on the fifth day, with our food very nearly gone and Baba's skin dry as sandpaper, she awoke.'

Roshi rolled his neck. 'Of course, it took a few years for her to be sure; aging doesn't happen overnight, after all. But when we met again at a later time and did some basic physical and mental tests- the conclusion was inescapable. She was _de-aging_.Not so far as to return her to her youth, as you've probably noticed, but enough that she wouldn't be living on forever as a decrepit old woman. She would just be… old. Her bones might creak, her back might hurt, but she would continue on in the state she was in for however long the plant remained in her system. She soon determined that the plant had to be brewed into a tea and drank about once every one hundred years to keep her alive. So, from that day on, Baba cultivated that plant within the privacy of her own home. And if I know my sister well, she will continue to do that for as long as the existence of the universe will let her. She's seen the other side of death- and she has no desire to go there.'

Roshi paused and swept his gaze over the rest of King Kai's planet. If he listened closely, he could hear King Kai's quiet muttering from inside his house. 'I am unlike my sister in many ways,' he went on. 'In this regard- as to whether I wanted to prolong my life- we differed _substantially_. In my youth I was fearful of dying- it was so far off, so unknowable- but as I grew older, and outlived more and more people around me, I lost that fear. Death became something I _knew_. Something I could understand. And, as even more of my companions in life died, and I found myself living a lonely life on an island in the South Sea, I began to look forward to it. I made this known to everyone I still knew- I would welcome death whenever it came.'

'That didn't stop Baba from offering me the tea, of course,' Roshi said, half-smirking. 'I was in my mid-80s at the time. At first, I flat out rejected her- which became such a nasty fight that I didn't end up speaking to her for five years.'

Krillin, for the first time since Roshi began to talk, snapped himself out of a stupor. 'You thought your work on Earth was done, didn't you?' he asked, feeling like he had hit on something crucial.

Roshi gave Krillin a bright, affirming smile. 'Bingo. I had accomplished a lot in my long life- I had trained under the greatest martial artist to have ever walked the Earth up until that point, defeated enemies as numerous and varied as the number and type of stars in the night sky, bested my rival more times than not- heck, I even once prevented a Vampiric Emperor from overthrowing a small rudimentary kingdom that went on to become the present-day World Government. Nearing my 90th birthday, I was feeling… an acceptance with what I had done.' Roshi landed on. 'Do the old gurus not teach that pride and arrogance prevent good people from accepting when their influence on the world has waned? That, at a certain point, the time in life where you can challenge every enemy and climb every mountain is over? That there comes a spot in the path where you must sit on your hill and look fondly on the land you traveled to get there before climbing down? I never wanted to be a servant to my past; the last thing I wanted to do was vainly replicate what I did when I was younger. And so I did not expect anything more from life by the time I hit 90-years-old. I was ready, mentally and spiritually, to move on.

A stubborn smile refused to leave Roshi's face. 'And, yet... something continued to nag at the back of my mind. I had done my part in training the best and brightest of the next generation. There were several promising students that had trained under me and graduated out into the world. There were a lot more Turtle Students back then. But I still felt there was something left for me to do. And in my 90th year on Earth,' Roshi's smile melted into a frown, 'I, as an old man, was forced to reckon with a string of events that had would have been near-impossible for my younger self to stop. As I was then 90... those events _were_ impossible to stop.'

A rare breeze blew through the area. The leaves on the tree fluttered. 'I mentioned my rival before. I can't remember if I told you this in life- but he was the same man who trained Tien and Chiaotzu before the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. Shen, like myself, trained under the foremost master of our day, Master Mutaito. We both served our master until the day he died sealing away King Piccolo all those centuries ago. And, then, when we were both standing on an empty battlefield, both of us young, we fought each other. We had always clashed while in training, but back then, Master Mutaito was around to defuse the tension between us. But with him gone, we both realized that our clashes weren't a result of us competing for the honor of being Master Mutaito's best pupil- it was because we truly despised each other and what we stood for. Shen, I found out, was an aggressive, vicious man, who sought strength out as an end, not as a means.'

'You two were nothing alike, then,' Krillin said.

Roshi nodded. 'He never could surpass me for long. Even as we neared the end of our lives, I still held an edge over him. But, then…' Roshi shook his head. 'Shen had a younger brother, Tao. Tao had received an entirely different upbringing from Shen- he had been trained as an assassin. He was good at it, too, if I remember his exploits in my youth correctly. But he was a glory seeker- he wanted to make a name for himself. And Shen wanted to become an undisputed champion of the martial arts- at my own expense.'

A long sigh left Roshi, and he interlocked his hands on his abdomen. 'I had twenty-nine former students on the day I turned 90. A week before I turned 91, and I had none. At the same time that Shen founded a school which emphasized the training of the martial arts of assassination, Tao hunted down and killed every single Turtle School student in the world.' Roshi's fingers pressed harder, coloring white at the knuckles. 'I hadn't even known this had happened until Shen, in his victory lap, had come around to my house to tell me what had happened. At first I refused to believe him- but, stretching out my _ki_ sense, I confirmed his account over the course of many agonizing days. Every single one of my students was dead. Whatever reputation the Turtle School had as one of the greatest martial arts schools in the world died alongside it.'

Another breath from Roshi, and he unwound his fingers. 'Old wounds. Don't hurt as much anymore- but they still sting from time to time. Back then, to avenge my students and my school, I challenged Tao myself- and I _lost_. He wasn't much younger than me, but it was enough, and my old age prevented me from securing a knock-out blow. I later learned that both Tao and Shen had found the same plant Baba had, and had begun to cultivate it, same as her, to extend their lifespans. Regardless, Tao left me beaten and broken on the doorstep of my own house, near-death, and laughed as he left surfing a tree through the air. I turned 91 crying on the front porch of my house.'

Roshi's expression was flat- the act of recounting such long-ago events made him seem tired. 'Baba came to me soon after. Helped nurse me back to help. And, as if she had read my mind- she had brought a brew of tea with her. It was, and remains, one of the hardest decisions I've ever made. But the thought of Shen replacing the Turtle School- which exemplified every good the martial arts were supposed to embody- with his Crane School, which was nothing more than a pipeline for assassins who went on to make Tao and Shen egregious amounts of money- it repulsed me. Generations and generations of talented martial artists would be made into killers. I knew that this would come to pass if I didn't stick around to rebuild the Turtle School. So- I had to live.' Roshi made a motion with his hand. 'I drank the tea.'

'Things settled down after that point. I de-aged slightly and felt some former vigor and strength return to me. I worked at rebuilding the Turtle School and was more selective with the students I took- knowing that, one day, any one of them might have to fight for their life against a Crane student. I fought Tao to a standstill a few times over the next few centuries, which seemed to deter him from making any more attacks on my students. The Turtle School never regained its former level of prestige and fame- but it chugged along, and as long as it did, I was happy to train new students.'

A sore smile graced Roshi's face. 'But the funny thing about living beyond a normal human lifespan is that none of your worries about your legacy fade away- if anything, they just get stronger. You become totally aware of what you can and can't do at the artificial, biological age you're at- which only drives home the point that you could do better and greater things when you were younger. In all truthfulness, the fears I had about living past my proper time always ate at me, but I continued to feel that there was more work to be done for my school, for the martial arts, and the world. And as long as that was true, I would never let myself drift from the world.'

Roshi's gaze, sharp, landed on Krillin. 'And you know the rest. You and everyone else came along and trained- _hard._ You befriended Crane students, mending the founding divide between the Turtle and Crane Schools. On your first attempt you defeated an ancient evil that I had failed _twice_ against. And you defended your planet from two aliens who, if they had had their way, would have wiped all life off the face of the Earth. _You all_ did this- without me. Do you understand what I'm saying? I know I took a long time to get here, but I wanted to make this point clear-' Roshi put his hands on Krillin's shoulders and squeezed. ' _-You all let me move on from a life I did good in, because I know the world is in good hands._ That is not something to be sad about. That is something to be _proud_ of.'

Krillin looked at Roshi. Silence settled on them. Even the mutterings from King Kai's house seemed to have stopped. 'I understand that,' Krillin said, frowning, 'but, if we need the strongest fighter, then-'

'-then what?' Roshi said. 'Krillin: it doesn't matter if I'm stronger than you- not that I'm bragging, because I do have a five-year head start on you here, and from what I've sensed, you've narrowed the gap between us considerably since arriving here. All that matters is whether you're strong enough to close the job, which, according to King Kai, you _are_. It's _your_ friends who are fighting on Namek right now. It's _Piccolo_ who's fighting on Namek right now. Do you think I, of all people, want to fight side-by-side with Piccolo? But, you-', Roshi showed a prideful smile, '-you've done it before, and you can do it again. Krillin; this is _your_ moment, because your time and your life aren't over yet. There's still a lot of good for you to do. And I want to see you do that good.'

At the end of this, Roshi let go of Krillin's shoulders. Krillin took a breath to glance away and back. 'Okay,' he said, staring at Roshi. 'I can do this?'

'You can.'

'I can save the day?'

'Yes.'

'And you're sure?'

'Me and King Kai both.'

Krillin looked up at him. Roshi saw, beneath a rawness that pervaded his entire face, the smallest bit of determination. 'Well, then- I won't let you down.'

Roshi, holding back his own emotions, gave a short, quick nod. 'Just your friends, really,' he corrected. 'You don't need to prove anything more to me.'

Something settled in Krillin's eyes. 'You like being here, don't you?' he asked. 'In the afterlife. Training.'

With a crooked smile, Roshi shrugged. 'Breaking barriers is fun. So is getting back my younger body. But, more importantly and as I said before- I felt good about what I had done in life, and was confident my good work would be secured in the future. And, after a certain point, you can't see much else that's different from other people…' Roshi trailed off. 'Hey… question,' he said slowly. 'Did you and Rayne?...' He made a certain face.

Krillin's eyebrows rose. It took him a second to read Roshi. 'I- err- how did you-'

Roshi flashed a smile. 'Teachers will always see some things in their students before the students themselves. I'm glad for you and her both. And don't think I was being a lecherous old man specifically to you two! There are a few others I would have asked the same question to.'

Krillin gave a nervous laugh, and scratched one of his cheeks. 'Hah!... haha!... hah… But, uh… who else-'

The sound of a door swinging open on its hinges broke through their conversation. King Kai, wielding a trowel, exited his house and pointed at Krillin with the tool. 'Why are you still here?' he accused. 'Damn that cat!'

Krillin narrowed his eyes in confusion. 'I don't understand-'

'You should have been revived on Namek! AUGH!' King Kai pulled at his own robes in frustration. 'Horrible! You'll be delayed now- damn it! Damn me!'

'Oh, Krillin…'

Krillin turned back to Roshi. The black-haired human was staring into space above him. 'It's… gone.'

'You mean?...'

'Your halo is gone.'

'Really?...' Mutely, Krillin raised a hand above his head and began to search for his halo. True to Roshi's word, it was gone. 'I… wow. I didn't even notice being revived. There was no flair at all- nothing.'

Roshi crossed his arms and smiled. 'Well, let me be the first to say- welcome back to the living.'

Krillin didn't have a chance to reply. 'No time for any of that!' King Kai chirped, barging into the space between them. 'You need to get going immediately!'

'What?' Krillin asked even as King Kai pushed him across the planet. 'I don't- stop this, King Kai!' he protested, squirming out of King Kai's grip. 'What's the rush? Explain what's going on!'

King Kai huffed. 'You're needed on Namek,' he said. 'I was hoping that, when revived, you'd be brought directly to Namek, too; but it seems now that you'll have to fly all the way across Snake Way back to where you were originally checked in, and from there, find the spiritual gate to Namek. Going to take- hmm-' he froze.

'What? What is it?' Krillin asked.

'You're much stronger than you were when you came…' he thought out loud, scratching his chin and staring down at the ground. 'Getting down Snake Way in a timely manner shouldn't be too hard for you, actually- but you need to go now!' he finished, jumping on Krillin again. 'Every second counts!'

'Okay!' Krillin said, stepping back from King Kai.' Okay!... Alright.' He looked between King Kai and Roshi. 'I'll… miss both of you. And I remember what I said to you before, Mas- Roshi.' Krillin caught himself, smiling at his near-goof. 'Just Roshi. To both of you; we'll meet again.'

Another breeze rolled across the planet. Roshi, his eyes as kind and as gentle as Krillin remember them in life, gave a dip of his head. 'Until we meet again.'

'I'm going to telepathically scream at you for the rest of your newfound life if you don't get going now!' King Kai yelled, jumping up and down. 'And I'm a Kai! I can do that! I can make your life a living _hell_!'

Krillin cast a good-humored and nervous gaze over to King Kai. Then, with a flicker of red, the Kaioken blazed into life around him, shrouding him in a casing of pure, restrained power. He waved, and blasted off of the surface of King Kai's planet, scattering the one leaf that had fallen from the one tree into the pink air, and arced down towards the yellow clouds below. Snake Way appeared and blurred into a single unending white mark as Krillin's flight grew faster and faster.

He was moving quickly. He wished he was quicker. _I'm coming guys- just hold on!_

0o0o0

Three blows smacked across Piccolo's body- three blows in the form of a fist, a kick, a headbutt. The first two had batted away still-charging _ki_ blasts from his hands, throwing them and their wiry yellow discharge into the air around them. The headbutt, with small black horns leading it, dove straight into his chest, sinking into him and piercing deep into his flesh. He froze.

His opponent- who Piccolo, by this point, had come to despise like few other people he had ever known, took this opportunity, like all the others before it, to prattle to him.

'My boss, Frieza- have I mentioned my boss?' Ginyu spoke to him normally- as if his horns weren't lodged into Piccolo's chest and being stained further with purple with every second he spoke. 'Nice fellow. My men like him, too- not as much as me, of course, but notable all the same. I once heard a rumor that the body he wears around on a daily basis isn't him-' Ginyu's voice became small. '-that he hides stronger, more monstrous shapes beneath his present veneer. You think there's any truth in that?'

Piccolo made a gurgling sound. A splash of purple blood fell out of his mouth a second later, pattering onto the back of Ginyu's head and contrasting with the alien's purple skin. This lunatic expected him to talk with his lungs impaled!?

'Apparently, one of the forms he hides has horns,' Ginyu said conversationally. With a gross-sounding _splooch_ , Ginyu pulled his head back, leaving behind two holes in Piccolo's chest, and appraised him at his own height. 'I wonder how big they are, sometimes. Whether the monster that lives in him embraces or rejects how it looks, walks, talk. Get me?'

Piccolo sank back in the air, holding a hand over his wounds. He twisted his head around, scanned the horizon- and Ginyu sank his fist into his gut, bucking back the Namekian's entire body with his force. Piccolo plummeted down to the ground like a meteor, and made an appropriate crater for one.

Above, Ginyu watched the plume of dust shot into the sky cease its upward motion before deciding to glide down to the ground. When he landed in the house-sized crater, he saw that Piccolo was laid up on his stomach, half-buried in the dirt. The scum hadn't even made an attempt to free himself. Ginyu frowned.

'You know what irks me the most?' Ginyu growled, grabbing Piccolo by the hem of his _gi_. He jabbed two fingers into Piccolo's back, causing his opponent to audibly choke. 'Burter always asked me those types of questions. "Boss, what'd you think Frieza's hidden form would even look like?"' A jab went into Piccolo's sides, causing his entire body to shiver and flinch in Ginyu's grip. "Boss, how _fast_ do you think Frieza's hidden form might be? " _Boss, boss, boss!'_ Jab after jab rammed into Piccolo's body, each one digging deep and causing Piccolo immense pain. 'He could be so _annoying_!' Ginyu seethed.

Piccolo remained motionless in his grip. 'Are you even listening to me!?' Ginyu growled as he swung around the Namekian in his grip.

To his surprise, Piccolo's gaze, bloodshot but crystalline, was focused on him. That, and a small yellow blast held in one of Piccolo's hands.

The attack leaped and slammed into Ginyu's chest, pushing the PTO soldier across the landscape. His feet carved out a gaping, rocky trench in the earth, as he painstakingly brought his hands around to his front and placed them underneath the blast. Ginyu slowed, then stopped, while the veins on his head bulged from exertion.

From his crater, Piccolo stood, panting and protectively holding a hand over the last spot in his right side where Ginyu had jabbed him. Far-off, he watched Ginyu incrementally shut his hands before breaking through and dispersing his attack wholly. Yellow _ki_ spurted out from his fingers like dust, and Ginyu, grinning, looked over to Piccolo.

 _I'm going to die._ Piccolo watched the Captain of the Ginyu Force advance on him, smoke rising from his hands. _This man is an abomination. There's no way I can beat him in a straight-up fight. I need help… or a cheap shot._ Piccolo, his eyes still glued to Ginyu, focused his _ki_ sense on the abandoned village they had left everyone else in. All his allies were still on their feet- but he sensed the same was true of all his enemies, too. Not bad, but not good, either.

Ginyu came to a stop several feet away from Piccolo. The last of the smoke billowed from his hands. 'I'll ask again, because I'm a patient person,' Ginyu said through a forced smile. 'Are you listening to me?'

The repetition of a question snapped something inside Piccolo. He was trying with every ounce of his will to tune this lunatic out and focus on the far-off village- and he still heard the voice of the most insufferable person he had ever met bounce around the inside of his skull like a rubber ball.

'What do you want from me!?' Piccolo burst out, surprised by his own response. 'You've made it clear that I _die_ no matter what I do- so, what, do you want an apology!?' He moved his hands away from his body and braced his arms. 'Do you want me to profess my _regret_ over killing one of your insufferable, imbecilic men, who slaughtered just for the sake of it!? SOLDIERS DIE WHEN YOU TRY TO COMMIT GENOCIDE!' Piccolo screamed. 'Soldiers die when they go to war! Soldiers die when they're sitting around, in every shape, position, pose- so get over it and stop crying about it! And even if I wasn't someone who cared about what slaughter does, the harm it does to supposedly "innocent" people- I would never find anything admirable in what the clowns underneath you do! What's there to respect in them!?' Piccolo drew in his breath, his face contorting. 'What's there to respect in you?' he hissed.

Piccolo let his words hang in the air. A smile flitted up to Ginyu's face; unlike previous ones, it looked easy, along with something else Piccolo couldn't place.

'That,' Ginyu said, pronouncing every letter, 'was exactly what I wanted- without even knowing I wanted it. You just gave me something far better than an apology- you gave me _perspective_.'

Piccolo narrowed his eyes. 'Oh?' In the back of his mind, he continued to probe the abandoned village for _ki_ signatures.

'You have no reason to respect me- and that is a mistake I need to correct. The Ginyu Force has always been known for, besides its clinical efficiency, its class and honor. So…' Ginyu drew a foot back in the dirt, and Piccolo instinctually braced himself.

Ginyu posed, throwing out his arms and legs to either side and crouching. 'I AM CAPTAIN GINYU, OF THE GINYU FORCE!' he cheered.

To Piccolo's horror, his opponent held this position for many seconds. Long enough that there was no other conclusion he could reach other than that Ginyu was doing this purposefully. And then Piccolo felt warmth rise in his cheeks. _I'm going to die embarrassed for this purple idio-_

Over the space of one word in one thought, Ginyu rushed forward, de-posing himself in the process, and planted a blow into Piccolo's body. 'But you still killed one of my men.' Piccolo felt Ginyu twist his fist in Piccolo's gut, flooding him with pain. 'Humiliation must be met with such. And, as the Captain of this Force, I can multitask.'

A surreal moment hit Piccolo; even as he felt one of his ribs snapping out of place, Piccolo felt an even greater linking of his mind with another.

0o0o0

The row of houses in front of them was flattened, but beyond that, there was no sign of Yamcha or Bez. No sounds in the air, either. The entire village had gone dead quiet.

Tien was watching Bez turn over some rubble when someone piped into his head.

' _Status?'_

The voice in Tien's head was as abrupt as the crash heard from a nearby house a second later. _'Piccolo?'_

 _'_ _ **Status**_ _,'_ Piccolo growled.

Tien watched Bez spin to the sound nearby and dash off. He hesitated in following him. ' _We're having trouble. We can't find our opponent- and yet he keeps landing blows on us._ '

 _'And Nail?'_

 _'We haven't seen anything of him.'_

The smallest pause possible came from Piccolo before he said: _'Destroy the village. Flush our your enemy. Do it quickly. I need help_.'

Tien was floored by what he was hearing. _'Piccolo?'_

He got no response. A moment later he felt the connection between them sever. _That was… new. Having Piccolo inside my head…_ Tien shuddered.

But he finished this quickly and cast his gaze to the sky. _His idea, on the other hand…_

0o0o0

Aching, Yamcha fell to one knee at the same time as his blood splashed onto the side of a nearby white house. His left arm drooped useless at his side as more blood ran down its length, dripping faster and faster off of him.

Yamcha took one at the left side of his body and shirked his gaze away. A long, deep cut ran from the top of his shoulder to end of his upper arm.

 _Won't be able to use that anytime soon._ Gritting his teeth, Yamcha looked around him. He was in an alleyway and appeared for all intents and purposes to be by himself- though he knew he wasn't. He was convinced he was fighting a phantom. What he saw before the fight began- a short, green, chubby alien- was, in fact, a ghost that moved through walls and appeared in places he shouldn't be, hit him with unblockable strikes, and disappeared before Yamcha knew what had even happened. He had leveled a section of the village, which created the flat, rubble-strewn section of his vision to his right, just from sheer frustration.

 _For all the good that did. All I've got to show is a busted arm and blood on a wall…_ Yamcha lifted his head to the sky. _Maybe, if I had gotten up in the sky… maybe I would have seen him coming..._

The sky, as always, was maddingly green with at least one sun streaking through it. Though- Yamcha saw two, And one was much smaller than the other.

 _Tien._ Yamcha recognized the yellow energy as belonging to his friend. _That's Tien._

It took him another second to realize why Tien might be in the sky above the village gathering energy.

Yamcha shot to his feet. It appeared he had seconds before Tien launched his attack. _Shit! Tien, you need to give me a heads up! Shit, shit!_ He scanned his surroundings- he wasn't anywhere near the edge of the village, and he wasn't sure if he could fly away fast enough to outrun the inevitable blast radius of the attack. _Which meant..._

An idea- the only one available to him- popped into his head.

 _Shit, shit,_ _ **shit**_ _!_ Blue- _ki_ fangs materialized around Yamcha's right hand, and crouching, he used that side of his body to dig himself into the ground. Whole sections of earth were vaporized as he wormed himself farther beneath the village. _You've outdone yourself with the crazy this time, Yamcha!_ Flecks of dirt flew into his eyes and coated his mouth. He took a deep breath as he felt his makeshift tunnel collapse in behind him. _You really have!_

0o0o0

'Oi, Recoome!'

The giant drew back a thrown fist inches away from Nail's haggard guard. The Namekian, trembling, forced his gaze above his guard and spotted Jeice hanging in the air behind and above Recoome. The red-skinned soldier was looking away from them. 'You see that guy over there?'

Recoome followed Jeice's gaze and saw one of the other fighters from earlier hovering in the air above the closeby village. Yellow energy swirled around him like clouds circling the eye of a hurricane.

'What's he doing?' Recoome asked loudly.

'I think he's gonna blow up the whole freakin' village!' Jeice exclaimed. 'Hey- I better put a stop to that! Guldo might still be down there! Back in a bit!' He gathered his _ki_ and boomed towards the village.

Nail, reflexively, tried to launch into flight after him, but at the last second Recoome grabbed his leg. _No!_

'Nah uh uhh!' Recoome chided. He pulled Nail back and rammed a knee into the Namekian's gut, launching him helpless into the air. With a flare of his pink _ki_ , he zoomed up and rammed another strike-his fist- into Nail's gut. The Namekian coughed a spray of purple blood into Recoome's face. 'I haven't finished complaining about the haircut you gave me!'

0o0o0

Bez, lost among the houses of the village, suddenly felt something brush against his head. Turning, he felt wind and _ki_ strike his face from above. 'What the?...'

He squinted into the sky. Like a sun hanging in the air, Tien gathered light and heat around him high above the village. Even as he looked, Bez had to shield his face from another savage gust of wind.

Bez traced in what direction Tien was facing, which was probably one of the silliest things he'd done in a battle, because Tien was facing directly at him. _That's bad._

He spotted something else while doing this- a red shape was flying steadily across the sky. One of Ginyu's men. And he was zeroing in on Tien.

Frantic, Bez threw himself into the air. _That's really bad!_

0o0o0

Jeice resisted the urge to slide his hand under his chestplate and scratch his skin. Just because the fighter he was presently rushing towards seemed content to let him close in didn't mean that that couldn't change in a heartbeat. He had no intention of throwing another Burter on Captain Ginyu's conscience.

But, in the end, he should have scratched himself, because when Bez rammed into him from below, he was so unprepared for an attack from that direction that his limbs got caught up behind him.

'Got you!' Bez yelled, as gripped Jeice with one hand and rammed a number of quick punches into his armor. They were more annoying than anything to Jeice. Even so, their collision threw them off course from where he wanted to go.

'Piss off!' he barked, while vainly trying to spin around and throw Bez off of him.

They struggled for a time, each one somewhat unprepared to brawl with each other in mid-air. Eventually, however, Jeice freed himself and smashed his fist against the side of Bez's head. The purple alien caved around the blow and was launched across the plain ringing the village. Jeice spent a second watching Bez impact the ground below before a mighty after wave of energy in the form of force and heat slammed into his back. He spun around and saw that the village was consumed in crackling, hissing energy.

'Ah, hell!'

0o0o0

Tien waited until the very last second to launch his attack. Once he saw Yamcha disappear deep under some rubble, and Bez intercept someone racing towards him and tackle him into the sky, he let out a breath of relief. _They're out. So..._

Forming a triangle in his hand, he pulled the swirling energy around him into the space between his palms. A neat shape formed in his palms. Every muscle clenched, he titled his hands down to the ground and hoped.

'TRI-BEAM, HAH!'

And the last image he saw of the village was overpowered by light.

0o0o0

Nail had nearly missed what amounted to be the only opportunity he had been given in this fight so far- but he wasn't _that_ out of it yet. Even as Recoome's fist sank into his gut, Nail could sense the energy gathering around Tien not far off. And he had a pretty good idea where he was going to throw it towards.

He didn't really know why the village was the target, or how their battle was going at all- but he knew the facts of the situation told him that that would be the target, and that was all that mattered.

Below him, Recoome sauntered back in the air, charging another strike. Nail had realized quickly that, while it was hard to go blow-for-blow with the red-haired giant, he was pretty easily redirected.

'Recoome!...' The PTO soldier had one hand placed over the middle part of his other arm- Nail guessed he was about to say "elbow".

 _No way I'm going to let you use another ridiculous move!_ For the first time in their fight, Nail aimed his arms at Recoome and extended them, stretching out and gripping a surprised Recoome by his legs. Then, tipping backward, with his back towards the village behind him, he retracted his arms at a rapid rate, dragging Recoome along.

And so, like he was a rock in a giant slingshot, Recoome passed over Nail and was let go, free to hurtle uncontrollably. Nail turned and got a sliver of an image of Recoome sailing through the air above the village before Tien's attack from above crashed down across the entire area.

0o0o0

Just as Ginyu was about to slam Piccolo into the lake just below him- the Namekian was still stunned from a previous blow and was going to enter the lake at any rate, albeit at a much slower speed- Ginyu's scouter beeped. 'Hmm?'

As Ginyu studied his scouter, below him, Piccolo stabilized and forced himself to a halt just above the surface of the water. Ragged wounds ran up and down his body, whole sections of his _gi_ were non-existent, and he was having trouble keeping himself in the air. Despite all this- he was breathing, and intended to do so for some time. But he would be lying to himself if he thought he had any other plan beyond just trying to survive moment-to-moment. He lifted a shaking hand to his face and wiped away a glob of dried inside his mouth with it.

'It seems that someone just made a mess of the village we were at,' Ginyu curtly informed him. He tapped his scouter one final time and settled his gaze fully on Piccolo. 'In order to prevent another _Burter_ , I should go check up on that.'

'That was my work, you know,' Piccolo said. He was, this close to death, feeling arrogant. 'I gave them the idea to blow up the village.'

' _Good for you_ ,' Ginyu said, mocking with his tone and smile. 'I'm glad you have at least one accomplishment to your name from today.'

That blow rang as true as any other strike Ginyu had landed on him. Piccolo wasn't the type to be easily shamed. But he was feeling just that right now.

'Oh, don't look so sad,' Ginyu suggested, noticing Piccolo's glum, tired expression. 'You've helped me work through some serious issues of mine today. It's been a long time since I've used battle as therapy; so long, in fact, that I forgot what battle could do in the first place! Made me remember- so what if Burter is dead? Does it matter if my mission is done and I can crush every one of my enemies with a simple thrust of an arm? Soldiers die, new ones take their place- it's true of any grunt, in any organization. Even my men, as talented as they are, may find themselves outclassed. But, me? The Captain?' Ginyu hooked a thumb towards himself. 'The Captain beats everything. And the Captain always lives to fight another day. And when that's true, every fight for me is a victory lap.'

Nothing of what Ginyu said made Piccolo any less glum and tired. If anything, it made him show more of those two things. But Ginyu seemed so deep into his self-aggrandizing stupor that he failed to notice.

'In whatever hell they put you in when you die… just know that Captain Ginyu of the Ginyu Force will remember your contribution to his mental health fondly.'

Piccolo made a show of flashing his bloodstained fangs. 'You intend to leave me?'.

Ginyu looked up and down Piccolo, and found something to be disgusted at. 'Like this? Hardly.'

No sooner had the words left his mouth did Ginyu appear before Piccolo, press his hand to Piccolo's chest, and smirk.

'From me to you.'

A short, narrow cone of energy erupted out of Ginyu's hand and came out the other end of Piccolo's chest. The water below trembled from the energy released. It lasted no more than a second. Piccolo hadn't made a single sound, and had barely moved. Color fled his face in a sickeningly short amount of time.

He would have dropped into the lake if Ginyu hadn't grabbed him by his neck. 'Come find me again if you want to go another round!' he said as one last insult. It didn't feel quite as good as gloating to a still conscious opponent, but it still made him happy.

'Hah! This has been a real mood changer!' With a toss, he let go of Piccolo. The Namekian noisily splashed into the water. The lake, churning, drew what was most likely by now a corpse beneath the surface.

Ginyu retracted his hand. He noted after a few seconds that the lake looked just as undisturbed as before Piccolo was dumped into it.

'Fitting.'

0o0o0

It was over in the amount of time it took for Tien to breathe. In one instant, the village was, barring the trench Piccolo had carved through it earlier, mostly present. In the next instant, it comprised little more than a flat, brown-and-white concave crater in the ground.

A horrible cramp seized the entire right side of his body. He had used a lot of energy. Without wasting any time, he focused his attention on the minute places of the crater- he watched for any type of movement. On the verge of passing out, he found what he was looking for; near the center of the crater, he spied a greenish shape struggled to free itself of the ground.

Tien gave a weak smile. His vision of the ground blurred, and as he felt his body start to fall, unconsciousness took him.

0o0o0

For about a minute after the last of Tien's energy spent itself in what had formerly been a village, there was no movement from anywhere across the rubble-strewn ground. The artificial silence bought by the attack that pervaded the area lasted no longer than Guldo's efforts to dig himself out from under the rubble. It was situations where he had to conserve his breath that he was the most unprepared for- no amount of slowing down time would slow the rate at which his body needed air to survive.

So when he finally succeeded in clearing his head and most of his body from the fist-sized chunks of white that had buried him, Guldo felt unadulterated relief.

'Sweet heck!' he swore, jumping up and using an arm to brush off a patch of white dust that had landed on his chest. His armor had been mostly destroyed by the attack, and he was covered with some minor energy burns from the heat of the attack that had leveled the village, but he was still alive, and that was all that mattered. _The others were right- I'm really out of shape! I could have asphyxiated if I was pushed any deeper by that attack!_

The sounds of rubble adjusting behind him caught his ear. Guldo threw his head over his right shoulder. 'Who's there!?' he cried, preparing to hold his breath again.

Pieces of rock rolled away from a bloody hand sticking out of the ground a few feet behind him. Guldo stared at it; judging by how it was oriented, it seemed that it was still attached to a body buried beneath the surface. But it did not move nor, it seemed, did it bleed. Its surface was covered with dried red blood.

His earlier haughtiness returning to him, Guldo strode over to the hand and kicked it. Other than being forced back from the force of his blow, it didn't react. It also felt like it was connected to a body buried beneath it.

'Hey? Little man? Still alive?' he teased as he stomped on the rubble around the hand. 'Clench your hand if you're still alive!'

The hand, of course, didn't move. As a final check, Guldo gathered a ball of pink _ki_ in his right hand and aimed it down at the dead appendage. He grinned maliciously as he pressed it against the hand's palm.

 _SMAAACK!_ Guldo, wide-eyed, cradled his empty hand. The dead appendage had jumped up and flopped against Guldo's _ki_ attack, severely damaging itself but succeeding in knocking the attack out of Guldo's hand. The rubble underneath Guldo's feet shifted in the same measure, as the body beneath began to rise. 'NO!' Guldo squealed as the lifeless hand smacked against him again, staggering him back a few feet. 'NOOO!'

The rubble parted around Yamcha like a flowing ocean- as soon as his head was above ground, the shell of _blue_ ki around it broke and released a cutting blast of air. He had his good arm gripped above the elbow of his useless arm, wielding it like a club. Guldo was frozen in place by the sudden release of energy. He tried to hold his breath to stop time, but once he did, he found two legs wrapped around one of his feet, trapping him in place. That, coupled with the unexpected blast of wind pushing most of the air out of his lungs, forced him to breathe.

Surging up and forward into a sitting position, Yamcha drew back his usable arm, silhouetting it in blue _ki_. 'HYAAAAAAAGH!' He roared, as he plunged his blue-wreathed hand, shaped like a knife, straight into Guldo's gut. His arm traveled through the choking, shuddering alien, burst out of the other side, and was yanked back in a single second.

Guldo, white-faced, stood on his feet for a few seconds. He collapsed to the ground after the first wave of his blood crashed onto the white rubble at his feet. To Yamcha's preference, he collapsed backward and away from him instead of forward and on.

Catching his breath, Yamcha wiped at his forehead with his right arm. In the process, unknowingly, he smeared blue blood across his forehead like paint. 'Serves…' he huffed, 'you right…'

He couldn't feel his left arm anymore- which was probably good, because his left hand looked more like a piece of charcoal than a part of his body. He looked at it. The hand was black and gray instead of tan.

 _Oh no._ He felt blood leave his head. _Bad idea to look. Oh no…_

Without any warning, Yamcha fainted and fell to the ground on his back.

0o0o0

Nail had shielded his body from the attack when it hit the village. It didn't have an incredible amount of energy- a gap was present between him, Nail, and Jeice, and Tien- but it was enough that he would have been seriously hurt if he had been knocked in its path. Which made him all the more shocked when, with his singed arms lowered, he spotted the person he had punted into the attack.

Recoome was in much the same place as before the blast, just that now, he hovered over a blasted crater instead of a village. To Nail's horror, the giant had lost all his armor but nothing more- somehow, his jumpsuit still clung to his body. And he still wore that infuriating, cheery grin.

'My turn!'

Nail's eyes widened as Recoome appeared in front of him, knotting his hands into a giant fist above his head. 'RECOOME… SMASH!'

The blow struck against Nail's hasty forearm guard, and with enough strength to shatter a planet and more than enough to shatter Nail's arms, it rocketed Nail to the ground. He landed with some grace- feet first- but the blow had enough strength to bury him up to his waist.

The pain of two broken arms was too debilitating to shrug off. As used his legs to shimmy out of the ground, Nail was forced to use precious _ki_ to knit back together the bones in his arms. Even so, when every bone in a limb is broken, the pain has a way of lingering for a while after.

Turning his mind outwards and away from his aching body, Nail surveyed the area around him. He had crashed down into the plain surrounding the now non-existent village. He noticed that Recoome had landed opposite of him, and was already pulling back an arm as if to throw an energy blast his way. _There are no breaks with this guy!_ Nail thought, panicking. _He's going to continue to fight at full speed until he dies!_

'Oi, Recoome!'

Mid-motion, Recoome stopped and swiveled his head around. Nail uttered a silent prayer to the late Guru.

Jeice was hovering high in the air above and behind Recoome. 'You okay?' he shouted.

Recoome flashed a thumbs up.

As soon as Jeice landed, he ran over to Recoome. 'Good Frieza, you took that attack like a champ!' he enthused as he ran around the giant PTO soldier and examined him from every angle. 'How'd you do it?'

Recoome made a show of waving away Jeice's flattery. 'The attack was puny. It was nothing.'

'You say that… ' Jeice said slowly. 'But I'm not sure I'd be looking like you if I had been caught up in it, to be honest.'

Several yards away, Nail continued to observe them. He kept waiting, and hoping, that one of his allies would appear and land to help him fight. So it was only when he sensed someone else right on top of them did he start to charge an attack. He glanced up. _Oh. Good._

Bathed in a swirl of pink aura, Ginyu landed next to Jeice and Burter. Both subordinates immediately straightened. 'You're back already, Captain?' Jeice asked.

It was clear to Ginyu from Jeice's posture and tone of voice that he was uncomfortable being around him. The same was true of Recoome.'The one who challenged me is at the bottom of a lake,' Ginyu informed them, swinging his gaze past Jeice and Burter and back again. 'I see… you look uncomfortable, Jeice. You as well, Recoome.'

Upon pointing this out, Ginyu saw Jeice go even more rigid. 'I'm worried about you, Captain,' Jeice said carefully.

'You've been off since Burter died,' Recoome chimed in.

Ginyu looked at them, the ground, and sighed. 'And so I have. Men- you were right to be worried. My head wasn't in the right place. As you all know, we've been together for quite some time now… and I deluded myself thinking we would, over the course of every mission and every year, win every fight with every member still alive at the end.' He looked back at them. 'That was a fault in my judgment. Change is unavoidable. Strength is what carries the day.' Ginyu threw at them a vaguely happy look. 'You are fortunate to have such a strong Captain because of this.'

'We are, sir!' Jeice agreed. 'You're super powerful! We're so lucky!'

'Luckiest soldiers in the galaxy!' Recoome added.

Nail, watching this, felt sick. Bootlickers disgusted him.

'So, let me say this, right now- I-'

Ginyu stopped himself like someone had punched him in the gut. His face was fixed in an odd expression; he turned.

'Something wrong, Cap?' Recoome asked.

Ginyu looked over to Nail and saw that the Namekian's gaze was centered away from him and his men. 'Hmph.'

In a split-second, Piccolo, a prominent hole in his _gi_ revealing his weathered but healed skin underneath, appeared behind them, throwing all his weight into an elbow strike aimed at the back of Ginyu's head. The Captain of the Ginyu Force, however, took a half-step to his right and spun, using his left arm to bat Piccolo's elbow to the side. As Piccolo lost his momentum, Ginyu threw out his right arm and wrapped it around the Namekian's neck, pulling taut his muscles and whipping Piccolo around to face Nail.

Piccolo had charged Ginyu faster than anyone else present could have reacted to. Ginyu still handled him like he was a child.

'Hah!' Ginyu laughed, pushing more pressure through his headlock to choke Piccolo. The Namekian frowned, then purpled, and clawed ineffectively at Ginyu's arm. Slowly, Ginyu forced him to his knees. 'You're alive and as stubborn as you look! You even plugged up the hole I punched in your chest!' he said, admiring the cleanly torn gap in Piccolo's _gi_ where solid flesh was. He even rapped his free hand against that spot to make sure it was real. 'But, now that I know you're still alive, it's so _nice_ of you to follow me and save me the trouble of finding you!' Ginyu twisted, and momentarily lifted Piccolo off the ground by his neck. Red and yellow matter crept into Piccolo's eyes. 'For that, it would be unbecoming of me to _not_ reward good behavior…'

Piccolo's struggling slowed. Ginyu, without any warning, let go of Piccolo and pushed him onto the ground in front of him. Before Piccolo could even gasp for air, Ginyu's nudged the Namekian onto his back and crashed his boot down onto his chest.

'Such a good loser,' Ginyu mused with a smile. He turned to Jeice and Recoome. 'Men, as I was saying- please excuse my earlier behavior. I was not in the right mind after Burter's death. But, luckily, the catharsis of my fight with this one-' he tugged at the arm choking Piccolo, causing the Namekian to make an accompanying set of strained sounds, 'has brought me back to my senses. We, and I, are strong enough to deal with these malcontents. I offer my humblest apology for how I carried this company so far this mission.'

Jeice and Recoome, in unison, clicked their heels together and saluted. 'It was never an issue, sir!' they both said. 'Even at your worst, you're better than everyone else! We are always proud to serve under you!' Jeice added.

'Quite. Neither of you look very damaged. It's been an easy fight, then?'

'Oh, yes, sir,' Jeice replied confidently. 'Just look at us!'

Ginyu did. Jeice's armor was only a little more damaged than Ginyu's- which meant it had only superficial cuts and scorches. Nothing that couldn't be polished out. Recoome, as it seemed to happen every mission, had somehow had all his armor obliterated off of him and yet had his black jumpsuit intact and no actual damage to speak of. Another aspect of his Force that he always admired, Ginyu reflected- _their consistency_. Even in the face of their comrades dying, they knew how to finish a mission, and finish it in bruising, crushing fashion.

'And where is Guldo?'

Jeice made a thoughtful face. 'Don't see him 'round 'ere,' he said, scanning the area around him. 'I'm sure he'll show up eventually. No one around here is fast enough to get the drop on him, except maybe the green ones we've been fighting and Zarbon. Want me to check on the scouter?' Jeice asked.

Ginyu shook his head. 'No need. Zarbon wouldn't be so reckless to attack us again,' he said. He cast his gaze to their right over to the massive crater where a village once stood. 'He was probably too wounded to escape that blast. Too weak for his body to even survive in one piece, I bet,' he said smugly. 'Shame I won't have a dead body to bring back to Lord Frieza- but, then again, I'll have some live ones to bring back in its place,' he made a point of rubbing his heel into Piccolo's chest. The Namekian, his chest rattling, looked to still be struggling to catch his breath.

Ginyu looked beyond Jeice and Recoome. 'So, before we wrap this up- do you want to practice your poses to the green one over there?'

Nail, hunching over several feet away from them, threw a tired glare back to the three heads turned to him. 'What?...' he muttered under his breath. As drained and damaged as he was and without his allies against three freakishly strong enemies, he felt naked. Which was an easier thought to focus on than his grim failure to protect his people. He didn't even think that sacrificing his own life would make any difference at this point. Piccolo was much stronger than him- and he was being crushed like a bug under Ginyu's heel.

'Oh, sir, thank you!' Jeice replied cheerily while Recoome nodded along. 'That's all we wanted to do- from the very moment we got here-' Jeice sniffed, '-from the very moment Burter passed…'

Ginyu gave a solemn dip of his head. 'I know, Jeice. I know. So put on a good show for him, okay?'

'Uh huh!'

Padding forward, Jeice and Recoome spread out from each other, forming a triangle with Ginyu furthest away from Nail. Both raised their arms and threw on a cocky smile.

'Jeice!'

'Recoome!'

'And together we are!...'

 _Doomph._ A shockwave traveled across the ground, nearly throwing Nail off his feet and stopping Jeice and Recoome mid-routine. Ginyu himself couldn't prevent his eyes and mouth from forming a look of surprise.

Someone had landed in the center of the triangle Ginyu, Recoome, and Burter made. He was facing away from Nail, was shorter (though not be a significant margin) than the three PTO soldiers, and was clothed only in a flowing orange _gi_. No boots, no sashes or belts, no undershirt. It was if he had been taking a walk and had stumbled into the area. But what caught Nail's eye more than anything else was the violent crimson that had accompanied the figure seconds after landing- which was now conspicuously absent.

Discreetly, Nail let the energy he had been charging in his midsection return to the rest of his body. No need to explode himself just yet.

Without moving his boot from its place atop Piccolo's chest, Ginyu leveled his gaze at the newcomer. 'Well, well- you have the appearance of someone who is either very lost or of someone who wishes to fight.'

Krillin looked down at Piccolo. Slow, laborious breaths were now finally going in and out of his chest. 'This is Namek, right?' Krillin asked of Ginyu.

'Are you talking about the person below me, the place we're in, or the whole planet? Regardless, it doesn't matter- I wouldn't know the answer to any one of those questions,' Ginyu said, chuckling.

'And you are?'

'Captain Ginyu, of the Ginyu Force, proud member of the Planetary Trade Organization.'

With a soft smile, Krillin gazed up at Ginyu. 'Sounds like I'm in the right place, then.'

Ginyu grinned in return.

A wind blew across the plain, tugging at their clothing and carrying a single blue leaf from one of Namek's trees. The leaf circled in the air, skimmed across the blue grass, and came to rest at Krillin's feet. Krillin took a step forward and pressed it into the ground.

By this point, Jeice and Recoome, both confused, had broken their poses and turned around. Jeice opened and closed his mouth a few times. 'Captain-'

A stomp from Ginyu, intended for Piccolo's chest, found itself piercing the plain a foot away. Krillin, now sheathed in a roaring crimson aura, had flung himself forward and pushed Ginyu back. Their feet sank into the ground as their hands gripped around their opponent's and pressed. 'You care about that one?' Ginyu said through a strained smile. Incrementally, he forced him forward, moving Krillin closer to the ground. 'You shouldn't! He can take it! I've seen it; just today, I blasted a hole through his chest and he grew it all back!'

Nothing of Krillin's soft smile from before remained. He was frowning, with even more strain framing his face than what was present on Ginyu's. Nonetheless, his affect from earlier remained in his voice alongside the now present exertion. 'I apologize if my sense of humor won't match yours during our fight,' he said, straining every part of him. 'But, to have a second hole carved into his chest in one day- even someone like _Piccolo_ doesn't deserve that.'

'So his name is _Piccolo_?' Ginyu said warmly. He looked past Krillin. 'Jeice, make sure to write that-'

A wave of force rushed out from Krillin then, sending Jeice, Recoome, and even far-off Nail skidding across the ground away from them. Ginyu faced an even greater wall of crimson now. ' _What!?_ '

With every pulse, the crimson aura around Krillin whipped harder, and Krillin himself, pushing against Ginyu's grip, stood up a little taller. In a matter of seconds, the human warrior had fought himself to a neutral position.

Ginyu was baffled. His eyes, mouth, nose- even his horns flared from confusion. At the side of his head, his scouter made increasingly louder beeps. 'You- you-' he stammered. 'How did-'

'I have flown millions of miles to be here today,' Krillin said, the outline of his Kaioken giving him a sharp, ultrafine appearance. Another pulse flared, and Ginyu found himself _on one knee. This!... fighter!..._

Krillin now loomed over him like a red and angry god. The dual suns of Namek cloaked him in blinding light. 'You, your goons, and the organization you represent have hurt a lot of my friends,' Krillin said, finding a calmness and zenness in his voice that couldn't more contrast with the pure strain present across every inch of his body and face. 'So; I am not here to lose.'

* * *

A/N: Jesus. This chapter came out LONG and DELAYED. Longest ever of mine, actually. Pretty much a double-chapter. Apologies for everyone's shot attention span. Also felt… weird about it, but there's bound to be chapters like that every now and again for every fic. Tell me your thoughts on it with a review!

If you've read the same chapter that I've written, then you've had a big Roshi monologue thrust on you. That entire section was actually based on a few lines I had thrown into this story in Chapter 9, what with Roshi musing about whether to extend his life another time before the current generation of Turtle students shows up on his doorstep. I had fun turning that little bit into a whole thing! Felt like I was making my text talk to itself.

What actually comes of this monologue felt like the natural path to take Roshi's character in this story. He filled a mentor purpose in life, and now, in death, he found another purpose- reaching heights in a slick new young body that his older self would have thought impossible. IMO, Roshi became a nothing character in canon when he couldn't keep up with his students, and when there weren't any new students to teach. I didn't want the same to happen to him in this fic. So because of the different journey, Roshi is different, Krillin is different, their circumstances are different, and he's moving in a different direction from Krillin. They both got a little closure before that happened, though.

In other news, I recently watched a video that vividly reminded me as to how much Piccolo was thrown to the wayside as DBZ progressed further and further. Made me glad that I made the changes (I'd like to think "fleshing out") to his character and the Namekians in this fic.

also, power levels, so that we're all on the same page:

Bez: 14,500

Yamcha: 15,000

Tien: 16,000

Guldo: 12,000

Nail: 45,000

Jeice: 48,000

Recoome: 49,000

Piccolo: 55,000

Ginyu: 120,000

Krillin: ?

And **Reviews!** And before that, I just want to emphasize- thank you to every person who's ever left one! I appreciate them immensely.

 **LWexe:** Thank you! Also can't believe that you're still reading along for the ride!

 **TienFan99:** I consider Namekian fusion as working on three levels - first, you add the two people's power levels. Then, you multiply whatever number you got by how whatever compatibility score there is between the two people's souls. Compatibility levels can be high (two fusees come from the same being, are similar in temperament, etc) or low (the opposite of everything just mentioned). Finally, what matters most from a Namekian fusion is the greater unlocked potential that can be accessed by further training. Fundamentally, within any given fused Namekian, you're playing with more than a single soul now, and it seems that souls are definitively linked to power and potential in DBZ. Thus, any fused Namekian has a number of souls to train and develop _ki._

Though there is a big difference between the potential to manage/take advantage of having multiple souls and actually doing so.

And thank you for the kind words! I always try to deliver my fics with a healthy dose of blessed cheese on a platter :^)

 **Anonymous:** DBZ fandoms are weird! And, as I've said before on the record: unique attacks add so much to a story! Gives it that unique scene!

I always considered Nail a more astute fighter than Piccolo- before they fused, obviously. Piccolo's arrogance definitely got in the way of him winning fights in DB and early DBZ. If Piccolo doesn't fuse with Nail in this story (who knows…), he'll have to dispel that arrogance all on his lonesome… (question mark?)

I agree with your assessment- Ginyu definitely came off as more unhinged than a balance between that and funny. I probably overestimated how much humor the rest of the Ginyu Force could do while their leader was acting like a maniac. And that's a good point you raised about Vegeta in canon! The Ginyu Force, even when they were brutal, came off as irresistible strength or prompted despair- but they were never terrifying. Why was Vegeta so afraid of them?

If I'm not taking constructive criticism, well- what the heck and I doing out here? I won't improve, and the readers get punished for taking a genuine interest in every good and bad facet of a story. Though I don't think I'm anything unique in this regard- every good fanfic writer I've seen has a healthy respect for whatever suggestion or commentary a reader brings them if it's thought out. Or should, at least.

I'd really like to see your long comment about the earlier chapters! I'm going to make a google doc soon and put down all the back-and-forth I've been doing with reviewers about that part of the story soon! So throw it my way when you get the chance!

 **Transformers g1's-Prime:** I mean, what the heck is the point of introducing the Ginyu Force if you're not even gonna have them speak!? They're easily the most colorful group of villains in all of DBZ! And… who knows what'll happen to them ;)

Zarbon is _really_ screwed right now.

Oooh, you know I'm thinking about the hypothetical matchup between Krillin and Vegeta… because it will happen? Because it won't happen? The future knows all.

 **Titanfire999:** Noooo! Lightfall is different! It can't hone in on one spot like the Hellzone Grenade! It's more like a machine gun than a homing missile!

Glad you enjoyed the chapter :^)

 **Cityracer:**

I like Bez's character, too! He was really just an average PTO soldier scraping by before he ran into Tien and Yamcha, and got caught up in a bunch of change beyond his control. Gave him some new perspectives on life.

Spontaneously developing the ability to sense energy is strange. You could probably justify it by saying how using your own _ki_ requires you sensing your own _ki_ in your body… but it's still strange. In my fic, as in canon, I chalk the development up to simple awareness that it can be done or to proximity with people who have the ability. I also remember how _ki_ works in _Savior of Demons_ \- to sense other people, you need to open up your mind, body, and spirit to other people's _ki_. It's not out of the realm of possibility that being around people who sensed _ki_ in that "open" format may have tipped Bez off on to how to do that as well. I may have actually used that concept earlier in this story around the gang's turtle training- can't remember.

Your theories on Piccolo may or may not bear fruit- but definitive answers to them are coming soon.

All fair points on Ginyu. I started to lean more into him regaining his composure here after beating up on his enemies a bit more- reminds himself that he's in total control. As for where I think Ginyu's character could have gone after Burter's death:

1) He can be exactly as cheery as he was in canon. I think this approach is fine, though I always found it weird that Ginyu shrugged off the death of one of his men- especially when it's implied that they've been together for decades (I recently watched Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which includes the Ginyu Force parading around on Planet Vegeta when it got annexed, so- a really long time together).

2) He can "harden up". I don't particularly like this route because it makes him a much less interesting character. There are already too many gruff, recalcitrant warriors out there, and Ginyu ain't one of them.

3) He can "crack up" but also "harden up". This is the approach I ultimately chose. He shows real grief for one of his men dying, and he fights with as much viciousness as you would expect. He still retains his narcissism and superiority, though, which gets brought out/ is more confident showing the longer a fight favorable to him goes on. Burter's death cracked the veneer. But his fight with Piccolo patched it up, more or less.

4) He can "crack up". I see now that this looked like the route I was going with the last chapter- but, considering how he acts in canon, it's not very reasonable for him to act that way utterly and totally… thus, I came around to option 3.

Mr. Popo always struck me as a neutral observer who likes to collect and curate. I could definitely write a one-shot with him exploring old and abandoned places in Dragon Ball. Maybe several centuries into the future… haha.

Thank you! Fight scenes are always weird for me to write- I always feel that the ones I turn out are too short, but to go anything beyond what I have would make them less engaging and exciting. So you stumbled upon my #1 topic of research when I read other DBZ fics- what makes a good fight scene?

I look forward to your future reviews ;)


	66. The Weight of Two Worlds

Ginyu

Chapter 66: The Weight of Two Worlds

* * *

There was an instant where Jeice, Recoome, and Nail forgot about their exhaustion, their cuts and burns, and the blood they had shed today against each other. As a whole, the three of them couldn't have made an odder group; and yet they all made the same stunned expression at a sight each and every one of them had thought they'd never see: the Captain of the Ginyu Force, a man who had seemingly never been challenged and who could take all of them together blindfolded, was on his knees, cowed by a crimson _ki_ as powerful as a raging inferno.

But, like all instants, it passed, and the instant that followed it had an altogether different tone from the one that preceded it.

Dark purple _ki_ enveloped Ginyu's kneeling figure, wrapping around him and rushing across the ground around him and Krillin in waves. Powered by his newly summoned reserves of power, Ginyu tightened his grip against Krillin's hands and pushed himself back to his feet.

'You've come here to win, then?' Ginyu said in low, jagged voice. Krillin's face, colored red by the Kaioken, looked hellish- but was soon surpassed by Ginyu's. 'A _peon_ stumbling into a fight?!'

Purple and red pressed together, and the ground underneath Krillin and Ginyu was pushed back and away, forming a crater with them at the center. 'My scouter's got you at 60,000!' Ginyu roared above the din. 'So I hope that this isn't all you-' Ginyu stopped, and with his gaze trained over Krillin's shoulder and his eyes bulging out of their sockets- 'JEICE, NO!'

A rush of wind hit Krillin's back. Eyes widening and streaked by red, Krillin jumped up, slamming Ginyu's jaw and popping the alien's head up, separated one hand from Ginyu's loosened grip, and spun.

Jeice was charging him from behind, his hair and armor being flattened back by the energy pouring out of him and Krillin. Grimacing, Krillin pulled back his free hand and swung.

His limb smashed against Jeice's chest, cracking his armor in two, and catapulted the PTO soldier away from them. Jeice was driven into the side of a rocky plateau a mile away.

Before Krillin could finish moving his arm, a fist crashed off of his other one, degripping him from Ginyu. 'YOU'LL REGRET THAT!' Ginyu bellowed as another purple-wreathed strike crashed into Krillin's gut. But just as Ginyu was about land another strike, a blast of red floored him and skidded him backward.

The crimson flames surrounding Krillin loomed higher than ever. Ginyu unconsciously registered the flashing 80,000 on his scouter.

'No,' Krillin said through a strained expression, as he rushed forward and slammed an upwards kick so hard into Ginyu that he was launched into the sky, 'I don't think I will.'

0o0o0

Awed, Nail watched as waves of energy rose and fell from the two fighters in front of him. By now he had been pushed far away from the battle, and felt like an observer as he saw this new fighter, the ally of the humans, Krillin, go toe-to-toe with Ginyu and swat away the red-skinned soldier like it was nothing. The same soldier who Nail had pushed himself to his limits to try and win against.

And this was all _before_ Nail felt Krillin's power tick up again and saw Ginyu be punted into the sky. Without missing a beat, Krillin zoomed up after him.

 _Is there any limit to his power?_ In the sky above, Nail saw the purple outline around Ginyu billow, and when Ginyu and Krillin next clashed together- meeting limb-to-limb, aura-to-aura, like two stars exploding- they both held their ground in the air. _Is there any limit to either of them?_

A string of coughing interrupted Nail's thoughts. Confused, he cast his gaze to the ground.

At Nail's feet and flat on his stomach, Piccolo breathed weakly and ran his fingers through the dirt. Nail could spot purple marks around his neck. It seemed that Piccolo had yet to regenerate his injuries.

 _Too injured_. Nail crouched down and examined the small, blood-smeared holes that dotted his sides and backs. _Far too injured. He must have spent the last of his energy flying here._ Nail remembered how Piccolo had charged Ginyu. _Stubborn fool._

Before he knew what he was doing, his hand reached down to help turn over Piccolo onto his back. He started, and quickly pulled back. _This was how he was when Leera died. Moori told me not to touch him._ Nail eyed his right hand, turning it over again and again. _Not once._

He tightened the hand into a fist and examined Piccolo more closely. The Earthborn Namekian seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness. Nail remembered what he had said to Piccolo when he first met him atop the spire- how he would have liked to kill him if he didn't need him. Then there was Moori's words, his advice- _kill Piccolo if given the chance._

 _He said that- even knowing that doing so would deprive the Earth of their dragonballs. With Krillin here… we know that our wishes were fulfilled. He was our second wish. Before him, Namek would have been moved._

Nail glanced up at the sky. He couldn't see much of anything different- he could see a lone sun in the Namekian sky pushing parallel to the horizon. _Hard to say, now that I'm looking, though…_

He fixed his vision on a spot at the base of Piccolo's skull. One _ki_ beam in the right spot could kill Piccolo instantly. Nail knew Namekian anatomy well enough. _We would never revive him. He'd stay dead. And our kin could rest, knowing that no-one like him is out in the galaxy with the power to consume us._

That was, anyway, how'd his thoughts would have gone if he was actually going to go through with it. Placing his hands on his thighs, Nail stood. He wasn't a damn fool. His gaze fell on a familiar shape getting to his feet at the far end of the plain. There were more pressing tasks at hand.

When Nail came to the end of his short flight over, Recoome was still watching the epic brawl happening above them. 'You ever get awed sometimes?' Recoome asked, striking a remarkably earnest tone.

Nail wasn't in the mood. With a growl, he dug his feet into the ground, lowered his arms to his sides, and called on his _ki_. White energy burst into the open around his body.

Recoome, his attention caught by Nail's actions, turned his gaze to his opponent and grinned. 'You wanna go another round? Even after the pounding I gave you?' As he said this, Recoome ran his eyes over Nail and noted the torn gaps in his clothing and the still bleeding wounds patterning him.

'There's more to a fight than strength,' Nail replied, his energy still kicking around him. 'I've lived on his planet my entire life- you haven't been here for more than a day. I'm fighting for my people's very existence- you're fighting, it seems, for fun. So it's not a question of if I beat you.' Nail drew back his arms and turned himself sideways, pushing his back foot into the ground to charge if needed. 'It's a question of when, because I must.'

Recoome's grin grew. 'Big talk from you,' he said, dropping into his guard. 'Hope you have a big game to back it up!'

0o0o0

The strike had come out of nowhere- One second, Ginyu was grappling with a powerful but manageable opponent with his feet firmly on the ground. The next second, he was rocketing up through the atmosphere at a ludicrous speed. The blow into his body had done something rare- he had felt a crack form in his armor. _Armor tailor-made for the strongest soldier under Lord Frieza in the galaxy! Armor rivaling his own! Armor-_

Ginyu failed to complete his thought as Krillin appeared above him, his entire red-colored body streaking through the sky like an otherworldly comet, and smashed another kick into Ginyu. His body buckled from the hit, and before he could understand _what_ exactly had hit him, another strike crashed into him, and another, until he was being pummelled from all sides in the sky. _What!?_

Gaining speed, Krillin continued his rapid-flight through the sky, bouncing and jumping between different positions when needed. Wherever he went, Ginyu was right below him, juggled in the sky like a cannonball.

 _I've got him!_ Pushing his fourth level Kaioken, Krillin flashed into existence above Ginyu, who was zooming up from Krillin's last blow, and dove, leading with one arm cocked back, and swung.

Purple aura, bursting into the sky around Ginyu, preceded the soldier righting himself in an extraordinarily short amount of time and catching the blow. Both of them looked into each other's eyes, and a cocky Ginyu saw dread creep into Krillin's face.

At least, that's what he thought he saw, because soon after Krillin muttered something under his breath and turned even redder, and with the same expression, he slammed a blow into Ginyu and sent him flailing into a body of water below them. His impact made a mighty _booom_ and shot a magnificent plume of water into the air.

0o0o0

Consciousness came back to Jeice in slow bursts. What fully awoke him from whatever state he had been in, however, was sensing the rigid, cold material pressing against his skin. What drove him to action was his panic surrounding the awful lack of air in his lungs.

He opened his eyes, closed them from the blurriness and wetness he felt, and ignited his aura. Blindly, he swung out and up through the water, rushing towards the surface as his lungs burned hotter and hotter. When he felt he could take no more, he burst out of the water and into the open air, gasping for breath, and crashed onto solid ground from exhaustion.

He pulled himself to his knees, slowly getting a grip on his breathing, and watched water drip off him and pool around his hands and knees. _What the bloody hell was that?..._ Jeice took stop of his body- there was pain present in every part of him. _I feel like I got hit by a shuttle!…_

Jeice then remembered what had happened- barely. The mystery fighter, who had appeared out of nowhere, had decked him- hard. Hard enough that he didn't recognize his environment at all. He was somewhere in the middle of nowhere, with the small lake he had come out behind him and a crater that looked large enough to be his in the side of a plateau behind the lake. He must have been whacked into that, fallen unconscious, and dropped into the water.

The thought of someone that strong hitting him was not only caused Jeice a lot of pain- which now came in debilitating waves as his mind kicked into full-gear again- but also made him feel ashamed and angry. _With the Captain behind us, there's nothing our squad can't do! And, and, for that cretin to do what he did!... grrr! Out of nowhere, too! Just,_ _ **pop**_ _, and he's there, making a mockery of us! The Ginyu Force won't stand for this! We won't!_ _What gives him the right to interrupt our poses? -and- and!-_

Jeice launched himself into the air, charging back to the battle he could see in the distance. _He'll pay! He'll_ _ **pay!**_

0o0o0

When Krillin saw the body of water below submerge Ginyu, the crimson aura around him winked out and he let out a heavy exhale. They had barely begun their fight and he was already gasping for air. Still, throughout this, his eyes never left the calming surface of the water below, and after a time, he began to descend.

Things were going okay in Krillin's estimation. Not bad, but not great either. He had a rough idea of where Ginyu was in strength, and he was pretty sure he could equal his maximum power with his fifth or sixth level of Kaioken. The problem was that he had _never_ used that high a level of the Kaioken in training before, and for the levels he had used, he had built up to them by using lower levels first. King Kai had always stressed that familiarizing the body to stress in its low-level form would help it handle it at its high-level form. But Krillin wasn't sure if that principle held true for levels of stress his body had never experienced.

 _So… I've hit the highest level I've ever been at. Kaioken X5. Hit a pretty high level of exhaustion, too. Yikes..._

Another fact he had learned upon being brought to life- his stamina now was so much worse than what he had grown accustomed to at King Kai's. It seems that he just used less _ki_ and felt less pain with a halo over his head.

But what had been the rudest awakening for him so far was the severe cut in time he could comfortably use the Kaioken. While dead, it had been easy to maintain a first level Kaioken for hours at a time. Here, he didn't want to try that for more than a few minutes.

All of this meant that he was potentially stronger than Ginyu, but he had a much smaller time frame to work with and a much higher risk of not using his strength to his advantage. He couldn't even imagine how this fight would be going if he hadn't maintained his edge over Ginyu up until this point- how much pain, on top of his exhaustion, would he have been in if Ginyu had actually _hit_ him by now?

Krillin landed. Not a single ripple ran across the water. Maybe there was a Kai- a specific Kai, maybe- that was looking out for him.

As soon as he thought this, the water started shifting, and drawing back one foot to brace himself, Krillin remembered that King Kai was, in Roshi's words, not much more than a CCTV camera.

He expected water to rush past his ankles- he didn't expect the entire body of water in front of him to leap up, raging at some unseen entity, and push out, throwing massives waves of water out in every direction. Krillin couldn't do much except take a big breath and clamp his mouth shut as a tsunami enveloped him.

Using his _ki_ , he was able to keep himself mostly upright as the wave of water carried him across the land. His white aura shone a little light into the deeper parts of the wave. It was because of this that Krillin saw a small and far-off point of purple and flickered on his Kaioken aura.

The water sizzled and steamed as the red enveloped Krillin in tandem with a charging Ginyu, swarmed by purple coloring in the water, crashed head-first into Krillin's block. Even with the Kaioken, Krillin felt shallow gashes open up on his arms, mixing the nearby water with tinges of red.

The force of the blow pushed Krillin back faster, accelerating his movement through the water- but Ginyu kept in pursuit, slamming a chop into Krillin's right forearm, a kick into his shins, and soon enough a full-out brawl occurred between the two of them. Their auras zipped and zoomed around in the water, hot enough to evaporate it in any place it bordered, as strikes blurred and melded together. Their styles, with Ginyu favoring stocky, compact strikes and Krillin favoring quick, agility-focused movement and placement, blended into one unending procession through the water. Ginyu's face was taunting, threatening, _dangerous_ even as he, like Krillin was forced to hold his breath. Krillin, saddled with the weight of the Kaioken, could manage nothing more than a near-constant showing of exertion.

Diving, Krillin rushed underneath a waterborne sweep of and cocked back a _ki_ blast, shading them both with bright blues. As he swung it up at Ginyu, the PTO soldier hastily whipped around his leg, smacking Krillin's arm away and the blast along with it. Unprepared for such a quick counterattack, Krillin was left unguarded for the first time in their fight, and received a rapid-fire wave of punches from Ginyu. The last strike, a fist wreathed into an exuberant amount of purple and pink, swung through the water and lodged itself in Krillin's diaphragm, forcing out all the air Krillin had held in his lungs and springing him backward. To his fortune and Ginyu's displeasure, however, the strength of the wave had died out- Krillin traveled only a few feet before exiting the water and splashing onto the ground.

Ginyu stopped himself and sunk down to the ground. The last of the wave petered out and fell away from him. He took this opportunity to unclasp the latches on his shoulders and let the front and back of his white armor clunk to the ground. With a quick use of his aura, he flung away all the moisture accumulated on his skin and in his jumpsuit.

As he clasped his armor back on- despite the severe damage done to the front- he glanced over to his opponent. Krillin, panting, took his time to stand.

'I'm not quite sure how you're doing it,' Ginyu said as he repeatedly pressed a button on his scouter. Eventually, a side compartment opened up and a decent amount of water sprung out. 'My scouter clocked you at 60,000, 80,000, even 100,000 before, and now…' he prodded his scouter a few more times, and smiled. '20,000. Far below where you were before. And yet I have a sneaking suspicion that that number will jump up again soon.'

Sopping wet, Krillin looked to be too consumed with catching his breath to respond. From a kneeling position, he worked himself into a crouch. He did, however, throw a blank, vague look in Ginyu's direction.

'I assume I have your attention,' Ginyu said, noting this. 'So I'll give you mine- while I may not have encountered a fighter before of your caliber, I must say- I admire your power and poise. Very few men have ever sparred evenly with the Captain of the Ginyu Force, and those who have are dead.' Ginyu made a show of smiling. 'I am not suggesting anything- well, I am suggesting something- but not what you think. My point is this: no matter what your loyalty is to your whatever or whoever drove you to appear out of nowhere and challenge me, it is not too late for you _not_ turn out like all the others before you. Due to recent events, and… the certain actions of certain, _incompetent people_ ,' Ginyu's smile cracked briefly, '...I have vacancies to fill in my Force. You have demonstrated your worth as a fighter.'

'...No.'

One of Ginyu's horns dipped curiously. Krillin had breathed his response more than actually saying it. 'Just like that? You reject our offer?' Ginyu's tone was not angry- it sounded more offended. 'The Ginyu Force is one of the most highly regarded fighting forces in the galaxy- and you say no? Well, let me say this, then- you should know that my power level clocks in at 120,000. If you do not agree to serve under me, then you must beat me and that number.' A confident smirk returned to Ginyu's face. 'And, judging by where you are now, I don't think you can go much higher than what I've already seen.'

Krillin's gulps for air had slowed to a loud breathing. 'Yeah?...' he said. 'What makes you say that?...'

The smirk on Ginyu's face took on a stranger, almost reminiscent quality. 'Throughout my life I have made it a talent of mine of when to spot the potential in every opponent I've faced- pegging them, so to speak.'

One of Krillin's eyebrows raised. But he decided against acknowledging whatever Ginyu _might_ have said.

'And, so-' Ginyu continued, 'I _know_ you've reached your limit.' He placed his hands on his hips and shot a look of amusement over to him. 'I mean, just look at you! You can barely stand! Need I say any more?'

As soon as Ginyu said this, Krillin realized he was slouching. With some effort, he corrected that. 'I still don't get the point of telling me this- other than to delay the inevitable for you.' Krillin's voice regained some of its previous severity.

Still grinning, Ginyu closed his eyes. 'The mission is coming to an end- sorry if this is news to you. My men and I have defeated or will soon defeat every opponent offered to us, and once that's done, we'll enact a purge on this planet, drag our prisoners back to our Lord Frieza, and receive spoils by the ship-full. But,' he said daintily, and opened his eyes. 'Fights with worthy opponents do not come by every day, and I fear that if I pass up the one given to me today, I'll have to wait several more years for the next one.' Ginyu fixed a predatory look on Krillin. 'So, please, do give it your all. I really do want to see your potential. If you can- though I know you _can't_ \- I want to see you _break_ 120,000.'

Krillin stared at Ginyu. '120,000…' he mumbled.

'I'm sorry?' Ginyu said, cupping a hand behind one of his ear holes and pointing that side of his head towards Krillin. 'What'd you say? I didn't quite catch that.'

'You said before that 120,000 was your maximum power level- and that my highest recorded power level was measured at 100,000.'

'Give or take a few units, yes.'

'Well.' Krillin said as he flicked away the moisture on his body in the same manner Ginyu had. 'You confirmed my math.'

'Math?' Ginyu searched Krillin up and down. 'What kind of math are you doing? You don't have a scouter on you,' he said, tapping his on the side of his head.

'Don't need one. I can do it well enough in my head.' Krillin replied, clenching his hands into fists. 'And my head is telling me that _your_ chances aren't that good.'

'Oh?' Ginyu titled his head. 'I'd like to check your math.'

'Give me a minute…'

Ginyu took a step forward. 'Let me say this, then!' he yelled, shielding himself in his purple aura. 'Today, Captain Ginyu-'

Across the plain, oblivious to whatever Ginyu was about to say, Krillin's lips formed two words.

'-of the _Ginyu_!-'

Streaking crimson across the ground, Krillin appeared in front of a shocked Ginyu, hands tied into a fist above him, and swung them down on Ginyu's head. Legs buckled and crumpled underneath the purple alien as the force of Krillin's blow drove him into the ground, tunneling him tens of yards under the surface. The land beneath them shook and cracked, and Krillin, reeling from the strain of the sixth level of the Kaioken, hastily released it and lifted himself higher into the air, charging a blue energy attack in his palms.

' _Kaaa…. meee…._

0o0o0

Jeice watched as the red-cloaked fighter appeared in the air above his Captain and smashed him into the ground. He suppressed his growing rage as that same fighter then started ascending, charging a _ki_ attack at the same time. _The Cap's in trouble._ Which made what Jeice was about to do all the more necessary. Ginyu might think less of him for this- but Jeice was past the point of caring for civility. Extraordinary situations require extraordinary solutions. What mattered now, more than anything else, was maintaining the current composition and respect of the Force. And Jeice was at the ready to do that at any method and any cost.

 _He'll regret challenging us! His and his friends will regret_ _ **killing**_ _usI'll make sure of it!_

Lifting his captive by his clothes, Jeice pooled his _ki_ into his right pointer index finger and shouted.

0o0o0

' _Haaa…. Meee!...'_

Energy crackled in his palms, snaking up and down his arms in blue, twisting vines of energy. Light billowed and sprinkled out from his hands, throwing spotlights of color into the air around him. He had enough energy gathered that, once combined with his Kaioken at the seventh level- which would put him at 140,000, 20,000 points higher than Ginyu's maximum of 120,000, if the device on the side of Ginyu's head was right- would decimate Ginyu utterly as soon as he popped his head up from the ground below. _At the slightest sign of movement..._

' _STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!-'_

A voice, booming through the sky, startled Krillin. The human warrior craned his head to its source.

On the ground below him to his right, Jeice, one hand gripping an unconscious Yamcha by the back of his _gi_ and the other shaped like a gun pressing into the side of the human's head, shook his captive threateningly. '- _OR YOUR FRIEND GETS IT!'_

The image burned into Krillin's memory. The folded lines Yamcha's jumpsuit made as Jeice's hand gripped around the black fabric. The _ki_ fashioned in Jeice's hand that held itself back mere inches from Yamcha's head. The bloody, dangling arm on Yamcha's last side that looked halfway severed. And the anger, and fear, that filled every inch of the Jeice's face- it burned bright enough to rival the light of Namek's three suns.

Krillin flinched, and started positioning himself towards Jeice-

' _NOT ANOTHER HOP!_ ' Jeice yelled, pulling Yamcha closer to him and jabbing a _ki_ -tipped index finger into the side of Yamcha's head. ' _I'M SERIOUS!'_

 _Too far_. Krillin's eyes swept the distance between him and Jeice. He would never get there before Jeice has an opportunity to fulfill his threat- and stopping his fight with Ginyu, who'd appear any second now, wasn't an option. He could guess-

'COME DOWN NOW, AND SURRENDER!' Jeice demanded, feeling emboldened by Krillin's hesitation. he yanked at Yamcha's _gi_. 'AND THIS ONE LIVES! YOU-' Tears streamed down Jeice's cheek, and he vigorously shook his head and flung them from his cheeks, '-YOU RUINED THIS FORCE! YOU AND ALL YOUR STINKING FRIENDS!' Jeice shouted into the sky. 'BEFORE WE CAME TO THIS PLANET, BURTER WAS ALIVE, **GULDO** WAS ALIVE- EVERYTHING'S GOING TO CHANGE NOW BECAUSE OF YOU! I- I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO- **COME DOWN NOW!** '

Fear swept into Krillin's heart. He wasn't prepared for this. He was ready- had been ready to give his life if doing so would give them a better chance of winning. He'd done it before. But, this-

' _FIVE SECONDS UNTIL HE DIES!'_ Jeice pulled Yamcha closer to him and drew his finger closer to his head. 'LAND AND SURRENDER, AND HE LIVES- FOUR!'

Krillin closed his eyes and let the Kamehameha fade from his hands. Despite this, he didn't budge from his spot in the sky.

'THREE!... TWO!'

He never really had a choice. He couldn't have made a better one, anyway.

When he first arrived, he hadn't known whether Tien and Yamcha, stranded on the battlefield, were dead. He couldn't sense them. That made him afraid, but more than that, it made him focused, because he didn't know what the margin of error was. He would have to give everything he had from the beginning. But there was a difference between not knowing whether a person he cared for was dead and watching that person die right before him. The fear of the latter happening was overwhelming- and it demanded action.

Krillin took a deep breath, and his mouth, dry and wet, moved and spoke before any thought went into what he was doing.

 _'Times 10.'_

A crimson bonfire lit up the sky, throwing near-irresistible waves of energy over Jeice and the plain around them all. Krillin disappeared, reappeared between Yamcha and Jeice, and flung his hands forward. A dark red blast left Krillin's palms, and Jeice, far too slow to perceive what was happening, held the same fearful expression as the blast expanded, struck him, and tore him apart. Jeice's arms- arms still oriented to Yamcha, ready to kill at a moment's notice- were severed just above the elbows, and wrapping itself like a blanket, a red wave carried away his body for a time before consuming even that and throwing his dust into the wind.

Krillin did not witness this. His aura collapsed as soon as what he saw of Jeice was blotted out by his attack, and he fell gasping face-first to the ground, limbs twitching and muscles spasming.

On the other end of the plain, however- Captain Ginyu, freshly freed from the ground and with his scouter now a metallic cloud of debris and a dumbfounded expression on his face, witnessed for him.

0o0o0

As the last of Jeice's body was transformed into cosmic dust, and his arms, burnt into stubs halfway up, released their death grip on Yamcha and fell with him to the ground, Krillin was wracked by insufferable pain. Sweat poured down his body, staining his _gi_ and pattering on blue blades of grass, while his teeth gnashed and bit on every open surface inside his mouth. Every single part of him felt like it was burning- like a thousand little fires were racing under his skin, causing him mind-numbing pain. _That was a mistake._ Krillin tried, and failed, to stand. He got halfway up before stumbling and falling onto his hip. _That was a massive mistake._

It felt like his body was shutting down. His vision of the ground just a fool below him flickered and wavered, as if he was trapped in a constantly turning prism.

 _I've lost._ Krillin couldn't move- him keeping himself conscious was proving to be the only struggle he equal to. _I didn't need to use that high a level of the Kaioken. I_ _ **shouldn't**_ _have used that high a level. Times ten… what was I thinking?_

But he knew what he had been thinking. He had panicked, and while in that state, he thought that any level of Kaioken below his destructive, back-breaking, absolute maximum just-below-dying level of ten wouldn't have been enough to save Yamcha. _Even when half that probably would have been enough._

Looking at his friend now- his friend's still body, lying repose on the ground like a hewn statue- Krillin wasn't even sure he if he had actually saved him. His left arm appeared to have bled all that it could have ages ago; it and every part of Yamcha was covered in dried patches of blood. He could have been dead before Jeice laid a finger on him.

Where willpower had failed, futilely succeeded in moving Krillin's hands and pressing them into the dirt. _No… this can't be happening. Please..._

A banding sound, cropped and faint, filtered into Krillin's mind. At first Krillin thought he was hallucinating, but the sound of laughter, from what he could tell, grew louder with every passing instant. Soon enough Krillin pinpointed where it was coming from, and with painstaking effort and sweat rolling down his body, he pulled his head around.

As his vision moved, he caught a glimpse; Jeice's arms, two burnt stumps, were left on the ground like discarded toys. Krillin was horrified of himself. Then he was horrified with Ginyu.

'Haha! Haha! HAH!' Krillin inched his head around, face clenching and unclenching, and saw Ginyu laughing as loud as probably any person on Namek had ever done. His face turned dark purple and he grabbed his stomach. 'HAH! HA, HA, HA! Of course! _OF COURSE!_ '

Trembling, Krillin whipped his gaze away from his opponent and back to the ground. He tried to stand- he managed to twist his fingers.

'I can't believe- I can't believe I didn't see it sooner!' Ginyu continued to bark laughter. Judging from what Krillin heard, he was also moving closer.

 _King Kai… I screwed up! I really screwed up!_

'These moments, you should know, don't come around often,' Ginyu drawled, his voice drawing closer. 'In fact, since I've assumed a command of my own- it has only happened once, on my Force's first mission. And life from there was an easy _cruise_.'

A hand, to his surprise, gripped Krillin by his shoulders, _lifted_ him to his feet, and spun him around. He stood only because Ginyu, who had his hands on his shoulders, seemed very interested in talking to someone who was standing. 'I _see_ it,' he stressed. 'This will be that moment. You're _stronger_ than me.'

Krillin's eyes widened. He tried to speak, but found he couldn't. _What!?_

'I get it now,' Ginyu shook his head, 'all the struggle, the stress, the fighting… it's been so long since I've last gone through this.' He raised his head to the sky. 'Decades No- more than that. What _feels_ like a _lifetime_ , at least. So long…' He looked down on Krillin. 'I had forgotten what precipitates it. The anxiety. The indignation. The _fear_. What forces me to do what I'm about to do…' Ginyu looked Krillin up and down, and then pushed Krillin away. His expression kept changing.'I'm not sure yet whether I'll miss being this tall. Reaching things on high shelves was always a plus, but by the opposite side of the same coin, low doorways were always a pain.'

Krillin thought for a moment that he would fall, but for once, his willpower won out over the agony and kept him standing. His white aura, sparking in and out of existence around him, felt as broken as him. _Such pain!..._

For a long second Ginyu held his hands on his hips and almost… admired Krillin. 'But enough of this- enough of all of this!' he raised his voice, sweeping his arms over the land around them. 'There is no reason for me to drag this out any longer. I, Captain of the Ginyu Force,' Ginyu began humbly, before his right hand slid smoothly through his armor and into his chest, shooting an immediate spray of viscera into the air,'... _he_ thanks you for your contribution,' he finished, gagging.

Krillin's mind flared; his aura grew more stop and start. Something was very wrong. 'Why- why'd you do that?' he forced out, hoarse and groggy.

With two unsteady steps backward, Ginyu bled a purple line into the ground between him and Krillin. His smile, stained with his blood, flashed in the day's light.

'For you!' Ginyu replied, his enthusiasm drawing more blood from his self-inflicted wound. 'For all of this- for power, status, pride- for _everything_ , I say: CHANGE NOW!'

0o0o0

Ginyu felt his flesh leave him, deserting his mind of pain and suffering, and traveled across the air. He could see nothing, hear nothing, _know_ nothing other than who he was and that he was moving. He had memories from his youngest age, of being terrified of these moments- the helplessness they entailed. He had cured himself of this by reminding himself what the destination, with all the succor it held, promised for him.

And the destination, when Ginyu finally found it, was sweet indeed.

'Aaaah!' Ginyu opened his eyes, bathing in his newfound energy. Tan arms flexed at his command, as didorange cloth anoint his skin, and he felt the cool breeze run across his skin. 'A certain feeling comes around… how scintillating! How refreshing!' Grinning, he looked away from his theft and across. 'Now then… would you be a dear and hand over my scouter, please?' Ginyu asked in a sickly sweet voice.

Krillin- trapped in a body not his own with a host of foreign sensations and parts- looked down as his hands. They were purple and veiny. **Purple**.

'Hellooooo?' Ginyu said cheerily. 'Anyone in there? Come now- you're not dead _yet_.'

In disbelief, Krillin moved his attention to _a_ body he inhabited to… himself. His body- what he thought as his own- was staring back at him, its face a distorted parody of every expression Krillin had ever made. He… must have been dreaming. Maybe some kind of out of body experience. _But… I blinked. And now I'm here._

Something sharp reached Krillin's conscious. Absentmindedly, one of his hands rose up and groped his chest. The pain was coming from there- the open chest wound. The open chest wound he had seen Ginyu inflict on himself. He… _I am..._

'You… you took my body,' Krillin muttered in disbelief. To his ears, his voice sounded warped and odd- and yet still felt familiar. 'How… what?...'

'Correct!' Ginyu chirped back. 'I took your body. It was better than my old one- even more so now with that nasty wound in it,' he added, motioning his open hand towards the maw of a wound on Krillin-as-Ginyu's chest. 'As for how; I have to thank a simple ability I've picked up in my travels. Quite basic, as you can clearly see, but _startlingly_ effective.'

Krillin heard Ginyu's speech- speech that simultaneously resonated with familiarity and disgusted him with perverseness- like a distant sound, like the sound of waves crashing against the bottom of a cliff. Sequentially, sensations revealed themselves to him, filling his mind with novel experiences. It was impossible to describe- he felt like a child again, in a body that he didn't know, let alone understand.

Ginyu watched Krillin visibly struggle to come to terms with what had happened. 'Anywho,' he said, digging his feet into the dirt, 'we have a fight to finish, don't we?'

Haggard, Krillin lifted his head. 'A _fight_?' His chest injury flared in his mind. 'We're going to fight?...'

'Well, of course!' Ginyu replied, laughing. 'Can't well leave my old body to run around- would confuse my men too much! They wouldn't know who to be led by! So…' Ginyu balled his hands into fists, 'let's finish up, shall we?'

Krillin watched as thick curls of purple gathered around Ginyu. Like tendrils, they swept and wrapped around his original body, clothing it an aura of malice and… wrongness. He also saw, beneath, the visible injuries spanning his body from his previous use of the Kaioken.

Something occurred to Krillin. Despite his chest injury, he managed a short, pained laugh. 'I was exhausted- I was beaten. My body was broken- and you took it!' He exclaimed. 'You switched bodies with a defeated man!'

One of Ginyu's newly gained eyebrows arched. 'You'd think that, wouldn't you? But have you considered that energy resides with the soul-' Ginyu flared his _ki_ , surrounding himself with an even larger purple aura '-and that my soul, compared to yours, has gone through a lot less today?'

Krillin's face dropped. 'No, can't be, no... that doesn't make any sense. My body-'

'Is injured, yes,' Ginyu cut in, 'but when factoring in your injuries in that body, my new residency in your old one, and my superior skill at fighting in a newly gained body compared to you-' Ginyu's voice lowered, and pebbles skittered away from his feet. 'Things aren't looking too good for you, I'm afraid!'

The aura around Ginyu tripled, throwing waves of purple energy towards the sky. Horrified, Krillin locked up and failed to react as Ginyu swiped the scouter from his head and affixed it to his own. 'Now, witness your end at your own hands!' Ginyu yelled, pulling his arms closer to his body. Howling in a manner Krillin never would, he pulled on his stolen body and _ki_ , throwing his aura into chaos. 'You'll die by your own crimson aura! HRAAAGH!'

Waves of wind and energy buffeted Krillin as Ginyu's energy continued to rise- until stopping far below where Krillin thought it would end up. Ginyu himself looked confused, and with his purple aura silhouetting him, he pressed a button at his scouter and looked at its display.

'18,000?' Ginyu said aloud, frustrated. 'I… why isn't it higher? I powered up! I did everything I was supposed to! Where's your strength! Where's your crimson aura!' Ginyu demanded, snarling. He turned his anger on Krillin. 'What have you done!'

Krillin gaped at him. He was as confused as him. _Wait..._ _of course!... he's trying to use the Kaioken- but doesn't know it! He didn't train with King Kai! But he thinks… he_ _ **thought**_ _it was something he could just access once he got my body! But, instead, he only has my base power to work- and not even that!_

'What's with the blank face!?' Ginyu barked, shaking a fist at Krillin. 'What's going through your head! Answer me!'

Thoughts drifted through Krillin's mind. _He's weaker than he thought he would be… and I… by the Kais…_ Krillin felt his new _ki_ for the first time, and was amazed by his body's base strength compared to his original one. _Can't compete with the Kaioken, and I'm pretty injured… but I can access a good chunk of Ginyu's previous strength. I've got this chest wound to worry about, which will kill me given enough time- but…_ Krillin curled his hand, forming a purple fist. He turned his gaze on Ginyu. _I think!_...

'Damn body!' Ginyu complained, his gaze turned back to him, while pushing his _ki_ against what Krillin knew would be its limit.

Quietly, Krillin called on his own _ki_ and compared it to what he felt from Ginyu. He suppressed a smile. _More than enough_.

'Damn this! Damn-' Ginyu whipped his head to Krillin, and found a dead man smiling back at him. The display of his scouter was rapidly beeping. Ginyu saw the number displayed, and his eyes went wide. 'Nooooooo!-'

With a quick step and a yank back of his arm, Krillin swung and smacked down his fist onto Ginyu's head. Krillin's eyes rolled around in Krillin's skull and the bodystealer fell to the ground, unconscious.

0o0o0

In the end, it came down to a last-ditch move, as it always seemed to happen whenever Recoome fought. His opponent, after getting the worse end of their fight for a commendable amount of time, did something clever; Nail feinted a leg strike and instead rammed his palm against Recoome's forehead, stunning the giant and sending him tumbling into a ravine beneath them. From there, Nail charged an attack- an attack of the highest caliber he could muster. _Gi_ torn with blood running down his arms, the Namekian poured everything he had into it, aiming to unleash an energy wave on the ravine like a flood rushing through a valley.

For the last time in their fight, Recoome found himself impressed by his opponent. He imagined that, if they had fought 1 on 1 from the beginning, they would have had an epic encounter. As it was, however, Recoome kept his best for last.

When the attack- pink colored, crackling, consuming huge chunks of the ravine's sides- roared down on Recoome, the giant dragged his back foot through the dirt, held his arms above him like a pylon, and charged his _ki_.

'RECOOME!...' Pink energy swirled around him and his black jumpsuit, drawing into a point just above his flattened hands. 'SPEAR!' And he jumped.

Nail, exhausted, barely managed to hold himself in the air as Recoome spun through his attack and smashed the edges of his hands into his last desperate block. A few more strikes landed, and it was over.

Eventually, Nail crashed down into the ravine, impacting hard enough for his body to embed itself halfway into the ground. Recoome landed next to the unmoving Namekian a few seconds after that, panting. Even at the end, he had been pushed. 'Stay… down,' Recoome huffed.

With his business concluded, he took stock of his body. He wasn't close to 100%- but, in terms of the mission, he'd achieved as much as could be asked of him. He took out an enemy near-equal to him in strength with energy to spare. There really wasn't anything else to do, except to watch the Captain defeat the one who had challenged him.

With this in mind, Recoome pressed a button on the side of his scouter and scanned the surrounding area. He might as well not have bothered, though, as a golden flash, appearing on the horizon to his right, raced through the air, throwing the entire area around Recoome into a riot of light and shadow. He lifted his head to the sky and squinted.

His mind caught on what he saw. There was something familiar in the blinding glow that had swept over the land. He thought on the present, on the past, and it hit him.

'Oh, Captain… things got that bad, huh?'

* * *

A/N: Hi all; this was my attempt to get the length of these chapters under control (and update on a weekly basis for the first time in forever!). I think it went… okay! But with it out of the way, we have one more chapter of Ginyu. See you next week.

power levels!

 **note:** these are for characters at full strength! Not accurate for the entire battle as damage and fatigue are factored in!

Nail: 45,000

Recoome: 49,000

Jeice: 48,000

Ginyu (original body): 120,000

Krillin (original body): 20,000

Krillin (Kaioken X4): 80,000

Krillin (Kaioken X5): 100,000

Krillin (Kaioken X6): 120,000

Krillin (Kaioken X10): 200,000

Ginyu (Krillin's body): 18,000

Krillin (Ginyu's body): ?

and **Reviews!**

 **Rowan Citrian:** Krillin definitely stretched the Kaioken too far. One of the problems of doing training in Otherworld- you think your limits are much higher for certain techniques than they are in practice. Though, for the first couple uses of the Kaioken, he was using it at low levels to get a feel for it and to slowly ramp up, and so he could hold them a bit longer than if he was using his max level from the get-go. It if helps with clarity, the whole grappling scene between Krillin and Ginyu, in my mind, took place for about a minute in total.

As for how the Kaioken works, see King Kai's explanation in Chapter 52. The short version is that the Kaioken draws on the ambient spiritual energy around the user in the world and combusts it with the user's _ki_ for quick, powerful energy boosts. This process, however, exposes the muscles and the body to a lot of stress and damage, and as a result, the technique can't be used for long periods of time (at least for higher levels if the user is familiar with controlling the Kaioken at lower levels).

 **LWexe:** :). And y-ouch indeed. Krillin has done something, alright...

 **Tienfan99:** Fixed the typo!

All good points on Tien and the Kikoho! The only thing I'd add/ put into the discussion was that, yes, Tien's Kikoho is capable of some serious damage, but in this case, he didn't know where Guldo was in the village- so it wasn't like he could focus the blast in a specific spot and kill Guldo outright (though he still managed to damage him a fair amount). He was trying to cast a wide net, so to speak, and because of that, the destructive power of his attack was spread out, not focused on one area or person. As a result, Recoome got by mostly okay, too.

Hah- that "Goku" entrance in canon was too good to not do some variant on it.

 **Cityracer:** Like always, thank you for the detailed review.

Baba always struck me with that weird dichotomy- seems very attuned to the world material matters even when her day job was communicating with the dead.

Agreed! Probably a bit too convenient. Was hard for me to think of another place where he could have that realization, though, and snap back to his previous persona- or, at the very least, show some development or nuance in his character in how he responds to strong (or not so strong) opponents.

Yamcha did indeed use the Wolf Fang Fist to dig himself underground. Turned out to be a good idea in hindsight.

Guldo was fighting tactically at the beginning by using the many buildings in the village to strike from- he just let his guard down after surviving of a near-death experience. And, yeah- he got way too cocky. And I loved writing Yamcha's moment there! Felt like such a smart move by him.

The Ginyu Force is an odd bunch- I've enjoyed writing them from the beginning, even if I didn't get to lean into their zaniness as much as I would have liked.

Lol! Helps to make Krillin out as a badass when he has no senzus- and when, as mentioned in this chapter, he had no idea if his friends were still alive or not. He was here to bash heads, and that was what he was going to do.

I think the number they're going for is 30 or so years- however long between the Saiyans coming under Frieza's rule and the events of DBZ- but, yeah, could be a bit outlandish for the Ginyu Force to hold onto every member over that time period. Who knows, though? Maybe people left and came back between those events, or service in a group like that is permanent until retirement or death, or the Captain didn't let them leave- my point being is that it really depends on, ignoring what Super puts out (because I'm not the biggest fan of it either), what interpretation you want to use for a fic. In this case, I liked the idea of them being a cohesive unit for so long, which emphasized the shock when some of their members died. Totally legit for you to advance an alternative interpretation, though. Just, IMO, depends on what you want to explore with your fic.

 **Guest (chapter 7):** Glad you're enjoying it so far, as for power levels- they're there, every few chapters or so!


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